See Your Talent. Map Your Future.
Executive-facilitated Talent Mapping workshops that turn subjective opinions into strategic workforce intelligence
- Visual Talent Grid for Performance, Potential & Role Level
- Expert Facilitation with 30 Years Experience
- Complete Report & Strategic Recommendations
The Hidden Cost of Talent Blindspots
No Shared View of Talent
Talent data scattered across HR systems, spreadsheets, and manager opinions with no single source of truth.
Inconsistent Ratings
No simple, shared view of who can step into what roles or where the biggest succession gaps really are.
Succession Risk You Can't See
Each leader has their own assessment of their team, but there’s no organization-wide picture. You can’t see patterns, identify gaps, or make strategic decisions without a unified view.
High Performers Going Unnoticed
One manager’s “high performer” is another’s “solid contributor.” Without calibration, your talent data is meaningless and succession planning becomes guesswork.
No Development Priorities
With limited L&D budget, where should you invest? Who needs coaching vs. stretch assignments vs. formal training? You need clarity on development priorities, not scattered requests.
Strategic Workforce Planning Paralysis
How do you plan for growth, restructuring, or transformation without knowing your talent strengths and weaknesses? Strategic plans stall without workforce intelligence.
Your Dream. Our Mission.
The Hidden Cost of Talent Blindspots
You need to know who’s ready to step up, who’s struggling, and where your succession gaps are. But talent conversations stay trapped in individual managers’ heads, ratings vary wildly, and you’re making million-dollar decisions on gut feel.
TMAP: Beyond the 9-Box Grid
A facilitated talent mapping process that creates calibrated, visual, actionable workforce intelligence
Talent Mapping isn’t another spreadsheet exercise. It’s a facilitated executive session where your leadership team collectively assesses and calibrates their talent—creating a shared language, unified standards, and a visual map of performance, potential, and role level across your organization.
Using the TotalTalentIntelligence TMAP dashboard, we go beyond traditional 9-box grids. Instead of just plotting people into static boxes, you get a dynamic, visual grid that shows performance and potential in the context of role level—giving you instant visibility into bench strength, succession gaps, and development priorities.
- Role Level Context: See performance and potential mapped against actual role complexity—not just generic "high/medium/low" boxes
- Visual Organization Map: Instant view of talent distribution across teams, departments, and the entire organization
- Facilitated Calibration: Structured challenge and support process ensures consistent standards and eliminates rating inflation
- Real-Time Discussion: Leaders present their team assessments with peers providing input, creating shared accountability
- Succession Gap Identification: Immediately see where you lack bench strength for critical roles
- Development Prioritization: Clear visibility into who needs coaching, stretch assignments, formal development, or performance management
- Strategic Workforce Intelligence: Data-driven foundation for workforce planning, restructuring, and talent investment decisions
Executive-level outcomes that matter to the board
What You Gain
Transform talent conversation from subjective opinion to strategic intelligence
Visual Talent Map
See your entire organization's talent at a glance: performance, potential, and role level on one dynamic grid that reveals patterns and gaps instantly.
Calibrated Standards
Create shared definitions of performance and potential across your leadership team—eliminating rating inconsistency and enabling meaningful comparisons.
Succession Clarity
Identify exactly where you have strong bench strength and where you're at risk—with clear visibility into readiness for critical roles.
Strategic Workforce Data
Move beyond anecdotes to data-driven talent decisions. Get the intelligence you need for workforce planning, restructuring, and investment prioritization.
Development Priorities
Know exactly where to invest limited L&D resources: who needs coaching, who's ready for stretch roles, who requires performance intervention.
Shared Leadership Accountability
Your executive team leaves with collective ownership of talent development and succession—not just individual managers hoarding information.
How it Works: The TMAP Process
From preparation to actionable report in half a day per leadership group
Pre-Workshop Preparation
(1-2 weeks before) — You receive comprehensive preparation materials explaining the talent mapping process, rating definitions, and expectations. Leaders complete preliminary assessments of their teams on performance, potential, and role level. This ensures the workshop is focused on calibration and discussion, not data entry.
Facilitated Mapping Workshop
(Half-day session) — I facilitate your executive team through structured talent review. Each leader presents their team's talent profile using the TMAP dashboard. Peers challenge or support ratings, ensuring calibration and consistency. We map talent in real-time on the visual grid, identifying patterns, gaps, and succession risks as we go.
Live Visualization & Analysis
(During workshop) — The TotalTalentIntelligence TMAP dashboard displays your talent map live as decisions are made. You see the organization-wide picture emerge in real-time: where you're strong, where you're weak, who's ready to move, who needs development. Immediate strategic insights drive immediate action planning.
Complete Report & Recommendations
(Following the workshop) — You leave with a comprehensive talent mapping report: visual talent grid, succession gap analysis, development priorities, and strategic recommendations. This becomes your roadmap for succession planning, talent investment, and workforce strategy—grounded in calibrated executive consensus, not individual opinion.
Executive-level outcomes that matter to the board
Is TMAP Right For Your Organization?
