Talent Management & Development Glossary
Talent management and development is everything that happens after the hire — how organisations grow, retain, promote, and plan the future of their people. This topic gathers the terms senior HR and talent leaders use to develop and move talent, from the 9-box grid to succession planning, each defined on its own page.
The shift underlying this vocabulary is from filling roles to building capability. Reskilling and upskilling close skills gaps from within; internal mobility and career pathing keep good people by giving them somewhere to go; succession planning and the 9-box grid make sure the next generation of leaders is ready before it is needed. Done well, development reduces the need to hire externally and protects an organisation against the loss of key people.
For GCCs in particular — where retaining scarce senior talent is as hard as hiring it — strong development and mobility are a competitive advantage. The terms below give talent leaders a shared vocabulary for how people are grown and retained.
18 terms in this topic · see all 277 in the A–Z glossary →
Terms 18
9-Box Grid The 9-box grid is a talent-review tool that plots employees on a three-by-three matrix of performance against potential, producing nine categories from low performance and potential up to high performers with high potential. It is used to identify future leaders, guide development and succession, and focus investment where it will pay off most. Read Acquihire An acquihire is an acquisition made primarily to obtain a company’s team and talent rather than its products, revenue, or customers. The buyer purchases the business chiefly to bring its founders and engineers on board, often winding down the acquired product afterwards. Read Bench Strength Bench strength is the depth of ready-now and ready-soon talent an organisation can promote or redeploy into its key roles. A deep bench means critical positions can be filled quickly from within; a thin bench is a succession and continuity risk. Read Career Pathing Career pathing is the process of mapping the possible routes an employee can take to grow within an organisation, defining the roles, skills, and experiences needed to move between them. It gives people a visible sense of progression and helps employers develop talent, plan succession, and retain skilled staff. Read Forced Ranking Forced ranking is a performance-management method that requires managers to rank or distribute employees against one another into fixed bands — for example a top group, a middle group, and a bottom group of a set percentage each — rather than assessing each person against absolute standards. The lowest band is often targeted for improvement or exit. Read Individual Contributor IC An Individual Contributor (IC) is a professional who delivers through their own expertise rather than by managing people. IC tracks — IC4, IC5, and above — let companies pay and progress senior specialists without forcing them into management. Read Internal Mobility Internal mobility is the practice of filling roles by moving existing employees into them through promotion, lateral transfer, or short-term project moves, rather than hiring from outside. It meets business needs while retaining talent, institutional knowledge, and the investment already made in people. Read Key Hire A key hire is a single recruitment so consequential that it materially affects an organisation’s strategy, performance, or trajectory — typically a leader, founding team member, or rare specialist. Key hires justify greater investment in search, assessment, and closing because the cost of getting them wrong is disproportionate. Read Leadership Development Leadership development is the structured process of building the skills, judgement, and capabilities people need to lead teams and organisations effectively. It includes training, coaching, mentoring, stretch assignments, and succession planning aimed at current and future leaders. Read Learning Management System LMS A learning management system (LMS) is software used to create, deliver, track, and manage training and learning programmes. Organisations use it to host courses, assign and monitor completion, run compliance and onboarding training, and report on skills development across the workforce. Read Mentoring Mentoring is a developmental relationship in which a more experienced person (the mentor) guides a less experienced one (the mentee) over time, sharing knowledge, judgement, and perspective to help them grow. It is typically longer-term, relationship-led, and focused on the whole person and career, rather than on a single task or skill. Read Performance Appraisal A performance appraisal is a structured evaluation of an employee’s work over a defined period, assessing results, competencies, and behaviours against agreed goals and standards. It informs decisions on pay, promotion, development, and role fit, and gives the employee formal feedback on how they are performing. Read Performance Improvement Plan PIP A performance improvement plan (PIP) is a formal, time-bound document that sets out specific performance gaps, the standards an employee must reach, the support the employer will provide, and the consequences of not improving — usually within 30 to 90 days. It is used to give underperforming employees a structured chance to succeed and to record the process. Read Reskilling Reskilling is the process of training employees to move into a substantially different role by teaching them a new set of skills. It differs from upskilling, which deepens skills for a person’s existing role rather than preparing them for a new one. Read Skills Gap A skills gap is the difference between the skills an organisation needs and the skills its workforce currently has. Identifying and closing skills gaps is central to workforce planning, hiring, and training decisions. Read Skills-First Hiring Skills-first hiring is an approach to recruitment that evaluates candidates primarily on their demonstrated skills and ability to do the job, rather than on proxies such as degrees, job titles, or years of experience. It aims to widen the talent pool and improve fit by focusing on what a person can actually do. Read Succession Planning Succession planning is the process of identifying and developing internal talent to fill critical leadership and specialist roles before they fall vacant. It ensures continuity by preparing ready successors for key positions, reducing the risk and disruption when a key person leaves. Read Upskilling Upskilling is the process of teaching employees additional or more advanced skills to improve performance in their current role or progress along their existing career path. It builds on what a person already does, rather than preparing them for an entirely different role. ReadFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between talent management and talent acquisition?
Talent acquisition is about attracting and hiring people into the organisation; talent management is about developing, retaining, and progressing them once they are in. One fills roles; the other grows the people in them.
What is a 9-box grid?
The 9-box grid is a talent-review tool that plots employees on two axes — performance and potential — into nine cells. It helps organisations identify future leaders, flag flight risks, and target development and succession planning.
What is the difference between reskilling and upskilling?
Upskilling deepens someone’s abilities in their current field; reskilling trains them for a different role entirely. Upskilling keeps pace with a changing job; reskilling moves a person to a new one.
Why does internal mobility matter for retention?
Internal mobility lets people grow without leaving, which is one of the strongest defences against attrition. When employees can see a path forward inside the organisation, they are far less likely to look outside for it.