Talent management, skills and performance: a complete guide to appraisal, development and succession

1. What talent management is and how it works

Talent management is the system by which an organisation establishes which skills it needs, measures those it has, develops its people, assesses performance and potential, and prepares internal mobility and succession. It works as a cycle: each step produces data that the next step uses. It also includes external acquisition, but its core is the growth of the people already in the company and the continuity of roles.

Talent management and personnel administration: where the difference lies

Personnel administration manages the employment relationship: contracts, attendance, payslips, statutory obligations. Talent management works on a different question: will the people on the payroll be able to do the work that will be needed in two years' time? It requires data that administration does not collect, such as the level of a skill and the date it was measured. According to the employers surveyed by the World Economic Forum, 39% of workers' core skills will change by 2030, and 63% cite the skills gap as the main barrier to business transformation (Future of Jobs Report 2025, pages 32 and 6). These are employers' estimates, not measurements.

The internal talent life cycle

The cycle stalls when a step does not hand its data on to the next, for example when training plans are drawn up without having read the gaps, or when the succession chart names candidates whom nobody has ever assessed for the target role.

EcosAgile working model, not a standard.

Talent acquisition and talent development

Talent acquisition meets the need from outside, talent development from within, by growing the people already there. Both start from the gap between required and available skills; the choice between training, moving and hiring is covered in the section on the skill gap. For hiring, see the guide to skills-based selection when the gap has to be filled externally.

The role of HR, managers and individuals

HR owns the method: model, scales, cycle calendar, consistency across departments. The manager owns the judgement: observes the work, assesses, discusses gaps and development. The individual declares what they can do, including what their manager does not see, and signs their own development plan. Our position: when one of the three is missing, the cycle produces completed forms and no decisions. The first step they share is a shared competency model.

2. Competency model: how to build a skill taxonomy

A company competency model is the shared list, arranged in a hierarchy, of the knowledge, abilities and behaviours needed in the organisation's roles, each with proficiency levels described in observable terms. The skill taxonomy is its structure: areas, categories, individual competencies and levels. It works if every competency is precise enough to be assessed and linked to roles, assessment, training and development.

Areas, categories and levels: an example of a company competency model

The area groups by nature (technical, transversal), the category by domain, and the competency is the node that is actually assessed. The level says how well the person has mastered it and must be described with an observable behaviour, otherwise two assessors give the same person different scores. A well-known progression is the Dreyfus model, from novice to expert. A competency written as “Communication” cannot be assessed; “Presenting a bid to a purchasing committee” can.

EcosAgile working model, not a standard.

Technical skills, transversal skills and knowledge

Technical skills concern the processes, products and tools of the trade; transversal skills describe how people work: organising, communicating, deciding. Knowledge is what one knows (a regulation, a product catalogue, a language) and is kept separate from competencies because it is verified differently.

ESCO and company competencies

As a terminological reference for company competencies, ESCO, the European classification of occupations and skills, is useful: in version 1.2.1 it contains 13,939 concepts on skills and competences, divided into knowledge, language skills, skills and transversal skills, in 28 languages. It serves to give stable names to the entries; it should not be adopted in full. It can be consulted at the ESCO classification of skills and competences.

Soft skills in the competency model

Soft skills are the model's transversal competencies: better a few, tailored to each role, than ten generic entries that are the same for everyone. For a department head, “conflict management” means putting a shift back together when two people do not want to work together; for a project manager, keeping a client and a supplier who disagree at the same table.

Competencies linked to roles and positions

The model becomes operational when each role declares its competencies, each with two distinct values: how important it is for the role and at what level it is needed. This is the same profile that feeds the job profile and position requirements in recruiting. The common scale, the “not assessable” value and the anchors are covered in the section on skills assessment.

Qualifications and certifications

Licences, authorisations and certifications have rules of their own: you either hold them or you do not, they are proved by a document and they expire. The expiry date is the date obtained plus the qualification's period of validity, and the renewal reminder comes earlier. A forklift operator with an expired authorisation is a problem that no assessment will bring to light.

3. Skill mapping and skills matrix: how to map skills across the company

Skill mapping is the survey of the competencies present in the company, their level and how they are distributed across people, teams and roles, compared against the competency model. The result is read in a skill matrix, a table of people by competencies with the level in each cell. It is used to see coverage, dependence on a single person, and areas to develop or acquire.

