Listening in leadership is a critical skill. Our solutions go beyond active listening techniques to upskill your team so they truly listen to understand.
Talent Conversations Training
Development conversations with employees should happen more than once or twice a year. Boost engagement, performance, and growth with regular, effective feedback.
Talent Conversations Training — Choose Your Delivery Method
You Deliver
You can use our proven content to deliver an internal workshop on development conversations, either online on in person, whichever you prefer:
Most Turnkey
Deliver targeted training to small groups: Our facilitator course prepares you to host a half-day leadership development workshop on development conversations
Most Scalable
Accelerate development across your organization with an all-access pass to our full library of training workshops, including this talent conversations training
We Deliver
Or, we can incorporate it as part of a larger initiative for your organization:
Most Tailored
Combine with other topic modules and interactive experiences into a customized learning journey
Upskill Your Team With Talent & Development Conversation Skills
Effective Talent Conversations Are Where Development Becomes Real
Managers face relentless demands to meet performance goals, with priorities and challenges shifting constantly.
The key to improving your talent development process is equipping managers to hold meaningful career development conversations and provide regular, effective feedback. When done right, talent conversations engage employees and boost their performance and development. These discussions allow managers to guide their teams toward better outcomes and growth.
And remember, these conversations shouldn’t be limited to performance reviews — they can (and should) happen anytime.
Preparation is crucial for a successful career development conversation. Our talent conversations training offers models that managers can learn and practice to maximize these discussions.
The focus of a talent conversation will vary based on an employee’s performance. Whether they are top talent, solid performers, potential performers, or underperformers, the approach will differ.
Regardless of other formal talent management or leadership development systems, talent conversations are where real development happens. This is the prime opportunity for managers to boost their direct reports’ commitment to the organization and engagement in their work.
Engage Both Leaders and Employees With Effective Talent & Career Development Conversations
Leaders can prepare for and facilitate development conversations with employees using our proven development frameworks:
- Follow our Assessment, Challenge, Support (ACS) model as a strategy to prepare to have a talent conversation.
- Leverage our Attention, Belief, and Connection (ABC) model to demonstrate behaviors necessary to effectively conduct a talent conversation.
- Discover your strengths and areas for opportunities in your coaching style.
Start having better career development conversations at your organization by equipping your team with these talent conversation skills. We can deliver our world-class, research-based talent conversations training — or you can, as it’s available in several delivery options. Contact us to discuss which one is right for your organization.
Why Choose Us for Talent Conversations Training?
At CCL, we’ve shaped the leadership development industry for nearly 6 decades through pioneering research and evidence-based innovation. We’re proud of our extensive expertise and experience serving organizations seeking leadership development strategies and solutions.
As trusted architects of transformation, we partner with clients — from global Fortune 500 companies to regional nonprofits — to help them tackle the leadership challenges they face, including talent conversations. When working with us, your organization can expect:
- Evidence-based leadership training solutions, based on over 50 years of research and decades of experience in leader development
- Collaboration with best-in-class leadership experts who have earned many awards and accolades for our partnerships with clients
- Customized white-glove services tailored to your organization’s needs and drawing insights from one of the largest leadership research databases in the world
- Transformational, personalized programs centered on your leaders’ individual strengths, skills, and real-world challenges
- Access to scalable learning experiences that foster new ways of thinking, expand capacity, and drive sustainable growth across your organization
- Partnership with a mission-driven organization working to advance the practice of leadership worldwide through a belief in the positive ripple effect that leadership development can have on individuals, teams, organizations, and society.
Our approach goes beyond skill-building — we help leaders instill new, deeper ways of thinking. With CCL as your partner for talent conversations training, you gain evidence-based, purpose-driven development that delivers meaningful, measurable, lasting impact for your organization.
What Our Clients Are Saying
As a top-ranked provider of leadership development, we’ve shaped the industry for more than 50 years and are trusted globally to design and deliver solutions that enable individuals and organizations to reach their full potential. Clients around the world — including 2/3 of the Fortune 1000 — have partnered with us for career development conversation skills training, driving remarkable transformations at their organizations.
But don’t just take our word for it — take theirs.
Let’s Discuss Career Development Conversations at Your Organization
Our experts are here to help. Let’s have a conversation about how our talent conversations training could help support your development initiatives.
Related to Talent Conversations Training
Do your people struggle with giving effective feedback? Upskill your team with our feedback training solutions so they’re better equipped to give feedback that works.
Address conflicts in a more productive way: upskill your team with conflict resolution training to improve conflict resolution for leaders.
Development Conversations With Employees: Research & Resources
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Help managers hold more effective talent conversations and give more constructive feedback, and you’ll greatly improve your talent development processes.
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An organization’s culture shows through in the conversations. Improving the quality of conversations can create cascading culture change and better business outcomes.
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Have a difficult colleague? Confrontation may seem scary, but when done correctly, it leads to positive outcomes for everyone involved. Here’s how to get the best results.
Frequently Asked Questions About Talent & Career Development Conversations
What is a talent conversation?
Talent and career development conversations play a critical role in engaging employees and influencing their performance — but only if they are done effectively and frequently. These conversations also allow managers to share feedback that encourages and supports others in adopting behaviors that improve performance, enhance their development, and drive positive outcomes for the organization. Plus, career development conversations are a great time for managers to build commitment and motivation among their direct reports and cultivate a strong feedback culture.
How do you hold development conversations with employees?
Holding a talent conversation with an employee will vary based on how the individual is performing. The focus of the discussion will depend on whether the employee is considered top talent, a solid performer, a potential performer, or an underperformer. If you’re a manager facing an upcoming conversation with an underperforming or difficult employee, remember that this is a great time to help shift behaviors and drive real development. Consider leveraging these 5 steps for tackling difficult conversations.
How do you prepare for a career development conversation?
First, it’s important to understand that development conversations with employees should happen more than once or twice a year. The key to preparing for an effective talent conversation is to leverage our proven development frameworks, including Assessment, Challenge, Support (ACS) and our SBI model for holding regular feedback conversations with employees. By using these tools, managers will be able to help direct reports discover their strengths and areas for opportunity through feedback and coaching.
More questions? Our experts are here to help. Let’s have a conversation!
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