It begins this year: The first group of the Baby Boomer population is eligible for their Social Security retirement benefits. The government must be ready to provide financial support for this population. Our health-care system must be ready to provide medical and pharmaceutical resources for this population. Our resorts, vacation sites, and retirement communities must be ready to provide travel and housing services. And our corporations must be ready to provide new leaders and knowledge experts to continue to grow our businesses and economy.

What do organizations know about their company assets? Here is a quick quiz to help you determine your organization's asset database management:

• Can your company provide the number of dollars spent in each previous business year on payroll expenditures?
• Can your company provide the asset identification number and location of every laptop in the organization?
• Can your company provide the address and appraisal information for every building the organization leases or owns?
• Can your company provide pricing information for every product and service marketed and sold by the organization?
• Can your company provide the names of all leaders and key experts who will be eligible to retire over the next five years, and the internal talent that has been identified and is being developed to serve as their successors?

Some companies can answer affirmatively to all five of these questions. But as we look at the U.S. and global corporate economy as a whole, virtually all organizations can provide the information to the first four questions, but not all organizations can provide the information to the last one. As training and human resource professionals, we can make a big impact over the coming years by working with our business leaders to bring the talent management strategy to the same level of diligence we see in our other business data management processes.

As an HR community, we can begin to set standards as to the minimal practices of leadership talent database management corporations should create and maintain as a best practice, just as our financial professionals do with the corporate budget, and our information management professionals do with the technical equipment the company owns, leases, and maintains. What would these standards look like? While each organization’s talent databases would vary by industry, by the maturity of the organization, by location, etc., here are some "standard" talent categories of information every organization should obtain and maintain about their talent:

• Ratio of leaders to individual contributors and the average number of employees per leader at each leadership level (for the purpose of maintaining an effective ratio, both from a cost and performance perspective).
• Internal fill vs. external fill of open and new leadership positions.
• Leaders and other key contributors who will be eligible to retire in the next 5 to 10 years, and their successor pool (names and preparation development plans).
• Retention and vacancy risk percentages for key talent and leaders.
• Names of the leaders and key talent identified to lead and execute on the organization's overall business goals each year (if we only identify and communicate the company goals without communicating the key leaders of each, this is like trying to follow a recipe without knowing the ingredients you will need to be successful in your result).
• Names and talent profiles of leaders and key talent who are ready for lateral career moves, job rotational assignments, and promotional moves in the company (this data may need to include relocation ability, if applicable).
• Tracking information of the leaders and key talent who have experienced a career move each year (to review the effectiveness and volume of developmental job assignments that have taken the place the previous year).
• Competencies and career interests of all emerging leaders, existing leaders, and key talent in the organization.
• Diversity and gender tracking of emerging leaders, current leaders, and key talent populations.
• Percentage of key talent or high-potential individuals who also are listed as successors to one or more leaders in the company (ideally, this metric will be at or near 100 percent to encourage strong career progression and the most effective use of talent in the organization).

In many other training and organizational development actions we take, it can be somewhat difficult and time-consuming to measure the return on investment of the programs we implement. But with talent and succession management, there are some relatively easy ways to measure a return on investment within the first 1 to 3 years of implementing an effective process (be sure to obtain baseline measurements as you begin to plan and execute these programs). The first place you will begin to see your ROI is in the retention of key talent, although this metric is contingent upon these individuals having some knowledge that they have been identified as key talent and are being developed for advancement in the organization.

Second, you can measure a talent management ROI as you begin to see changes in your external vs. internal fill of positions. An effective talent and succession management process will increase the internal fill of leadership talent, resulting in a reduction of external recruiting costs, as well as a shorter time-to-fill period for these positions. In addition, new hire training and resources are not required for internal job candidates, providing another area to find cost reductions and your ROI. Be sure to measure your percentage of internal vs. external leadership position fills (new and existing positions) each year to monitor your results.

This is an exciting time to lead or to be involved in talent management and succession planning, as it continues to emerge in our HR industry. Training and organizational development professionals can prepare for the talent needs of the organization by working with their business leaders to understand their business goals, and asking about the talent that is in place (or that is needed) to ensure effective execution of these goals.

New competency needs are emerging for us as training and development practitioners—the ability to develop and execute talent assessment tools and processes; to facilitate talent review meetings; and to provide special coaching, career progression, and development programs for key talent. 2008 provides a time for us to expand our seat at the business table by working with business leaders to ensure that discussions of key talent and successors take place, and that career and development assignments are executed throughout the year to continue to build the organization’s leadership readiness and talent database.