How to map the skills you have

1. Choose the scope: better one department or one family of roles done well than the whole company done in a hurry.
2. Link to each role in scope the expected competencies, with importance and required level.
3. Collect the levels: the person's self-assessment, the manager's assessment and, if needed, HR verification.
4. Compare the sources and discuss wide differences before consolidating the data.
5. Publish the matrix to those who need to use it and set when it is updated.

Employee skill matrix by team and role

Example with fictitious data: a technical support team of five people, scale from 0 to 4, NV = not assessable. The last row shows the level the role requires.

EcosAgile working model, not a standard.

The matrix is read by column. On equipment diagnostics only Anna and Carla are at the required level: if Anna goes on holiday in August, the difficult calls fall to a single person. Bruno's “NV” in English points to data to be collected before deciding on any training.

Skill inventory and internal search

The skill inventory is the searchable archive of the competencies recorded. The typical question, “who has at least 3 in diagnostics and 2 in English, in Verona?”, is a search across several competencies, with weights and filters by site, unit or role, and results ranked by match. It is the same data needed for staffing by skills and capacity on projects.

History and evolution of skills

Every level must be recorded with the date of the assessment. A “3 in software configuration” recorded two years ago on a version that has since been retired is worth little. The history shows whether this year's training has moved the levels.

Our position: before widening the mapping, it pays to align scales and anchors, because if “3” means “autonomous” in one department and “good” in another, comparing teams is misleading. More ideas in the article on skill mapping and reskilling.

4. Employee skills assessment and self-assessment

Employee skills assessment measures the level each person holds in each competency of the model, using a common scale. It can be completed by the person (self-assessment), the manager or HR, alone or in combination. Its scope is wider than that of the appraisal, because it also includes competencies that the role does not use today, and it is usually repeated at regular intervals.

Who completes it and what each contributes

Self-assessment brings out what the manager does not see, such as a course taken at the person's own expense; the manager brings observation of the year's work; HR checks that the scale is used in the same way everywhere. Also asking for last use and years of experience distinguishes “I know it” from “I am using it”. The data feeds the skills matrix.

Assessment vs appraisal: the difference

EcosAgile working model, not a standard.

Insight from the webinar: what is the difference between assessment and appraisal? Assessment covers a wider range of competencies, including those useful in the future, and is usually periodic. Chapter “Skills assessment and self-assessment”, minute 13:16 (in Italian).

Proficiency scales and behavioural anchors

A level label on its own produces judgements that look comparable and are not: each level must be described with an observable behaviour, written for the specific competency. A “not assessable” value is also needed, separate from zero: someone who has never had the chance to negotiate is not at level zero, they have a missing data point.

EcosAgile working model, not a standard: the anchors are rewritten for each competency.

How to reduce inconsistency between assessors: calibration

Two managers who give a “3” for the same competency often do not mean the same thing. What helps is a concrete example for the extreme levels, a comparison of distributions by assessor, and a calibration session on the cases where self-assessment and the manager differ by two levels or more. The purpose of the session is to bring out different criteria applied to the same scale, leaving each manager their own judgement.

Our position: self-assessment is enough for the first map and for internal search, but a decision on a role, mandatory training or mobility requires at least the manager's confirmation. And the assessment score should not be linked to bonuses, otherwise those completing it tend to overrate themselves.

In EcosAgile: assessment has three separate types (Self Assessment, manager, HR), to be used alone or combined. In self-service the person enters level, last use and years of experience and the manager approves, with no spreadsheets. Each competency is enabled for self-assessment, HR evaluations and appraisal, so the same competency model applies across all processes. It can be seen on the EcosAgile Talent page and tried on your own model with a demo.

5. Skill gap analysis and skill mismatch: how to identify and close them

A skill gap analysis is the comparison, competency by competency, between the level required by a role or a future objective and the level recorded in the people who are meant to cover it. Each gap is closed in one of four ways: training within the role (upskilling), retraining for another role (reskilling), moving someone who already has the competency (internal mobility) or hiring. The choice depends on urgency, depth of the gap and internal availability.

Person-role gap and team-objective gap

The person-role gap comes from the assessment: the level required by the role profile minus the level recorded for the person. It is used in the development discussion. The team-objective gap looks at the group: how many people must have a competency, at what level, by when.

