PEOPLE & TALENT STRATEGY
Fortune 500 talent management expertise for mid-sized organizations — without the big-firm overhead. Whether you need someone to run your talent review and succession planning process, or design a system your HR team can manage internally.
When you don’t know who’s ready, who’s at risk, or who’s next
A key leader announces they’re leaving and there’s no successor identified. Your CEO asks about bench strength and nobody has a clear answer. High-potential employees are leaving because they see no development path. Promotion decisions happen based on tenure and availability, not readiness. The talent review process — if one exists at all — is a compliance exercise that doesn’t drive meaningful action. Meanwhile, your competitors are systematically identifying, developing, and retaining the people who will lead their organizations forward. These aren’t problems that fix themselves with time.
Who This Is For
- Organizations that have never conducted a formal talent review — decisions happen reactively when leaders leave
- Companies with succession planning gaps in critical roles and no structured process to address them
- Leadership teams that don’t have a shared language or framework for discussing talent
- Organizations where high-potential employees are leaving because they see no path forward
- Companies past 100 employees that need a structured approach to talent but don’t have specialized HR expertise
- PE portfolio companies needing talent assessment for value creation planning, due diligence, or post-acquisition integration
Two Service Tracks
We offer two approaches depending on whether you need us to run the process or build your internal capability to run it yourselves:
Track A — Execution
We conduct your talent review and succession planning process — facilitating calibration discussions and delivering actionable outputs. Best for companies without the HR bandwidth or expertise to run the process internally.
Track B — System Design
We design the talent management framework and train your HR team to manage it internally — building sustainable organizational capability. Best for companies with capable HR staff ready to own the process long-term.
Our Approach: The Three-Tier Talent Model
We use a practical three-tier model that moves beyond the traditional 9-box grid. This approach focuses on what actually matters for talent decisions: where someone is headed, whether they’re ready, and what evidence supports that assessment.
| Tier | Definition |
|---|---|
| Well-Placed | Currently in the right role for their capabilities and aspirations. Solid performer who is not seeking advancement in the foreseeable future. |
| Promotable / Emerging Talent | Ready for a next-level role within the planning horizon. Shows aspiration, capability, and track record for advancement. |
| Top Talent / High Potential | Multiple career moves ahead; warrants accelerated development investment. |
If your organization has an existing talent framework that leads to useful discussions and outcomes, we can work within it. The goal is effective talent decisions — not framework purity.
Track A: Execution Packages
Executive Team Review — $10,000–$15,000
Best for growing companies implementing their first formal succession plan, or organizations needing to address immediate leadership continuity. Covers 5–10 critical roles (C-suite and direct reports).
What you get: Pre-work interviews with CEO and key stakeholders, definition and validation of critical roles, half-day talent calibration session facilitation, three-tier placement for all assessed individuals, succession depth charts for critical roles, risk assessment (bench strength gaps, flight risk indicators), development recommendations summary, and executive readout presentation. Timeline: 4–6 weeks.
Leadership Pipeline Review — $25,000–$38,000
Best for mid-size companies needing talent visibility across multiple departments or functions. Covers 15–40 roles across 2–3 organizational levels.
What you get: Everything in the Executive Team Review, plus: expanded scope across multiple levels, multiple calibration sessions by function or level, cross-functional talent identification, leadership competency gap analysis, detailed development planning for top talent, and succession planning for director-level and above. Timeline: 6–8 weeks.
Enterprise Talent Review — $55,000–$80,000
Best for larger mid-market companies, multi-location organizations, or companies preparing for significant growth or transition. Covers 50+ roles across the full leadership pipeline.
What you get: Everything in the Leadership Pipeline Review, plus: full leadership pipeline assessment (50+ roles), multi-location coordination and consistency, enterprise-wide talent heat map, strategic workforce planning integration, board-ready succession summary for CEO and direct reports, and 90-day action plan with accountability assignments. Timeline: 8–12 weeks.
Track B: System Design Packages
For organizations building internal talent management capability:
Starter Framework — $15,000–$20,000
Best for companies building their first formal talent review process with capable HR staff ready to own it.
What you get: Three-tier talent model customized to your organization, assessment criteria definitions, talent review discussion guide and facilitation scripts, succession planning templates and depth chart formats, calibration session design and ground rules, HR team training workshop (half-day), manager communication toolkit, and process calendar with governance recommendations. Timeline: 6–8 weeks.
Comprehensive System Design — $38,000–$55,000
Best for companies wanting robust internal capability with hands-on support through the first cycle.
What you get: Everything in the Starter Framework, plus: facilitated first talent review cycle (we run it, your HR team observes and learns), customized competency model, development planning framework, HRIS integration recommendations, HR team certification to run the process independently, and 90-day post-launch support. Timeline: 10–14 weeks.
Enterprise Implementation — $65,000–$95,000
Best for larger organizations with existing HRIS wanting an integrated, scalable talent management process across multiple leadership levels — with sustained advisory support through the first year of operation.
What you get: Everything in the Comprehensive System Design, plus: multi-level system design (executive, director, and manager tiers with distinct calibration approaches), partnership with your HRIS team on talent module configuration, train-the-trainer program for HR business partners, executive team alignment session, integration with your performance management process, and 12 months of advisory support with quarterly check-ins and annual process review. We partner with your HRIS team on system configuration but do not provide HRIS implementation consulting — your internal team or HRIS vendor handles the technical configuration. Timeline: 12–16 weeks for initial implementation, plus 12-month advisory support.
How It Works
Discovery Call
A free 30-minute conversation to understand your situation — organizational size, existing processes (if any), what’s driving the urgency, and whether Execution or System Design is the right track. We’ll recommend a package and scope.
Stakeholder Interviews & Data Gathering
We interview the CEO and key stakeholders, review organizational data (org charts, role definitions, existing performance data), and define the scope of roles to be assessed. This shapes the calibration approach and ensures we’re focused on the roles that matter most.
Calibration & Assessment
For Execution engagements, we facilitate calibration sessions where leadership discusses and places talent using the three-tier model. For System Design, we build the framework and facilitate the first cycle with your HR team learning alongside us.
Deliverables & Action Planning
We deliver succession depth charts, risk assessments, development recommendations, and an executive readout. For System Design, we also deliver the complete framework, templates, facilitation guides, and HR team training — everything your team needs to run the next cycle independently.
Frequently Combined With
Talent management connects directly to several other strategic priorities:
- Fractional CPO & HR Advisory — When talent management is one of several strategic HR priorities that require ongoing leadership. Many Fractional CPO clients include an annual talent review as part of the advisory relationship.
- Executive & Leadership Coaching — When the talent review reveals specific development needs in high-potential or promotable leaders. Coaching is the highest-impact development investment for your top talent.
- Employee Engagement & Retention Strategy — When retention risk is concentrated in your highest-performing populations and you need both a talent strategy and a retention strategy working together.
- Performance Management System Design — Performance data is a critical input to talent reviews. If your performance management system isn’t producing reliable data, the talent review will be built on a weak foundation.
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Common Questions
What’s the difference between Execution and System Design?
Execution means we run the process for you — we facilitate the calibration discussions, produce the outputs, and deliver the results. System Design means we build the framework and train your HR team to run it themselves. Execution is faster and requires less internal HR capability. System Design creates lasting organizational capability. Many clients start with Execution and move to System Design once they see the value and want to sustain it internally.
We already use a 9-box grid. Do we have to switch to your model?
No. If your current framework is producing useful, meaningful discussions and outcomes, we can work within it. We’ll bring the facilitation expertise, calibration rigor, and succession planning methodology — using your existing language and framework. The goal is effective talent decisions, not framework purity.
How much leadership time does this require?
For the Executive Team Review, plan for a half-day calibration session plus 30-minute individual interviews with key stakeholders. For the Leadership Pipeline Review, plan for multiple half-day sessions across 2–3 weeks. The time investment is significant — but it’s the most strategically important conversation your leadership team will have all year.
What happens after the talent review is complete?
The deliverables include development recommendations and succession depth charts — but those only create value if you act on them. We provide a 90-day action plan with accountability assignments so the work doesn’t sit on a shelf. For organizations that want ongoing support, our Fractional CPO & HR Advisory service can provide the sustained leadership to drive execution.