WHITE PAPER
NINE BEST best relegated to the personnel department.
PRACTICES
FOR EFFECTIVE
TALENT
MANAGEMENT
RICHARD S. WELLINS, PH.D., INTRODUCTION
SR. VICE PRESIDENT
Organizations have long known that they
AUDREY B. SMITH, PH.D., must have the best talent in order to succeed
SR. VICE PRESIDENT,
EXECUTIVE SOLUTIONS in the hypercompetitive and increasingly
MATTHEW J. PAESE, PH.D.,
complex global economy. Now, however,
VICE PRESIDENT, along with the understanding of the need
EXECUTIVE SUCCESSION
AND DEVELOPMENT
to hire, develop, and retain talented people,
there also is awareness that organizations
SCOTT ERKER, PH.D.,
SR. VICE PRESIDENT, must approach talent as a critical resource
SELECTION SOLUTIONS
that must be managed in order to achieve
the best possible results.
In other words, organizations no longer can
afford to assume that they always will have
the talent they need to execute business
strategy. Instead, it’s necessary that they be
proactive and address the reality that few,
if any, organizations today have an adequate
supply of talent, whether it’s at the top of
WHITE PAPER — NINE NINE BEST PRACTICES
the organization, in the first- to mid-level
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT
leadership ranks, or at the front lines.
Talent has become a resource that must
be managed because it is an increasingly
scarce resource.
The idea of managing talent is not new.
But in the past, in the 1960s and 1970s, it
was viewed as a peripheral responsibility
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Now, it is an organizational function that is
taken far more seriously. In the Conference
Board’s 20031 and 2004 CEO Challenge stud-
ies, issues of leadership talent and employee
engagement were identified as being among
primary CEO concerns.2 In DDI’s 2005-2006
Leadership Forecast, meanwhile, more than
4,500 leaders from around the world cited
improving and leveraging talent as their
second-most-important business priorities
(on a list of 14), preceded only by improving
customer service/relationships.3
In some ways, this emphasis on talent
management seems inevitable given that,
on average, companies now spend over one-
third of their revenues on employee wages
and benefits.4 Create a new product and it
can be easily copied. Lower your prices and
competitors will follow. Go after a lucrative
market and someone will be there right after
you, being careful to avoid making your initial
mistakes. But replicating a high-quality, highly
engaged workforce is nearly impossible. In
essence, the ability to effectively hire, retain,
deploy, and engage talent—at all levels—is
really the only true competitive advantage
an organization can have.
TALENT MANAGEMENT DEFINED
DDI defines talent management as the
system in which people are recruited,
developed, promoted, and retained to
optimize the organization’s ability to realize
positive business outcomes in the face of
shifting competitive landscapes and labor
requirements. More specifically, talent
 management is a business process that
systematically closes the gap between the
talent an organization has and the talent it
needs to successfully respond to current
and emerging business challenges.
Component parts of this process include:
> Articulation of the talent required to exe-
cute the organization’s business strategy.
> Early identification of potential within the
organization’s talent.
> Assessing the readiness of talent for
advanced positions.
> Accelerating development of talent.
While this is the definition we feel best
captures the purpose and practice of talent
management, we acknowledge that it is
not the only definition. As is typical of
terms that have only recently come into
common use, there exist other definitions
that also capture the spirit and intentions
of talent management, though not as com-
pletely and effectively, we feel, as does the
definition above.
WHAT’S DRIVING THE CURRENT
EMPHASIS ON TALENT MANAGEMENT?
Organizations have been talking about the
connection between great employees and
superior organizational performance for
decades. So, why the current emphasis on
managing talent?
There are several drivers fueling this emphasis:
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1. There is a demonstrated relationship
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT
between better talent and better
business performance. Within the
last several years there has emerged a
significant movement to quantify the
returns that can be expected when an
organization invests in its talent. The
result is a body of “proof” that paints a
compelling picture of the impact talent
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can have on business performance.
Research findings that underscore this
connection include DDI’s Leadership
Forecast 2005-2006, which showed that
companies with stronger talent manage-
ment systems at the leader level enjoy
higher returns on equity and profit when
compared to their competitors.5 A 1999
study by Sibson & Company and McKinsey
showed a direct link between quality of
succession management programs and
shareholder return.6
As for lower organizational levels, a study
DDI conducted in collaboration with the
Manufacturing Performance Institute
showed that plants with effective talent