This facilitated talent mapping process is designed for:
- Executive teams who need a unified view of organizational talent and succession readiness
- Organizations where talent ratings vary wildly between managers and need calibration
- Leadership teams planning for growth, restructuring, or transformation and need workforce intelligence
- Companies with succession risk in critical roles but no clear view of bench strength
- HR leaders who need executive alignment on talent priorities and development investment
- Organizations moving beyond spreadsheets to visual, strategic talent mapping tools
- Leadership teams ready to have honest, calibrated conversations about performance and potential
- Companies with 50+ employees where talent decisions require executive-level coordination
Transforming Organisations with Talent Intelligence
Facilitated by an Expert Talent Strategist
Multi Award Winning Head of Talent, originator of “the talent factory” with 3 decades of talent development experience…
Martin Knowles brings 30 years of award-winning expertise designing and facilitating talent review processes for executive teams across multiple sectors and countries. His career spans senior roles building global succession frameworks, talent intelligence systems, and leadership bench strength with quantified commercial impact.
Martin has facilitated hundreds of talent review sessions with C-suite executives, boards, and senior leadership teams—navigating complex organizational dynamics, ensuring candid calibration, and translating talent conversations into actionable strategic intelligence. His approach combines rigorous structure with executive-level facilitation skill, creating a safe but challenging environment where talent truth emerges.
- 30 years leading Talent, Succession, and Leadership Development in complex organizations
- Designed and implemented global talent architecture and succession frameworks
- Executive coaching with 500+ senior leaders including board-level succession planning
- Expert facilitator of talent review meetings and calibration sessions across sectors
- Creator of TotalTalentIntelligence TMAP dashboard for visual talent mapping
Executive-level outcomes that matter to the board
Workshop Packages
Match your needs and budget…
Single Workshop
One half-day facilitated talent mapping session for a single leadership team (up to 12 leaders assessing up to 50 employees)
Multi-Team Mapping
Multiple half-day sessions across divisions or departments, with organization-wide consolidated report and strategic recommendations
Rolling Quarterly-Annual Reviews
Quarterly talent review cycles throughout the year, including dashboard access, ongoing facilitation, and succession planning integration
Platinum Talent Discovery + Development
Talent and Succession sprints based on your requirements covering: self-assessments, psychometrics, team talent discovery workshops, development, experience, acquisition, onboarding, off boarding and mobility management.
FAQ
Traditional 9-box grids plot performance and potential on a simple 3×3 matrix, losing critical context about role level and organizational complexity. TMAP maps performance and potential against actual role level, giving you instant visibility into whether someone is a high performer relative to their role complexity or ready for bigger scope. You see not just “high potential” but “high potential AND currently in a senior role” vs. “high potential in an early-career role.” This context is essential for succession planning and development prioritization.
A half-day (3-4 hours) for a leadership team of 8-12 leaders assessing 50-100 employees. Larger organizations may need multiple sessions across divisions or departments. The key is focused facilitation: leaders come prepared with preliminary assessments, and we use the workshop time for calibration, challenge, and strategic discussion—not data entry.
I provide comprehensive preparation materials 1-2 weeks before the workshop, including rating definitions, process explanation, and templates. Each leader completes a preliminary assessment of their team members (performance rating, potential rating, role level). This typically takes 1-2 hours per leader. The prep work ensures the workshop focuses on calibration and strategic discussion, not first-draft thinking.
That’s your organizational choice. Some companies conduct talent mapping as a confidential executive process to inform succession and development decisions. Others communicate openly that talent reviews occur and share aggregated outcomes with teams. I’ll guide you on best practices based on your culture, but the workshop itself is a closed executive session to enable candid calibration.
You receive: (1) Visual talent map showing performance, potential, and role level for all assessed employees, (2) Succession gap analysis identifying critical roles with weak bench strength, (3) Development priority matrix showing who needs coaching, stretch assignments, or performance management, (4) Strategic recommendations for talent investment and workforce planning, (5) Calibrated ratings database for ongoing talent management. All outputs are delivered in both dashboard view and comprehensive report format.
The TotalTalentIntelligence TMAP dashboard is used during the workshop for live visualization and calibration. You don’t need to purchase or install software—I provide access for the workshop and deliver all outputs in standard formats (PDF reports, Excel data). If you want ongoing dashboard access for quarterly reviews or integration with your HRIS, that’s available as part of an Annual Program package.
Turn Talent Conversations Into Strategic Intelligence
Book your free TMAP workshop consultation and get the calibrated, visual workforce data your executive team needs to make confident succession and development decisions.
Book A Consultation Today
In person, face to face onsite or virtual by Zoom or MS Teams
Book a 30m call
Click the link to see my calendar and book a 30m introductory call with me today.
Send Me An Email
martin@martinlewisknowles.com
Email me on this address
DM on Linkedin
martin-lewis-knowles
Connect and message me today
Leave a Message for me here:
Book a Call, Message or Email
Be Great to Hear From You
We mostly work remotely using Zoom or MS Teams for 121 meetings, coaching and training services.Â
However, some meetings & training is best face to face and we can deliver onsite training or consulting to suit.
- Intro Calls: Mon to Fri 10am-4pm GMT
- Coaching: Mon to Fri 40m / 60m available
- Bitesize: Mon to Fri 10am-12noon, 2pm-4pm
- Training: Mon to Fri All day Onsite Available
- Consulting: 1-12week Sprints
- Contracting: 3m, 6m, 12m