Example with fictitious data: for the June product line, three technicians at level 3 on the new firmware are needed and there is one: a team gap of two people.

Skill gap and skill mismatch: the difference

A skill gap is a distance measured on one competency. A skill mismatch is the misalignment between available and needed competencies, including those that are present but not used. Quantitative mismatch concerns the number of people, qualitative mismatch the type or level: the first is often corrected through mobility, the second through training. Causes and other forms: how to overcome skill mismatch in the company (in Italian).

Upskilling and reskilling: differences, internal mobility, recruiting

Upskilling develops new or deeper competencies in the current role; reskilling prepares for a different role. Internal mobility moves someone who already has the competency to where it is needed. Recruiting brings it in from outside.

When to train, retrain, move or hire

EcosAgile working model, not a standard: the timings are orders of magnitude.

Our position: for a critical gap, the first question is how much time is available, not how much the course costs. If the role must be working within three months and nobody internally is close to the level, training alone is not enough. In other cases, the internal search comes before the external one. The training step is covered in learning and training needs.

The context: WEF 2025 and the Pact for Skills

According to the employers surveyed for the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025, out of 100 workers, 59 will need training by 2030; 85% will prioritise upskilling and 50% plan to move people from declining roles to growing ones (p. 6). These are the respondents' estimates, not measurements.

In Europe, the framework is the European Commission's Pact for Skills, launched on 10 November 2020 as the first flagship action of the European Skills Agenda, which encourages signatories to make concrete upskilling and reskilling commitments.

In EcosAgile: the Ranking by Role shows the gap between the competencies and qualifications required by the role and those of the people, with a minimum threshold and a choice of source (self-assessment or internal evaluations); the person-role radar shows the share of qualifications met. In the 2024 webinar, from the gap the system suggests recommended courses and lets you enrol the person, without switching tools.

6. Performance management and appraisal: what it is and how to run a performance review

Performance management is the ongoing process that keeps objectives, behaviours, competencies, feedback and development connected throughout the year. Appraisal is its structured moment: an evaluation plan defined for a population, a period, content (objectives, competencies, criteria) and participants (the person appraised, appraisers, approvers). Reducing performance management to the year-end form means discovering in December problems that could still have been corrected in March.

What an appraisal plan is

A plan sets the rules before the appraisal begins: who is appraised, who appraises, which sections make up the form, with which scales, by which dates, who approves the final result. One plan is built for each population with different needs, instead of a single form with thirty items. Objectives with KPIs, weights and thresholds are covered in objectives and KPIs.

Appraisal by objectives, competencies, criteria or 360 degrees: which model for which population

EcosAgile working model, not a standard.

How to run a performance review: annual cycle and continuous check-ins

The annual cycle remains useful as a closing point, but on its own it concentrates everything into a few weeks: anyone who appraises once a year reconstructs twelve months from memory. One or two interim check-ins, brief and documented, shift the conversation to what can still be changed; development actions follow within a month of the review.

Appraisers and approvers

Who appraises and who approves are different roles. The principal appraiser, usually the line manager, writes the judgement; other appraisers, such as a project sponsor, bring a different point of view; the approver checks consistency and completeness without rewriting the judgement. The self-appraisal is completed first, so the person does not simply confirm a mark that has already been given. Forms remain accessible only to those with a role in the process: the Italian Data Protection Authority (Garante per la protezione dei dati personali) has called for confidentiality where forms were handed over unsealed. The regulatory framework is in the section on AI in talent management.

Our position: a plan with fewer items, chosen for that population, produces better-reasoned judgements than a complete form filled in in a hurry.

Insight from the webinar: how is an appraisal plan built? You define a model with rules, logic and a population, including 360-degree ones, and you do not use every available item. Chapter “The appraisal plan”, minute 24:17 (in Italian).

In EcosAgile: appraisal is organised into Plan (rules and content), Appraisal (one per person, with appraisers and status) and Evaluations, with several plans in parallel for different populations. The form combines objectives, competencies, criteria, free topics and narrative evaluation; with role-linked competencies it builds itself from the model. Appraisers can also be assigned in bulk, and automatic notifications and reminders help HR close the campaign on time. It can be seen on the page for the EcosAgile Talent performance appraisal software and tried on your own population with a demo.