systems in six crucial areas (training, lead-
ership development, teaming, recruiting/
hiring, performance management, and
safety/health) realize superior performance
in employee retention, margin, return on
invested capital, and operating efficiency.7
2. Talent is a rapidly increasing source
of value creation. More and more, the
financial value of our companies depends
upon the quality of talent. In fact, the
Brookings Institution found that in 1982,
62 percent of an average company’s value
could be attributed to its physical assets
(including equipment and facilities) and
only 38 percent to intangible assets
(patents, intellectual property, brand, and,
most of all, people).8 By 2003, these per-
centages had nearly flip-flopped, with 80
percent of value attributable to intangible
assets and 20 percent to tangible assets.9
3. The context in which we do business
is more complex and dynamic.
Hyper-competition makes it more difficult
than ever to sustain a competitive advan-
tage long term. New products—and new
business models—have shorter life cycles,
 demanding constant innovation.
Technology has enabled greater access
to information and is forcing us to move
“at the speed of business.” Adding to
these challenges is the fact that an
increasing number of organizations are
expanding globally. More typical are
organizations like Trend Micro, which
has its headquarters in Japan, its R&D
function in China, and its worldwide
sales operations based in California.
4. Boards and financial markets are
expecting more. Strategy + Business
magazine recently published an article
describing CEOs as “the world’s most
prominent temp workers.”10 CEO turnover
has exceeded 300 percent over the past
five years, with no let up in sight. Boards
and investors are putting senior leaders
under a microscope, expecting them to
create value.This pressure, which may
be most visible at the CEO level but is
generally felt up and down the org chart,
is driving a growing emphasis on the
quality of talent—not just at the C level,
but at all levels.
5. Employee expectations are also
changing. Employee expectations
are changing, too, forcing organizations
to place a greater emphasis on talent
management strategies and practices.
Employees today are:
> Increasingly interested in having
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challenging and meaningful work.
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT
> More loyal to their profession than to
the organization.
> Less accommodating of traditional
structures and authority.
> More concerned about work-life balance.
> Prepared to take ownership of their
careers and development.
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Responding to these myriad challenges
makes it invariably difficult to capture both
the “hearts” and “minds” of today’s work-
force. The cultures we build are crucial
to attracting and retaining key talent.
6. Workforce demographics are evolving.
The “war for talent” has been well docu-
mented; the demographic changes facing
many western countries are real. For
example, the number of North American
management jobs are expected to increase
from about 21 million now to 24 million
over the next five years while, at the same
time, the population of 30-50 year-olds
(those most likely to be at points in their
careers when they can take on leadership
positions) are expected to decline from
63 million to about 60 million.11
TALENT MANAGEMENT: DDI’S VIEW
For over three decades, DDI has helped
thousands of organizations around the
world achieve superior business results
through hiring, developing, and retaining
exceptional talent. Through both this
experience and extensive research, we have
identified a number of best practices we
believe should serve as the foundation for a
talent management system.
Best Practice #1: Start with the end in
mind—your current and future business
needs. Effective talent management requires
that your business goals and strategies
drive the quality and quantity of the talent
you need. Proctor & Gamble, for example,
views “business decisions and talent decisions
as one.”
Below are examples of actual organizations
whose talent needs are driven by their
specific business goals and strategies:
> “We are acquiring one of our largest
competitors and have redundant talent.
 How will we ensure we retain the best?
Who will oversee the integration? What
is the right management team for our
new company? Who will help us focus
on quality and cost containment, while
pursuing new markets? And which
employees will best fit the new culture?”
> “We are a global automobile manufacturer
that has steadily lost market share. What
sort of talent are we going to need to
shake up the status quo, rejuvenate our
brand, and give us the action-orientation
required to turn things around?”
> “We are introducing a ‘blockbuster’ drug
that will require us to double our sales
force in the next eight months. In addi-
tion to sheer numbers, we also need to
add the right kind of talent—sales reps
who can take a consultative approach
with physicians.”
> “We are a utility in the midst of deregula-
tion. Consumers will have choices. On
top of that, we are getting into new busi-
nesses. How will the skills of our current
talent fit with our new business model?”
The real scenarios described above represent
clear-cut examples of the need to match
talent to business needs. These organizations
all hold a common belief that business suc-
cess hinges on the ability to have the right
talent in place—at the right time.
While each of the organizations described
above is proactively addressing its talent
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needs, the connection between talent and
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT
business strategy is far too often considered
long after strategic plans have been inked.
Best Practice #2: Talent management is
Job #1 for senior leaders. The Limited, a
large North American retail organization, suf-
fered some serious business setbacks in the
1990s. The organization’s CEO, Les Wexner,
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decided to seek the counsel of several people
he respected, including former General
Electric CEO Jack Welch, among others.
Wexner asked these leaders how they spent
their time. The answer he got surprised
him—they spent about 50 percent of their
time on their people. They got involved in
recruiting top talent, grooming high-potentials,
and reviewing talent pools.12
Talent management demands that the CEO,
and for that matter the entire senior leader-
ship team, plays a significant role. A recent
Conference Board report aptly described the
role of senior leaders as modeling the “talent
master mindset.”13 It is the CEO and his or
her senior team that must own the talent
management system, cascading it down
through the organization.
Research underscores the importance of
senior-level ownership of talent management.
DDI recently completed a study of more
than 900 global organizations.14 We found
that when CEOs and other senior leaders
are actively involved in setting their organi-
zations’ talent management agendas, the
reported success of leadership promotions
increases. Similarly, Chief Executive
Magazine published a study of the top
companies for leaders.15 The study broke out
the top 20 companies in terms of financial
performance and compared them to the
remaining 580 organizations. Nineteen of
the top 20 companies (95 percent) hold
their leaders accountable for developing
talent. This compared to just 42 percent of
companies in the remaining sample.
Despite this evidence, it’s worth noting that
there still appears to be a wide gap between
what’s perceived as the important role that
senior leaders must play in talent manage-
ment and actual practice. In its now famous
study, The War for Talent, McKinsey reported
 that just 16 percent of the CEOs surveyed
felt their companies could even identify high-
performing leaders.16 And, DDI’s recently
released Leadership Forecast reports that
only 40 percent of the organizations surveyed
considered senior management support and
involvement a strength of their succession
management process.17
Best Practice #3: You must know what
you’re looking for—the role of success
profiles. A recent Hewitt leadership study
showed that those companies with better
financial performance were likely to use
competencies as the basis for succession
management, external hiring, and inside
promotions.18
As organizations gain a better understanding
of the power of competencies, a trend
hinted at in the Hewitt study, they are now
taking their use a step further by extending
competencies into what we call “success
profiles.” These success profiles bring
together knowledge, experience, and personal
attributes, along with competencies to create
laser-sharp definitions of what is required
for exceptional performance in a given role
or job.
The value of these success profiles is that
they can be used across the entire spectrum
of talent management activities—from
hiring, to performance management, to
development.
Best Practice #4: Build a systematic
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retention around a common framework,
creating a more powerful approach.19
(William C. Byham, DDI’s founder and CEO,
was an early champion of integrated systems.
In the early 1980s he published a series of
articles in Training and Development
Journal in which he advocated that the
activities of personnel systems—the modern
equivalent being talent management systems
—should be pulled together as a single system
covering an employee’s “career cycle.”20 & 21)
In our monograph,“Applying a Systems
Approach to Personnel Activities,” we identify
numerous advantages to using such an
integrated approach:
> Aligned talent systems can be used to
validate and reinforce each other. For
example, performance appraisal data can
be used to validate the impact of a training
program or selection system.
> Integrated HR systems create synergies,
leading to decreased installation costs,
greater efficiency, and, ultimately, higher
impact. For example, pre-hiring assess-
ment data can be fed into an on-boarding
plan, allowing managers to target the
most crucial development activities for
their new employees.
> Finally, integrated systems lead to a reduc-
tion in the time devoted to communication,
training, and administration, as all employ-
ees and leaders are using a single, common
vocabulary for key roles or positions.22

