Much like other markets, the talent marketplace abides by the laws of supply and demand. Yet, talent dynamics are always changing; organizations must balance the need for talent (demand) and the current and prospective talent pool with matching needs (supply) with important cultural implications and external factors.

Every organization can benefit from a proactive, consistent talent management approach that focuses on preparing for and adapting to talent market shifts while maintaining cultural alignment. Although every organization’s talent plan will be unique, here are three insights to win in the talent marketplace:

**1. Understand talent demand.**To get a clear picture of the key roles and competencies that will activate your organization’s business strategy:

• Take stock of forces driving talent demand—customer needs, changing industry dynamics, or new strategic initiatives.

• Note the critical people, leadership requirements, and performance standards supporting the organization’s strategic objectives.

• Analyze your organization’s plans and external trends for potential impacts to future business.

• Define the types of talent that will ensure a capable and diverse organization (in alignment with your organization’s values).

• Identify the necessary capabilities for executing the business plan.

• Define the roles and core skills that will create value for the business.

**2. Understand workforce supply.**To match the potential of your workforce supply with the organization’s talent demands:

• Map external factors that provide context for talent conversations happening within your organization.

• Assess the labor market for employment trends, regional growth projections, educational trends, and availability of diverse talent.

• Look within your existing talent pool to understand current potential and performance.

• Do a talent inventory—gather data on existing skill strengths and gaps relative to strategic, diversity, and capacity needs, as well as anticipated strengths or gaps due to potential turnover, promotions, and retirements.

• Mine the data for opportunities—and focus on roles with the greatest leverage across the organization.

**3. Address talent gaps.**Promoting, developing, and hiring great people are timeless talent strategies. Yet, what’s often overlooked is pulling the thread from business objectives to talent requirements and gaps, then focusing on what your organization needs through targeted efforts to build the talent in roles that will affect business outcomes.

• Promotion: Focus on the teams’ strengths and consider their unique passions, interests, and growth goals when creating talent and succession plans. Use these plans as a key resource in making talent decisions so career development pathways offer leaders a variety of opportunities—ones that address individual growth goals and organizational needs.

• Development: Use skills gaps as foundational opportunities for your organization’s development needs. Pulling through the talent requirements thread to create development systems, programs, and practices that best use the organization’s resources. Focus your efforts on ensuring people can develop the skills, abilities, and leadership capacity to take on new challenges.

• Hiring: Review your company narrative and other talent-attraction “spin” that gets shared with applicants. Ensure your organization isn’t selling “hiring hype” so that applicants have a clear picture of the organization’s authentic culture and the employment relationship they’re entering.

Winning in the talent marketplace requires building rigor into your talent management process. First, understand the organization’s unique dynamics for workforce supply and talent demand to surface strengths, gaps, and overlaps. Then, address those gaps by promoting, developing, and hiring the talent needed. This way, no matter how the talent marketplace shifts next, your organization will be ready.