7. Objectives, KPIs and MBO: how to set measurable performance objectives

A performance objective is measurable when it has an expected result, a KPI with a formula and data source, a minimum threshold, a target, a weight in the total and a deadline. Employee KPIs and weights make the measurement comparable. MBO, management by objectives, uses this measurement and can link it to a reward system: the decision on the bonus, however, remains a separate step, with its own criteria.

How to set measurable objectives

Before the period begins, an objective's sheet states what is to be achieved, with which indicator, from which system the data comes, the starting point, the minimum value and the full value, and the deadline. Three to five objectives per person are manageable; with eight, those weighted at 5% end up ignored.

Individual and team objectives

An individual objective should be set on what the person genuinely controls: the margin on a bid depends on the salesperson, while the revenue of an area with four salespeople depends on all of them. A team objective, with a modest weight that is the same for everyone, rewards collaboration without diluting accountability.

Weights, thresholds and results: an example of an objectives sheet with KPIs

EcosAgile working model, not a standard.

Example with fictitious data: below the threshold 0%, at the threshold 50%, at the target 100%, linear in between, 100% above the target. New customers: 50% + 50% × (460,000 − 400,000) / (500,000 − 400,000) = 80%, that is 32 points with a 40% weight. The response time, 6 days against a threshold of 5, scores zero.

Quantitative and qualitative objectives

A quantitative objective has a number that comes from a system; a qualitative one is verified through evidence defined in advance, such as a plan that has been delivered and discussed. The way of working belongs to the competencies and criteria of the appraisal, not to a KPI.

Linking objectives to reward systems without confusing performance and pay

Our position: the objectives score is an input to the pay decision, not the decision itself. Budget, position within the pay band and internal equity also weigh on the bonus. Keeping the two steps separate, with different dates and owners, protects the development side. Which progression criteria to make accessible is covered in the guide on pay transparency and progression criteria.

In EcosAgile: appraisal objectives can be structured, with priorities, KPIs and a percentage weight, or narrative; the system totals the weights and calculates the objectives score. The objective type is configurable, for example strategy, role or personal OKRs. From self-service, the manager follows the objectives of direct and indirect reports. Objective assignment and acceptance can be seen in an EcosAgile Talent demo.

8. Continuous feedback and 360-degree employee appraisal

Continuous feedback is the set of short, frequent conversations that accompany the work between one appraisal cycle and the next; 360-degree employee appraisal collects in a structured way the views of the manager, peers, direct reports and the person themselves. Both work only with shared criteria, a declared development purpose and clear rules on who reads what.

In January, a manager writing forty forms in a row mostly remembers the last two months; a few notes recorded during the year, after a project is completed or a negotiation is lost, bring dated facts to the discussion instead of impressions. The cultural side is covered in the article on feedback culture and peer-to-peer dialogue (in Italian).

Manager feedback, peer review, upward feedback and self-appraisal compared

EcosAgile working model, not a standard: the frequencies are adapted to the company's cycle.

Rules for using the data in 360-degree feedback

If the 360 is used to judge, respondents tend to protect themselves: for this reason the rules are written down and communicated before collection opens.

1. Declared purpose: the 360 serves development, which is also its prevailing use, while using it for pay and promotions is controversial. If the company also wants to use it in performance appraisal, it says so beforehand and explains with what weight.
2. Anonymity where provided for: peer and upward feedback are normally anonymous, with a minimum response threshold below which the data is not shown separately (for example three). The manager's feedback remains signed.
3. Never punitive use: an isolated comment does not justify a disciplinary measure, and no appraiser is sought out or identified for what they wrote.
4. Shared criteria: questions are tied to the role's competencies and observable behaviours, not to judgements about character.
5. Separation from pay: the 360 result does not automatically feed into a financial decision; the link with objectives and bonuses is covered in objectives, KPIs and MBO.

Appraisals and judgements are personal data: privacy notices, role-based access and automated tools are covered in the section on AI, data and accountability.

Self-appraisal and the development discussion

The self-appraisal comes before the manager's and the discussion starts from the differences; a frequently cited study on the 360 (Yammarino and Atwater, 1993) reports self-ratings that are on average higher than those given by others. Where the person rates themselves higher, an example is requested. The discussion closes with two or three concrete points, which become the first lines of the individual development plan.