and integrated approach to all work-

Since DDI’s monograph was first published
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT

force development activities. In 2003,

in 1981, the concept of integrated talent
The Conference Board published a report
management has dramatically increased in
titled Integrated and Interactive Talent
popularity. According to the Conference
Management: A Strategic HR Framework.
Board study cited above, 75 percent of the
The report’s authors talked about the
boards of directors of the 35 companies par-
growing tendency of companies to integrate
ticipating in the research are taking a direct
various HR initiatives including hiring,
interest in talent management integration.
training, performance management, and

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 One reason: Technology! In 1981, HR additional examples of high-value-creation
software systems didn’t really exist. Thus, linchpin positions.
managing talent across multiple HR initiatives/
A second reason why a more encompassing
programs in organizations with several thou-
approach to managing talent is essential has
sand employees was a daunting task. Today
to do with the need to proactively manage
we are rapidly moving to e-enabled software
career transitions. Figure 1 (below) shows
programs that either can communicate with
DDI’s Leadership Blueprint®, beginning at
one another using a common set of standards,
the individual contributor level. Each level
or a single system that can integrate all major
in our model has different, but overlapping,
talent management components. Another
success profiles, as well as its own set of
reason is a heightened awareness of the
transitional challenges. Effective talent man-
value interaction brings in terms of both
agement requires not only developing peo-
efficiency and quality of talent management.
ple for their current roles, but also getting
Best Practice #5: Talent management is them ready for their next transition. For
much more than succession manage- example, individual contributors being con-
ment. Many organizations equate the sidered for frontline leadership positions
concept of talent management with senior must make a critical transition from defining
leadership succession management. While success based on their own performance to
succession planning is obviously important, the performance of the team they manage.
our belief is that talent management must
encompass a far broader portion of the
employee population. One major reason
for thinking more expansively is the reality
that value creation does not come from
senior leadership alone. The ability of an
organization to compete depends upon the
performance of all its key talent.
We are not advocating that comprehensive
talent management strategies are needed for FIGURE 1: DDI’s Leadership Blueprint® shows
every position or every level. Instead, the the different, but overlapping success profiles of
emphasis should be on linchpin positions— various leadership levels.
those jobs that are essential for the long-term
viability of the organization. For example, Similarly, the operational leader being
Sunoco begins its talent process with lower- groomed for a strategic leadership position
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level employees, but considers mid-level must begin to shift from a business unit
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT

plant managers to be among the linchpin or functional perspective to that of an

positions because these plant manager jobs
represent the first opportunity leaders have
to manage multiple functions.23 In a sales-
focused organization, attention, of course,
will need to be paid to top-performing
account executives. Engineers and scientists
in automotive or life sciences companies are
enterprise guardian.
A planned approach to transitions becomes
especially important as organizations place
more emphasis on “growing their own
leaders” rather than making often-risky
outside hires. The bad news is that few

