I was fortunate enough to engage in an independent short engagement to work on talent management for an organization. Many talent management initiatives focus on roles and responsibilities grouped under levels and bands for career enablement and growth opportunities. The focus of this talent management initiative was that leadership belongs to everyone. I firmly believe in such principles and put together a framework based on my experience. To grow leadership talent across the organization, I created four different lenses that one can use to grow leadership.
Depending upon the personal preference to career growth motivation and subsequent on-the-job performance (Managing Talent - 9 quadrants), I came up with four practitioner focused leadership lens. These lenses are visually represented below.
"People Enabler" and "Process Leader" may have some blind spots. These areas may impede their ability to become a value strategist as both people and process dimensions need to be delicately balanced. So, effective talent management for leadership development should focus on both areas. For instance, the process leader (Star Performer) must be trained in people dimension like emotional and cultural intelligence, conflict management. Similarly, the people enabler (High Performer) must be trained in process dimensions such as market research, risk management, opportunity and sunk costs, etc.
To further illustrate what roles mean and how they map to the classical job-based roles, I have tabulated my thoughts below.
| Lens | Description | Classical Roles |
| Domain Expert | The people in this role are individual contributors with no direct reports. However, they may have deep domain knowledge in one or more areas.
This role aligns with the "Core Performer" in the 9-Quadrant approach. |
Engineer, Designer, Script Writer, Line Worker, Tester, Help Desk Support Analyst, Data Analyst |
| People Enabler | The people taking on this role deliver through people. They could be team supervisors or managers.
This role aligns with the "High Performer" in the 9-Quadrant approach. |
Test Leader, Engineering Manager, Project Manager, Business Analyst, Product Owner, Line Supervisor, Marketing Manager, Operations Manager |
| Process Leader | The people taking on this role collaborate with more people across the company. Their focus is not projects but also holistic policies, processes, and procedures to ensure outcomes are integrated for benefit delivery and sustenance.
This role aligns with the "Star Performer" in the 9-Quadrant approach. |
Director, HR Manager, Program Manager, Portfolio Manager, Product Manager, Agile Coach, Scrum Master, Data Scientist |
| Value Strategist | The people taking on this role are senior leaders of the organizations. They architect the vision and mission paving the foundation for values, direction, culture, alignment of the entire organization.
This role aligns with the "Effective" in the 9-Quadrant approach. |
Vice President, Senior Vice President, C-Level Executive |