In EcosAgile: 360-degree appraisal involves the manager, peers and direct reports in the same appraisal plan, including anonymous evaluation if the plan provides for it. In self-service, the person appraised sees only the evaluations from the enabled types of appraiser, and only from the moment the evaluation is submitted, so the system applies the visibility decided for the 360. It can be seen on the EcosAgile Talent page.

9. Potential, high potentials, talent pool and the 9-box matrix

Potential is a person's capacity to sustain broader roles or responsibilities in the future; performance measures today's results in today's role. An excellent specialist may not want to lead a team. The talent pool and the 9-box matrix place the two dimensions side by side so they can be discussed together, not to classify people once and for all.

Performance and potential: the difference and why they are assessed separately

Performance has a documentary basis: objectives, KPIs, appraisal outcomes. Potential is a forecast, to be declared with its evidence. The most frequent mistake is to infer it from performance: whoever closes the year well ends up at the top through inertia. For this reason the two judgements sit in separate sections, and the nine-box guide of the Australian Public Service Commission (2015) asks for each axis to be assessed separately.

High potentials: how to identify them and with what criteria

A high potential is identified from behaviours observed over time and from several sources, not from a single cycle or the opinion of a single manager. Criteria for the session:

• Results in line with or above expectations for at least two cycles
• Speed of learning in new situations
• Declared interest in broader responsibilities
• Ability to work outside their own remit
• Behaviours consistent with the competency model
• Evidence from at least two appraisers, including 360-degree feedback

Criteria and table of the nine cells: EcosAgile working model, not a standard.

The 9-box matrix of performance and potential: a calibration tool, not a verdict

The 9-box matrix takes up the nine-cell scheme of the GE-McKinsey matrix, originally devised for business units, and crosses three levels of performance with three of potential. It is useful in the calibration session: managers compare proposals against the same criteria and correct biases such as the halo effect of a single success or leniency towards those who resemble the appraiser. A placement is a dated hypothesis, to be reviewed at the next cycle and not to be communicated as a label.

The talent pool gathers the people whom calibration identifies as candidates for broader roles or critical positions. Joining the talent pool is not a career promise and leaving it is not a sanction; the list feeds succession planning.

Flight risk and talent retention

Alongside potential, flight risk is estimated as probability times impact: high impact and rising probability call for a conversation about aspirations within a few weeks. Talent retention is among the talent management KPIs; for estimates proposed by automated systems, see the section on AI and human oversight.

In EcosAgile: in the appraisal analysis dashboard, the Talent Matrix crosses performance and potential in a 3×3 grid with the number of people per cell, and the Risk Matrix crosses probability and impact of leaving; from both you can drill down to the people and their development records. In calibration, HR and managers look at the same grid, fed by the evaluations already collected. The axes adapt to the company's terminology and the high-potential area includes the talent map.

10. Individual development plan, mentoring and career paths

An individual development plan (IDP) is the document that translates a person's competency gaps, aspirations and potential into verifiable actions, each with an owner, a deadline and evidence of completion. It brings together training, on-the-job experience, mentoring and periodic reviews, and links to the possible career paths without promising a promotion.

Individual development plan: a template example

The rows of the plan come from three sources: the person-role gap that emerged from the skill gap analysis, the points agreed in the development discussion, and the person's position in the performance and potential matrix. Three or four areas are enough.

EcosAgile working model, not a standard.

Actions, milestones and reviews

Each action has an interim milestone and a review set in the calendar, normally at three and six months. At the review, the evidence is examined: the budget presented, the return note, the change seen by the manager. A missed action is rewritten with a new date or removed, noting the reason.

To balance the actions, the 70-20-10 model of the Center for Creative Leadership is cited: on-the-job experience, interaction with others, structured training. The percentages come from executives' self-reports and the empirical basis is weak (Clardy, 2018): it is a reminder not to reduce the plan to a list of courses.

Mentoring, tutoring and sponsorship

• Mentoring: a more experienced person, usually outside the reporting line, supports development through regular meetings on topics chosen together.
• Tutoring: hands-on support in a specific role or activity, typical of onboarding or a change of duties, for a defined period.
• Sponsorship: a senior executive puts themselves on the line to put the person forward for assignments and opportunities; it is for those who are already ready and lack visibility.