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© Development Dimensions International, Inc., MMVI. All rights reserved.
 organizations have proactive succession
processes in place at lower leadership levels.
Our Leadership Forecast study revealed that
only 16 percent of the companies we sur-
veyed have a system in place for key individ-
ual contributors and for frontline leaders.24
Best Practice #6: Clear distinctions are
made between potential, performance,
and readiness. Mary Lee Tracy is not a
VP of HR at a Fortune 1,000 corporation.
She’s an Olympic gymnastics coach. In fact,
Amanda Borden, one of her students, was
captain of the 1996 gold-medal-winning U.S.
Olympic team. Yet,Tracy understands the
differences between potential, performance,
and readiness. Each year she must pick a
handful of Olympic hopefuls to mentor,
and she has to make her decisions carefully
based on each athlete’s potential to become
an Olympic gymnast. The reason for Tracy’s
close attention to these decisions is that
she can devote her personal time and
attention to only a small number of athletes.
It is only years later that Tracy will be able
to determine which of her top students are
ready to compete for a position on the U.S.
Olympic gymnastics team.
The Olympic team analogy is a good one
as it pertains to talent in the business world.
To build the talent pipeline needed to run a
business five to 10 years out means identify-
ing those with the greatest potential to grow
and develop. This is especially true for
leadership talent. Still, a 2002 Conference
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Best Practice #7: Look at the team
mosaic. Traditional talent management
systems focused on the individual. High
potentials were identified and developed as
“back-ups” for specific positions or roles.
Reviews focused on the merits of promoting
John to the CFO role or Mary to a regional
sales job. While a focus on each person and
his or her fit with targeted roles is essential,
organizations have often overlooked the
power that comes from looking at an entire
team mosaic.
The following are characteristics of the team
mosaic approach:
1. For key selection/promotion decisions,
candidates are evaluated on their own
readiness for a targeted role (as defined
by the success profile); however, they also
are evaluated on how their personalities
and styles will mesh with others on the
business team.
2. For development purposes, entire talent
pools, such as all senior executives or all
high-potential associates being considered
for frontline supervisory positions, are
considered and evaluated together, making
it possible to spot organizational trends
and trouble areas (see Figure 2 on page 8).
Accurate assessment data—across all
components of a success profile—for each
individual being considered is, of course, a
prerequisite for looking at an entire team
or pool. This includes assessment data on

future potential,“personality” attributes,

Board report showed that only 34 percent
values, skills/knowledge, etc.
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT

of the companies surveyed feel that they

are effective at identifying capable leaders
early in their careers.25 And, much like Tracy,
organizations are limited in the number of
people they can truly accelerate (coaching,
special training, job assignments, etc.),
hoping that later in their careers they will
be able to perform in more strategic roles.
Let’s take a quick look at a few team mosaic
applications and their benefits:
> Two major health care diagnostics organi-
zations merged to drive aggressive growth
through innovation, process efficiency,
and quality.The CEO constructed new

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 GS, Inc.—Compatible Executive “Team”
MOBILIZER STRATEGIST ENTREPRENEUR TALENT NAVIGATOR CHANGE CAPTIVATOR
ADVOCATE LEADER

CEO X X X X

President X X X X
Core

President X X X
Ventures

President
Shared X X X
Services

FIGURE 2: Taking a “team mosaic” view of leadership talent makes it possible to spot trends and
potential trouble areas where and also determine development needs.

company C (from previous companies promotion decisions, and to develop a

A and B) by thoughtfully selecting his comprehensive new sales curriculum to
executive team to ensure complementary build consultative sales skills.
experience, skills, and adjacent market
> A multinational consumer manufacturing
perspectives.The CEO himself had a
company was expected to grow by 10-15
towering strength in his market-facing
percent over an upcoming five-year time
role, building relationships and confidence
period. It was able to match assessment
with shareholders.The new president
data across its high-potential leadership
of his core unit was an outsider known
pool against the success profiles required
for quality excellence, process rigor,
for rapid growth. This quick talent audit
and cutting-edge scientific knowledge
revealed that less than 25 percent of
(important for delivering the best services
the high-potential pool had the success
to customers). In summary, the idea
profiles required for double-digit growth.
was to create the right blend of talent.
The company took immediate action
The merged organization has been
including external recruiting, increased
astronomically successful.
coaching/mentoring of current high
> A sales division of a large technology potentials, and paying closer attention
company was moving from a product- to the identification of current associates
centric sales approach to bundled solutions to be added to the pool.
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based on business needs. This transition

Best Practice #8: Turn your leaders
required a heavy emphasis on consultative
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT

into talent managers. While the senior

sales skills. After a comprehensive
team must own and drive the organization’s
assessment of the entire sales force, the
focus on talent, the true talent champions
organization quickly realized that less
need to be the hundreds of frontline leaders
than 50 percent had the skills required
and managers. They are the ones most
for solution-centric sales. The company
responsible for transforming corporate
was able to use this crucial aggregate
strategies into results by engaging the talent
information to make placement and

