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Meredith Bell is president and co-founder of Performance Support Systems, a software company that has published award-winning assessment and development tools since 1987. Meredith is a major content contributor to Strong for Performance, a unique virtual coaching system for personal and professional development. This online technology combines resources for developing the two core areas and a proven process for building new success habits using a group of support coaches. To learn more, watch a brief overview video and download the free ebook, The Dark Secret of HRD, at: http://www.strongforperformance.com. You can reach Meredith at meredith@ProStarCoach.com.

Meredith Bell

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Mark is a facilitator, trainer and executive coach who has been working with clients world-wide since 1995.  Specializing in sales and leadership development, team development and managing personal change, Mark’s thirty five years of corporate experience includes being a thrice certified professional coach.  Mark has coached executives, sales professionals and leaders in the transportation, information technology, communications and financial services industries to name just a few. Mark is an acclaimed professional facilitator, speaker with five patents pending in the field of organizational culture transformation Mark established a sales training curriculum for professional hires coming into IBM’s Global Services organization.  This required hiring and training a team of instructors and staff to deliver an expanded and accelerated new hire curriculum that trained 1200 professionals annually. This resulted in over $55 million dollars of incremental revenue to the North America organization alone. He was also was the Leadership Portfolio Executive supporting IBM’s Global Services organization.  This entailed identifying, selecting and marketing a robust portfolio of educational offerings in the leadership and relationship fields and becoming certified as an executive coach with a number of IBM C-suite executive clients. As Client Relationship Manager for a leadership development organization, Mr. Meredith delivered an executive development curriculum for a number of different organizations companies including BellSouth, American Express Financial Services, Boeing - McDonnell Douglas, Emory University and the American Cancer Society. He also provided executive development for a number of senior executives ensuring that a multi-million dollar worldwide training budget was prudently invested and executed for over fifty-five thousand employees of a large IT services provider.   Mark was chosen by a large outsourcing provider to facilitate a major culture change initiative for over two hundred leaders and three thousand employees spread over seventeen states. Results to-date includes customer satisfaction improving seven points and employee morale increasing ten percent A graduate of San Jose State University, Mark is a certified Hay McBer executive coach and certified by the Coaches Training Institute. Mark stays busy with community and charitable activities as well as running a successful consulting and coaching practice located in the metropolitan Atlanta Georgia area.

Mark Meredith

At all levels of government (local, state, and federal), the notion of shifting talent management practices to be more skills based has been discussed for years. For just as long, agencies have understood that making this shift successful would require not only a shift in process, but also the technology that supports learning and performance management processes. In this blog, we’ll discuss the differences between “skills” and “competencies,” the benefits of skills-based talent management practices for agencies and workers, and best practices for skills technology adoption. What Are the Differences Between Skills and Competencies?Skills often refer to single proficiencies possessed by an employee, often gained through training and experience. There are both “soft skills” such as emotional intelligence, or “hard skills” such as proficiency in a foreign language. Skills and skill proficiencies may be identified by an employee’s manager or peer, or even the employee themself. Attributing skills to an employee is typically done in a less formal manner than competencies.Competencies are often used to refer to an overarching group of skills, knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes that an employee should possess to be successful. They may be specific to a role or apply across an entire business and are used by organizations in formal performance review processes to set expectations for job roles and levels.Skills Are Integral to HR Digital TransformationAccording to the Academy to Innovate HR, HR digital transformation refers to the digitization of existing HR operations to optimize business processes and enhance employee experiences. Many public sector agencies are well under way in transforming their HR processes, and skills are integral to continuing this effort forward. And for good reason! There are many benefits to moving toward skills-based talent management practices. From an agency perspective, skills-based practices can help:Increase Employee Performance and Satisfaction. Research has shown that employees who are provided with ample learning and growth opportunities are more likely to be actively engaged in their work and report higher levels of job satisfaction. Agencies can leverage skills and skills-related technologies to enhance their learning and growth opportunities by tailoring their catalog to the skills employees are looking to develop and providing training on skills needed for a specific job. Doing so enables the upskilling of the public sector workforce as well as increased employee performance and satisfaction.Improve Workforce Planning and Agility. As technology continues to advance , some jobs are becoming obsolete while others are growing to require more advanced or different skills. This has led to an increased demand for upskilling and reskilling within an organization. By implementing a skills taxonomy and leveraging skills-first strategies, public sector agencies can remain adaptable and stay on top of these changes. Improve Recruiting and Hiring Outcomes. Skills technology makes it easier for recruiters to identify candidates with specific skillsets needed for a job. In addition, it enhances recruiters’ ability to hire and promote internally, fill vacancies more quickly, and retain the company’s top talent and highest performers.From a public sector employee perspective, there are also many benefits to skills-based talent management practices including: Tailored Growth and Development Opportunities. With effective incorporation of skills into learning and development initiatives, individual employees benefit from tailored growth opportunities based on their current skillset and skills they wish to develop. For example, if an employee indicates their desire to enhance their written communication skills, they may receive automatic recommendations for training to take within the learning management system (LMS). By interacting with skills functionality, employees can help find the training they need to succeed and grow in their careers.Upskilling Within a Current Role. According to a LinkedIn study, 48 percent of workers would consider changing jobs just to update their skills. For many, being able to upskill within their current role is an incredibly enticing reason to stay in their current job and avoid the stress of needing to look elsewhere.Expertise Development in New and Emerging Fields. Expertise can increase the value of an employee within the workforce exponentially. Skills technologies enhance employee development, ultimately leading to more experts in burgeoning skillsets and fields.Best Practices for Skills Technology AdoptionBuild a Skills TaxonomyTo implement skills-based practices within an agency, a skills taxonomy should be created that identifies the skills required within that agency, as well as skills already possessed by the workforce. The taxonomy can be expanded by associating critical skills to different job roles and outlining how skills relate to each other.Encourage Employee InvolvementEmployee involvement is critical to successful skilling strategies. Ensuring employee buy-in early in the process will enable agencies to get the most from skills-based functionality and technologies. Also, employees will need to interact with the skills taxonomy to get the most from it. From identifying the skills they possess, to assessing the proficiency of a direct report, employees’ use of skills functionality like the taxonomy will vastly increase its effectiveness. Embrace ChangeImplementing skills-based talent management approaches within a public sector agency may seem like a daunting task but embrace the change! Help employees understand how the change will benefit them individually, as well as the agency, and convey that it’s something to be excited about.

