To help you in your daily work, here is a list of terms commonly used in the field of Talent Management. Of course, this little glossary of Talent Management terms is not exhaustive. However, you will already be a little less lost thanks to these.

Assessment (Performance, Personality, Motivation, Potential)

The principle of making an assessment that is as objective as possible. This can be the performance, personality, motivation or potential of an individual. In terms of performance, quantitative and qualitative indicators are used. In terms of personality, it is described in terms of character traits. Finally, motivation can be divided into its internal (intrinsic) and external (extrinsic) aspects. Potential is distinct from performance: it is assessed individually and according to cognitive, relational and leadership skills.

Assessment Center / Development Center

Assessment of the skills and potential of an individual or a team. It is based on a professional situation and the analysis of a person’s behaviour, personality and operating mechanisms. Previously reserved for recruitment and internal selection, the approach measures potential and possibilities for development.

Behavioural analysis

Observation and analysis of an individual’s behaviour. The aim is to understand the laws that govern them and to predict their future actions. The resulting diagnosis makes it possible to become aware of the way the employee functions. This may be harmful to the professional environment.

Career & People Review

Joint strategic internal diagnoses between managers, management and human resources. They consist of working on the medium-term development of employees. Their potential and career development prospects within the company are addressed. This leads to action plans that materialise the forward-looking management of jobs and skills.

Career / skills management

All the actions carried out by an organisation in order to plan professional developments, ensure the internal mobility of employees and encourage employees to develop the management of their careers. Career and skills management consists of putting skills at the heart of development processes.

Competence

The ability to mobilise knowledge and know-how to act in a professional situation. Guy Le Bortef has defined it as “knowing how to act in a particular and unexpected situation”.

Potential

A broader concept than competence, potential refers to the professional abilities that an individual or a group may have without having yet demonstrated their performance.

Predictive Validity

Psychometric quality referring to the ability to correctly predict a future event. As each individual assessment tool has a different format, the aim is to be able to compare approaches.

Talent

Disposition, natural or acquired, to succeed in something. It is a remarkable ability in a qualitative sense. However, it may not be known to the person who has it. Indeed, a clear distinction must be made between a level of ability and the performance achieved.

 
Talent Management

A strategy deployed by Human Resources that brings together all the actions taken to attract, integrate, retain and develop employees within a company.

Talent Mapping

Visual representation of the potential, performance and motivation of your teams. Mapping is based on different matrices. It uses positioning in a table, thanks to indicators and/or colour coding.

Skills assessment / Professional assessment

An individual approach to support. These assessments aim to define a professional development project at the precise point where skills, aspirations and labour market needs meet.

Soft Skills

Translated into French as “soft skills”, these behaviours refer to all the skills linked to an individual’s self-management and personality. Cross-cutting skills are not taught like so-called technical skills (or hardskills). However, they are essential: knowing how to listen actively, adapting one’s speech according to the situation and the people involved, taking the initiative, proposing ideas, etc.

Succession planning

Actions aimed at aligning the available skills with the company’s objectives and strategy. This is based on the HR processes of recruitment, retention, appraisal, internal mobility and training of employees. Once designed to replace an organisation’s top managers, the approach can be focused on managing the most promising managers for some companies.

9 Box / Nine Box Matrix

Developed by McKinsey in the 1970s, the 9 box grid is a matrix tool used to position employees in a company according to performance and potential factors. The 9 box matrix is now used in career / people review with the aim of building a talent pool.

360° evaluation

An evaluation intended primarily for the manager. Its particularity lies in the feedback provided by the employees of the individual being evaluated. The aim is to develop the manager’s leadership through the analysis of this feedback.

TO LEARN MORE …    

Explore how an individual will perform in the future : Discover our Assessment Center based on simulation of a professional environment.

To find out more about how we can help you attract, motivate and find the right talent, please contact us via the contact form or at contact@apostrof.fr.