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© Development Dimensions International, Inc., MMVI. All rights reserved.
 working for them. Yet, we repeatedly see
organizations thrusting people into leader-
ship roles who lack the requisite talent
management skills. These skills include
interviewing and hiring effectively, driving
team performance, retaining talent, handling
individual performance issues, and coaching
and developing others. Lance Armstrong’s
Trek bicycles were technological marvels.
But, it wasn’t the bikes that won the Tour
de France seven times—it was the cyclist.
Similarly, sophisticated talent management
systems are useless unless leaders have the
skills to engage and manage the people
working for them.
Best Practice #9: Talent management is
all about putting the right people in the
right jobs. The late Douglas Bray, a revered
thought leader in the field of industrial and
organizational psychology, devoted much
of his career to one of the most famous and
respected studies ever done on talent man-
agement: The AT&T Management Program
Study. Bray followed AT&T managerial talent
throughout their 30-plus-year careers, mark-
ing changes in their skills and motivations
over time. Given the extensive body of
his research, Bray had an especially keen
perspective on how much people really
can change. Over a decade ago, he made a
statement that stuck with one of the authors
of this white paper: “If you have only one
dollar to spend on either improving the
way you develop people or improving your
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selection and hiring process, pick the latter.”
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT
Most organizations, of course, must divide
their investment dollars between developing
the talent they already have and acquiring
additional talent; however, the point still
holds. Assuming there is a sufficient supply
of outside talent, an organization should
place the highest priority on selecting the
right people for the right jobs. Why?
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> The right match is critical. Poor talent
performance, and the high turnover that
accompanies it, is often due to a lack of
employee motivation or to a poor match
between employees’ values and those of
the organization. Obviously it is difficult to
change your culture or to alter a specific
job to fit a person once he or she is hired.
Highly cost-effective tools exist that enable
you to assess the degree to which a candi-
date matches the job and the culture—
before he or she is hired.
> Not everything can be developed.
Many elements of success profiles are
impossible, or at least very difficult, to
develop. Training people to improve their
judgment, learning agility, adaptability—all
core requirements for most of the talent
hired today—is difficult, if not impossible.
But you can get a read on these areas
during a well-designed hiring/promotion
process.
> Hiring for the right skills is more
efficient than developing those skills.
What about the areas that are developable,
like interpersonal skills, decision-making,
or technical skills? Again, assuming a
sufficient supply of talent, assessing those
areas at the time of hire is likely to cost
less than developing them later.
ABOUT DDI’S TALENT MANAGEMENT
APPROACH
DDI has combined the best practices
described above into a comprehensive
talent management approach. This approach,
which we have seen applied successfully in
multiple organizations, encompasses all of
the major steps, processes, and activities
required to systematically manage an
organization’s talent.
 While many of the component parts of our
approach are specific to the management of
leadership talent, this approach is, indeed,
adaptable to assessing talent needs, selecting
and hiring talent, and developing talent for
nearly all organizational levels. In fact, it
is the flexibility and enterprise-wide nature
of this approach that we believe makes it
particularly valuable.
We have noted where certain components,
processes, or activities are most appropriately
applied to the management of leadership
talent. In addition, we have identified suitable
alternatives that would be applicable and
appropriate for managing talent at lower
organizational levels.
DDI’S TALENT OPTIMIZATION APPROACH
At the writing of this paper, the leaders of
the American automotive industry are taking
unprecedented steps to capture increased
market share, while also seeking to enhance
quality and innovation, and drive down costs.
Wal-Mart’s leadership strives to continue the
company’s meteoric global growth while
managing public perceptions of its business
and personnel practices. Health care leaders,
meanwhile, are urgently focused on building
efficiencies and gaining control of rising costs
while elevating the quality and reliability of
the patient experience.
Organizations differ radically in their most
urgent priorities, which is why it’s never
sufficient for an organization to conclude