The Importance of Skills-Based Talent Management Practices for Public Sector Organizations

Jann E. Freed, is a Leadership Development and Change Manage­ment Consultant with the Genysys Group. She primarily works with individuals and businesses in the Midwest to transition **—**to get from where they are to where they want to be. She has worked with compa­nies such as Wells Fargo, Principal Financial Group, Vermeer Manu­facturing, Nationwide, and Meredith Corporation. She is professor emerita of business management and the former Mark and Kay De Cook Endowed Chair in Leadership and Character Development at Central College in Pella, Iowa where she joined the faculty in 1981. She earned her PhD from Iowa State University, MBA at Drake University, and undergraduate degree in business manage­ment from Central College. She is the co-author of four books **—**three on continuous im­provement in higher education and a book on learner-centered assess­ment on college campuses. You can learn more about Jann at www.JannFreed.com.

Jann Freed

Meridith Elliott Powell is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, and business strategist. Her most recent book is Who Comes Next? Leadership Succession Planning Made Easy; mere@valuespeaker.com.

Meridith Elliott Powell

October 2022 - TD Magazine

Companies must adjust their approach to keep up with workplace changes.

7 Succession Planning Strategies for the Modern Workforce

It’s stressful to be a sales manager. You’re juggling more things than ever: recruiting and onboarding reps, coaching and developing them, collaborating with marketing, preparing reports, and more.With all that, it isn’t surprising that sales managers are turning to AI for help. In fact, 100 percent of sales leaders now use generative AI to drive performance and growth, according to Allego’s 2025 AI in Revenue Enablement Report. And 63 percent of those leaders say AI has improved coaching quality. AI can help in many ways, including making coaching more targeted and scalable. AI-powered dialog simulators provide real-world role-play exercises, and conversation intelligence analyzes sales calls, identifying skills gaps and training needs.But the fact is, and Allego’s soon-to-be-released neuroscience research proves this, AI alone is not sufficient for training and coaching. Human insight remains critical for engagement and behavior change.That means you must take an integrated approach, blending AI with human expertise and guidance.Why AI Is Transforming Sales CoachingOver the past year, AI’s capabilities have grown exponentially. More sales teams have tapped that power and are seeing clear benefits. The 2025 AI in Revenue Enablement Report shows big wins:Improved coaching quality (63 percent)Faster onboarding (44 percent)Improved sales confidence (20 percent)Allego’s neuroscience research backs this up: Sellers who received AI coaching remembered 50 percent more than those who received coaching from a human.Human Coaching Still Wins in Several AreasThat same neuroscience research, however, also shows where human coaching stands apart. Sellers anticipating human feedback felt more motivated, relaxed, and emotionally aligned during training. Those emotional states matter because they strengthen trust between coach and seller, making reps more likely to act on feedback.Human coaches can also pick up on subtleties AI might miss, such as tone of voice, body language, and hesitation. They can also adapt in real time to a rep’s emotional state, learning style, or deal nuances.This agility is particularly important when:A seller needs encouragement after a lost deal.Complex, relationship-driven strategies are required.A rep’s performance issues are tied to confidence or mindset.In those moments, empathy, encouragement, and tailored guidance can make the difference between short-term improvement and lasting behavior change.The takeaway from both sets of research is clear: AI and human coaching aren’t in competition. They’re complementary. 5 Best Practices for Blending AI and Human CoachingTo get the best of both worlds, design your coaching program so it integrates AI’s efficiency with the human touch. 1. Let AI handle the heavy lifting on data and analysis. Use AI to review call recordings, identify skills gaps, and surface performance patterns. This frees you to focus on coaching conversations.2. Use AI for structured, consistent feedback. AI can provide standardized, repeatable feedback that reinforces key selling skills. Follow it up with human-led discussions to add context and address nuances.3. Apply human coaching to motivate, build trust. Save one-on-one time for moments that matter most, such as helping a rep bounce back after a loss. That’s when empathy and encouragement make the biggest difference.4. Personalize learning with a hybrid approach. Combine AI’s personalized recommendations with your understanding of each rep’s strengths, challenges, and learning style. That’s how you make feedback stick.5. Alternate between solo and observed practice. Give reps space to practice with AI-driven role-play, then schedule live coaching sessions to deepen learning.Bringing It All TogetherAI can make coaching faster and more consistent, while human coaches bring the empathy and adaptability that inspire lasting change. When you combine the two, you get the best of both worlds: scalable feedback and genuine connection.

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