The Talent Funnel: How to Surface Key Human Resources

Abstract Despite the efforts of well‐intentioned HR professionals, talent management remains a silo‐driven, disjointed endeavor that rarely meets the human capital needs of today's organizations. This failing, which calls into question the strategic value of HR, stems from both organization‐oriented shortcomings, such as poor strategy, lackluster processes, and immature management, as well as more contextual issues that speak to the heart of senior leader bias. For years, professional sales organizations have navigated a complex process that virtually mirrors strategic talent management. By incorporating a common business development tool called the sales funnel, talent leaders can learn to navigate their most valuable human resources through the employee life cycle while positively shifting the performance curve for all employees. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.