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that,“We need more talent.” Always, what
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT
is needed is “the right kind of talent for the
specific challenges we face right now.”
What will it take for your organization to
succeed as an enterprise over the next three
to five years? What are the implications for
your organization’s leaders and associates?
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What are the critical challenges that must be
addressed as the organization strives to meet
its business objectives? Most critically, what
is the current status, or readiness of your
organization’s talent to step up to these
imperatives? And, how can you rapidly
enhance your organization’s talent readiness,
such that these critical objectives can be
met to their fullest potential?
Organizations may be alike in their need
for talent to drive business objectives
but they differ widely in their leadership
imperatives, the broad challenges, described
in terms of the actions they need to take
and the outcomes for which they must be
responsible. An organization’s leaders must
face and achieve business objectives—and
address the talent requirements associated
with those objectives.
A key differentiator of DDI’s approach to
talent management, which is described in
our Talent Optimization Model (Figure 3
below) is our use of these critical leadership
imperatives (stemming directly from your
organization’s vision and strategy) as the
foundation for talent management system
design and implementation.
Figure 3: DDI’s Talent Optimization model.
 Using leader imperatives as the starting
point, our approach represents a talent
management roadmap. This roadmap guides
the design and implementation of the
processes necessary for creating a talent
pipeline to successfully execute business
and cultural strategies.
DDI’s Talent Optimization approach to
talent management recognizes the need for
tight linkages between talent management
practices and business outcomes. Indeed,
we acknowledge that these linkages are
crucial if a talent management strategy is
to receive the attention and support of
key stakeholders—CEOs, boards, and senior
teams—and is to be viewed as an indispen-
sable counterpart to business strategy.
MANAGING TALENT: KEEPING THE
“END IN MIND”
The driving philosophy behind our Talent
Optimization model is quite simple: It must
begin with the end in mind. Specifically,
effective talent management must be relent-
lessly focused on your organizations’ desired
business outcomes.
How does this perspective differ from past
views of talent management? At the risk of
oversimplifying, traditional approaches to
talent selection and development focused
on worthy, but HR-centric goals such as
building a leadership bench, training and
developing managers, or selecting the right
people for the right job at the right time.
WHITE PAPER — NINE NINE BEST PRACTICES
Often these practices were functionally
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT
siloed, regionally fragmented and stood
apart from other business practices and
financial metrics.
To ensure perceived (and real) relevance for
contemporary talent management practices,
the shared lexicon in many organizations
needs to shift dramatically. Everyone
11
© Development Dimensions International, Inc., MMVI. All rights reserved.
engaged in developing and implementing
talent strategies must start by thinking as a
Board, a CEO, or an owner of the organiza-
tion. Walking in their shoes quickly reveals
that their priorities, which can include such
strategic priorities as driving revenue growth,
penetrating new markets, horizontal
integration, and driving cost efficiencies,
have a decidedly different, business-oriented
ring. Thus, our Talent Optimization approach
zeros in on four bottom-line concerns of
these stakeholders:
1. The business landscape in which the
organization is operating: Among the
business landscape issues that are front of
mind for key stakeholders: shifting market/
consumer demands, new competitive
challenges, economic realities and uncer-
tainty, global complexity, as well as the
internal stresses within their organization.
And most important, how these will
influence the imperatives for leaders
throughout the organization.
2. The talent needed to win: Key stake-
holders are aware, as we discussed earlier,
that it is human beings—talent—that
will make or break their organizations.
The question is: What kind of talent, in
which key positions, and how much of it
is needed?
3. The game plan to make it happen:
The specific processes and activities
that will ensure the organization has a
sufficient quantity and quality of talent
ready and able to step up to new business
challenges and opportunities.
4. An insurance policy to sustain execu-
tion of the game plan. Key stakeholders
recognize that the key to competitive
differentiation, even basic survival, is not
strategy, but the ability to get it done—
to execute—day after day. Motorola CEO