Company career paths and internal mobility

A company career path describes the possible sequences of roles and the requirements for moving from one to another, vertically within the same job family or laterally towards another function. Internal mobility works if the requirements are visible and open positions are offered internally first. Roles and paths within the organisational structure are covered in the guide on roles, competencies and career paths in the org chart; the internal mobility rate is among the talent management KPIs.

In EcosAgile: development plans sit in the Talent module alongside the talent map and succession plans, and generate reminders that can be viewed in the Talent Calendar, where HR and managers find milestones and reviews. The Mentoring area shows mentors, mentees and people without a mentor; from the Talent Matrix you can drill down to development records. To see it on your own roles you can request an EcosAgile Talent demo.

Insight from the webinar: how is a development plan built for a high potential? With actions, future positions, development areas and periodic reviews, normally spanning several years: chapter “Talent map, development plans and succession”, minute 44:34 (in Italian).

11. Succession planning: what it is and how to identify critical positions

Succession planning is the process by which an organisation identifies critical positions and prepares, for each, one or more successors with an estimated readiness time and dated development actions. It works if the criticality criteria are written before the names, if readiness rests on consistent assessments, and if the plan is reviewed every year and after every significant event.

What a key position is and how to identify critical positions

A key position is one whose vacancy would put customers, operational continuity or strategy in difficulty. Grade is not enough: the maintenance department head of a continuous-process plant may weigh more than a director with three deputies. The criteria:

• impact of a vacancy on customers, continuity or obligations to third parties
• scarcity of the competency, inside and outside the company
• time needed to replace the person
• concentrated knowledge: relationships, undocumented know-how
• flight risk of the current holder of the position
• weight of the position in the plans for the coming years

The list should be kept short: if a third of the org chart is “critical”, no position receives attention. The method, seen from the structure side, is in the article on written criteria for identifying critical roles (in Italian).

Successors, readiness and bench strength

For each key position the successors are listed along with the readiness of each: ready now, ready in 1-2 years, ready in 3 years or more. The estimate starts from the gap between the person's competencies and those of the role and from the judgement on potential discussed in calibration, covered in potential and the 9-box matrix.

Bench strength measures the bench: how many successors are ready now relative to the critical positions. The summary KPI, the successor coverage rate (succession coverage), is in Talent analytics and KPIs.

Succession matrix: position, successors, readiness, gap, action

The matrix and readiness levels are an EcosAgile working model; ISO/TS 30433 uses ready now, 1-3 years and 4-5 years.

Our position: a name without a dated action does not make a position covered. Every action in the matrix goes into the person's development plan, with an owner and a review date.

When the succession plan is reviewed

The ordinary review is annual, after the appraisal cycle closes. It is reviewed immediately in case of announced resignations or retirements, reorganisations, divestments or successors who change role.

Succession and workforce planning

Workforce planning estimates which roles and how many people will be needed; succession planning works on individual critical positions, and those without internal successors enter the hiring plan. The link is covered in the guide on org charts and workforce planning.

In EcosAgile: the Talent area has dedicated entries for succession plans and their analysis, alongside the talent map and development plans. In the appraisal plan, potential, with future positions by unit or department, and flight risk can be activated. The Risk Matrix crosses probability and business impact of leaving, with drill-down to the people: in the session you start from those who weigh most and are most likely to leave. It can be seen in EcosAgile Talent for development and succession.

12. Learning & Development: how to link skill gaps, training needs and training

Company training needs are the reasoned list of competencies to develop, for whom and how urgently; they arise from measured competency gaps, the evolution of roles, the objectives of development plans and legal obligations. The training plan links each need to a course, participants, a priority and a check on the outcome.

Training needs: from competency gap to the need to be met

The most solid starting point is the gap between the competencies required by the role and those recorded in assessment; when it is best to train and when to move or hire is covered in the part on skill gap, upskilling and reskilling. To this are added the need indicated in the appraisal, development plans and mandatory requirements. A need with no reference competency is hard to verify after the course.

Individual and population training plans

The individual plan covers the courses a person is missing, for example a new shift leader, with the date by which they are needed; the population plan covers a group with the same need, such as technicians after a new product line.

