[Alexandria, VA], July 16, 2024—To create a more future-ready workforce, the Association for Talent Development (ATD) created a tool to guide talent development professionals in their approach to skills-based hiring, learning, and development. This model aligns with business goals and prioritizes the most pressing skills needed for current and future organizational success.

Current skills gap challenges—74 percent of talent development professionals said they had a current skills gap in their organization and 75 percent said they expected a future skills gap in their workplace—and the concern of CEOs that skills shortages and technology disruption will affect profitability over the next decade have sparked the need for assessing agility and future readiness of organizational workforces.

To help talent development professionals assess and grow their skills-based systems, the CTDO Next network, an exclusive ATD-membership group for executive-level learning leaders, developed the Skills-Based Talent Development Maturity Model. The model includes five phases: Awareness, Foundation, Expansion, Optimization, and Leading. Each phase is laid out with a description, key signs an organization is in that phase, typical action steps of the phase, useful supporting technology, and the critical focus of that phase.

“For organizations facing rapid technological changes, economic uncertainties, and talent retention challenges, skills-based talent development is crucial in enabling talent development leaders to build a versatile, adaptable workforce that can quickly pivot to meet new demands, thus improving organizational agility, accelerating performance, and maintaining a competitive edge in an ever-evolving business landscape,” explained CTDO Next member Michelle Braden, vice president of Global Talent Development and Chief Learning Officer, at WEX, Inc.

The association has created an assessment for organizations to evaluate their skills-based strategy and compare it to other organizations.

A free webinar explaining how to align skills-based initiatives with the business’s strategic goals, foster continuous improvement, enhance accountability, and ultimately drive long-term success will take place on Wednesday, July 24, at 2 p.m.

About ATD

The Association for Talent Development (ATD) is the world’s largest professional membership organization supporting those who develop the knowledge and skills of employees, improve performance, and help to achieve results for the organizations they serve. Established in 1943, the association was previously known as the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD).

ATD’s members come from more than 100 countries and work in public and private organizations in every industry sector. ATD supports TD professionals who gather locally in volunteer-led US chapters and international member networks and with international strategic partners.

For more information, visit td.org.