 Ed Zander captured this reality well when
he observed “The world wants me to
come up with this grand vision . . . but
what I’m hearing from customers right
now is ‘Execute.’ Give me the products.
Make the company more efficient.’ And
that’s a lot.”
Built around these bottom-line concerns—
and the need to have an unwavering focus
on the outcomes of talent management
systems—DDI’s Talent Optimization Model
is designed to be a robust framework that
addresses each critical component and func-
tion required for the successful management
of talent.
WHITE PAPER — NINE NINE BEST PRACTICES
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT
12
© Development Dimensions International, Inc., MMVI. All rights reserved.
THE VALUE OF PLANNING
Talent management has never been more
of an immediate concern than it is right
now. But in the rush to fill a perceived
talent management void, organizations must
be careful not to rush into implementing
initiatives or programs that are more about
taking action than about implementing a
well-crafted solution.
Careful planning, culminating in a sound
talent strategy that is tightly connected to the
organization’s overall business strategies and
business needs, is required for talent manage-
ment to become ingrained in an organiza-
tion’s culture and practices. Only when this
happens is it possible for talent management
to be both effective and sustainable.
 In addition to the overview offered in this white paper, DDI can provide specific best practices and advice
for implementing each of the components of the Talent Management model. To learn more about DDI’s
approach and our talent management capabilities, including solutions for hiring, development, assess-
ment, and performance management, contact your DDI representative, call 1-800-933-4463, or
visit www.ddiworld.com.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Richard S. Wellins, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Development Dimensions International (DDI)
Dr. Wellins is responsible for leading DDI’s research programs, launching new solutions, building strategic
alliances, and executing marketing strategies. During his tenure at DDI, Wellins has authored five books
on leadership and teams. Most recently, he served as DDI’s overall project leader in the development
of a new competency model for workplace learning professionals, sponsored by the American Society
for Training and Development. Currently, he is involved in consulting engagements with Leed’s,
Texas Children’s Hospital, and Grant Thornton.
Audrey (Middle Initial) Smith, Ph.D.
Senior Vice President, Executive Solutions
Dr. Smith and her team spearhead DDI’s global consulting resources to help organizations identify,
develop, and deploy executive-level talent. Dr. Smith is a recognized thought leader in executive
succession management, and co-authored Grow Your Own Leaders (2000), a comprehensive and
flexible guide for developing extraordinary leaders. Her knowledge supports DDI’s Executive Solutions
services, which include strategic consulting, talent assessment, accelerated executive development,
performance management/accountability systems, culture change consulting, and other executive team
interventions that link strategy to execution.
Matthew J. Paese, Ph.D.
Vice President, Executive Succession and Development
Dr. Paese has consulted extensively with CEO’s and senior executives from many organizations including
General Motors, Microsoft, British Petroleum, Nissan, Steelcase, Coca-Cola, Toyota, Quest Diagnostics,
DaimlerChrysler, Georgia Pacific, the United Nations, and many other global and domestic clients.
Co-author Grow Your Own Leaders, Dr. Paese directs consultants, executive coaches, and senior
assessors in implementing talent management, development, assessment, and selection initiatives
that are aimed at senior-level populations in major corporations throughout the world.
Scott Erker, Ph.D.
Sr. Vice President, Selection Solutions
Dr. Erker’s global perspective on workforce selection comes from his work with organizations around the
world on personnel hiring strategies ranging from large-volume hiring for start-ups to steady-state selection
system operations, including measuring return on investment. Dr. Erker has worked with BASF, and
Mercedes-Benz, and numerous Fortune 500 companies, including General Motors, Kodak, Microsoft,
and Coca-Cola. Scott has extensive international experience in defining competencies, developing and
implementing selection and assessment programs, and measuring program return on investment for
DDI’s global client roster.
WHITE PAPER — NINE NINE BEST PRACTICES
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT

13
© Development Dimensions International, Inc., MMVI. All rights reserved.

CONTACT INFORMATION
WORLD HEADQUARTERS
412.257.0600
E-MAIL INFO@DDIWORLD.COM
WWW.DDIWORLD.COM/LOCATIONS
WHITE PAPER — NINE NINE BEST PRACTICES
FOR EFFECTIVE TALENT MANAGEMENT
14
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