Elective, mandatory and funded training

Elective training develops competencies chosen by the company or the person; mandatory training derives from law or contract and follows renewal deadlines: for safety, see the guide on mandatory health and safety training. Funded training covers the costs: the joint inter-professional funds (Fondi paritetici interprofessionali), established by Article 118 of Law 388/2000, finance continuing training for member companies, with voluntary and revocable membership. Funded sessions are flagged already at the design stage.

Training needs matrix: gap, course, priority, participants, verification

EcosAgile working model, not a standard.

Learning management and talent management: catalogue, sessions and questionnaires

The catalogue links each course to the competencies it targets; the session is the individual delivery; the questionnaire collects satisfaction feedback.

How to evaluate the effectiveness of training

Our position: a course born from a gap is judged on the gap, and classroom satisfaction is not enough to tell. After three to six months the assessment is repeated or the manager is asked for a judgement; if the level has not changed, the course is reviewed. The indicator is in Talent analytics and KPIs.

Insight from the webinar: how do you go from a competency gap to a training action? In the 2024 webinar, from the person-role gap the system suggests recommended courses and the person is enrolled from there: chapter “Gap analysis and recommended courses”, minute 39:14 (in Italian).

In EcosAgile: training management starts from the catalogue, where each course is linked to the competencies it develops and marked as elective or mandatory. Mandatory courses by assignment, role or group enter the person's plan automatically, and the Compliance dashboard shows who is not compliant and for which obligation. Requests from HR, managers or employees, bulk enrolments, funded sessions, satisfaction feedback and costs all sit in a single system. The detail is on the page for EcosAgile Learning for training management.

13. Talent analytics: talent management and performance management KPIs

Talent management KPIs measure whether the process covers what is needed, not how many activities have been carried out. A set of 10-12 indicators is enough: skill coverage and critical gaps, appraisal completion and quality, progress of development plans, internal mobility, successor coverage and bench strength, talent retention, training hours and cost, training effectiveness and compliance. Each should be written with a formula, frequency, owner and reading rule, before the first calculation.

ISO 30414:2025 and the technical specifications: what they say and what they do not

The reference for human capital reporting is ISO 30414:2025, published in August 2025, with eleven areas including mobility and succession and skills and development. The specific indicators are in the ISO/TS 30428 (training), 30433 (succession), 30437 (learning and development) and 30421 (turnover and retention) technical specifications. In the table the name of the indicator from the ISO specifications is used; the formulas are an EcosAgile working model.

The talent management KPI table

EcosAgile working model, not a standard. The “Reference” column says whether the indicator's name appears in a standard.

Calculation example

Example with fictitious data: the technical department has 40 people and each role requires 8 competencies, so 320 person-competency pairs; 248 are at the expected level, skill coverage 77.5%. There are 12 critical positions: 7 have at least one successor ready now or within 1-2 years (successor coverage 58%), and the successors ready now number 9, bench strength 0.75. During the year 30 positions were filled, 9 with internal candidates: internal mobility rate 30%. The 5 critical positions with no name ready within two years are the first item for management.

How to read the indicators without being misled

Each KPI has a written sheet with formula, scope, source and owner; if the definition changes, the history is recalculated. Indicators are read in pairs (completion and quality, successor coverage and bench strength, hours and effectiveness) and by company, because a good consolidated figure can hide a company in difficulty. How data is defined is covered in the guide on HR analytics and data for decisions.

Our position: talent management KPIs describe processes and populations; they do not judge individual people.

In EcosAgile: the dashboards in the Talent menu include training KPIs, training compliance, training costs, appraisal analysis, competency analysis and training pivots, and the analysis of succession plans has a dedicated entry: from here you read the training, compliance and appraisal indicators in the table. In the Talent Matrix you drill down from the number to the person, with filters by company. On your own data it can be seen in an EcosAgile Talent demo.

14. AI in talent and performance management: use cases, risks and the AI Act

In talent and performance management, AI supports circumscribed tasks, such as extracting competencies from CVs and projects or summarising feedback; the decision on a rating, promotion or pathway remains with a person who can explain it. In the European Union, systems intended to evaluate workers' performance and behaviour, to decide on promotions or to allocate tasks on the basis of individual behaviour or personal traits or characteristics fall among the high-risk systems of the AI Act, subject to the derogation in Article 6(3), which does not apply where profiling is involved; the obligations apply from 2 December 2027 and some rules already apply today.

