As leaders juggle increasingly complex and demanding responsibilities, they can substantially differ in their commitment and approach to managing talent. While some leaders proactively identify, develop, retain, and deploy talent, others neglect these activities. That can be detrimental for organizations amid ongoing skills shortages and rising employee expectations for career development, continuous learning, and recognition.

A strategic organizational talent management approach, bolstered by leader buy-in, is a powerful mechanism to develop greater operational agility by enabling more fluid and flexible workforces. Deliberate approaches and tools can facilitate talent mobility and enhance strategic deployment by dynamically matching employees’ skills with organizational needs.1 For example, research has found that internal talent markets can increase employee engagement and reduce turnover, but their effectiveness depends on collaboration beyond functional silos — a deep cultural shift for many organizations.2 Leadership commitment to managing talent is paramount.

Here, we will introduce the Talent Leadership Model, developed through our interviews with middle managers, which describes the varying roles and behaviors that leaders exhibit when managing talent. (See “Four Approaches to Talent Management.”) Senior executives can use this framework to better understand the talent leadership styles of their organization’s team leaders, as well as their own approaches, in order to help managers become more effective contributors to an enterprisewide talent strategy.

Four Talent Management Approaches

Our model describes four different talent management approaches along two key dimensions: leaders’ strategic depth (tactical or strategic) and scope of impact (across their own team or the whole organization).

1. The Bystander. These managers take a detached approach to managing talent, demonstrating little engagement in talent identification and development, or showing minimal commitment to the organization’s talent strategy. Bystanders often focus on short-term, operational needs, neglecting more long-term, strategic considerations, such as the development of a talent pipeline.Stefan Jooss is a senior lecturer in management at the University of Queensland Business School. Anthony McDonnell is dean and chair of human resource management at Cork University Business School at University College Cork. Agnieszka Skuza is an associate professor in instruction, organizations, strategy, and international management at the Naveen Jindal School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas.