Any leadership survey will tell you that the priority of skilling and upskilling workforce is always top of mind. It is a given that people thrive in workplaces when they feel invested in. Yet, the connection between organizations prioritizing their talent and taking specific actions towards investments into talent development is often broken. As an organization, do you know when and how to best invest in your workforce?

Talent will move to the front in 2021 strategic planning. What are the critical questions to ask as you prepare your 2021 talent strategy?

Roger Martin’s strategic choice cascade has proven to be a powerful way to connect strategy to execution. The framework was popularized in his book with P&G CEO A.G. Lafley Playing to Win. This free, downloadable tool takes the basic strategic choice cascade and applies it to the strategic and tactical decisions made in talent.

We are now reaching deep into skills and solutions lost a long time ago. Skills replaced by technology and services that are not available. This back to basics notion made me also look for examples of simplicity. "Basic" does not necessarily mean "simple," however, "simple" often means "ingenious." Use this time to dive inwards into the skills of the past and then use those skills to connect with the people you are close to.

Capabilities are a key part of Cascading Choices. For professional services, skills are the key. Skill management should be central to strategic planning.