AI use cases in talent management: value and risk

The value lies where AI removes the gathering work and leaves the judgement intact. The appraiser saves time by receiving a summary of the year's feedback; loses something by receiving a rating that has already been written, because they will end up confirming it.

EcosAgile working model, not a standard: the risk depends on configuration and use.

Risks of bias and opacity

A model that learns from past evaluations inherits their distortions: if a unit has always rewarded whoever is present at the office, the suggestion will repeat that with an air of objectivity. If the appraiser does not know what data the proposal comes from, they cannot challenge it. Checks are made on outcomes, comparing proposals by gender, site and contract type before a real cycle.

Human oversight and auditability

Article 14 of the AI Act requires the provider to design the system so that those overseeing it understand its capabilities and limitations, remain aware of the risk of relying too heavily on the output, and can decide not to use it or to override it. From 2 December 2027, for Annex III systems, Article 26 requires the employer using the system (the deployer) to assign oversight to people with competence, training and authority, to inform workers' representatives and the workers concerned before the system is put into service, to inform the people about whom it assists in decisions, and to keep logs for at least six months. Auditable means reconstructing, for each evaluation, the proposal, the decision, the author and the reason for any deviation.

Our position: AI proposes; the person who signs the evaluation decides, and must be able to explain it to the person evaluated without citing the system as an argument.

AI Act, GDPR and the Workers' Statute: what applies and from when

For the Garante, workers are vulnerable data subjects: with at least two criteria of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), such as systematic monitoring and scoring, an impact assessment is normally required. On performance evaluation, the Garante has intervened with decisions on specific cases.

This section summarises rules consulted on 3 November 2026 and is not legal advice: for a specific case, a lawyer and the DPO are needed.

For AI governance across the whole HR function, see the guide on AI in HR processes: risks, the AI Act and human oversight.

In EcosAgile: AI is an internal agent integrated into the platform, with a panel that opens from every area of the suite. HR and managers ask it questions about the data in natural language; the agent asks for any clarification needed, for example which company to consider, aggregates the results and returns tables and charts. The analyses cross different areas, such as salaries and their changes or succession plans and evaluations, without exporting the data to other tools. The agent speeds up reading; evaluations and decisions about people, performance and careers remain with those who are responsible for them, as this section requires. To see it on your own data you can request an EcosAgile Talent demo.

15. How to choose talent management software: 15 criteria and the evidence to ask for in a demo

Talent management software is chosen by starting from the operating model: which competencies to map, how to run assessment and appraisal, how to link learning and development, how to manage potential and succession, and which systems to integrate with. What matters is coverage of the whole cycle with a single competency model, verified in a demo on one of the company's own cases and not on the vendor's data.

Methodology: how the checklist is built

The fifteen criteria follow the cycle in this guide and add platform requirements, with no scores and no products named; they also apply to evaluating EcosAgile Talent. In the demo, bring a real role with its competencies and a real population to appraise, and ask for them to be configured in front of the selection team: an “it can be done” without a screen remains a statement without proof.

Performance management and competency management software: the 15-criteria checklist

EcosAgile working model, not a standard: the evidence listed is the minimum to see on screen.

Succession planning software and talent suites: start small, with a single model

The most costly mistake is to activate everything in the same half-year: managers receive forms, self-assessments and matrices all at once. Better to start from the area with the most visible problem and then extend the same competency model, as criterion 15 requires.

In EcosAgile: the Talent module is activated in parts: Learning only, competencies only or appraisal only, with different plans for different populations. The same competency model serves training, assessment, appraisal and recruiting, so what is built in the first phase remains valid in later ones. Employees and managers work in self-service, and HR governs the process instead of chasing spreadsheets.

In EcosAgile: the environment is multi-company, multilingual and multi-currency, with dashboards by company and access profiles by role. Dashboards have drill-down and pivots and data can be exported to Excel. The criteria can be verified on EcosAgile Talent and EcosAgile Learning, or with a demo on your own role and your own population.

Insight from the webinar: must the whole Talent module be activated? No: only the parts that are needed are activated, even with different plans for interns, sales staff and other profiles. Chapter “How the Talent module is activated”, minute 46:29 (in Italian).

16. Frequently asked questions