Capabilities for Talent Development
What Talent Development Professionals Should Know and Do to Be Successful
The talent development field is deep and wide, encompassing the efforts that foster learning and employee development to drive organizational performance, productivity, and results. Major societal forces and business changes require talent development professionals across all industries to adopt new approaches and upgrade skills to keep pace and grow. Capabilities for Talent Development presents the new ATD Capability Model, a powerful framework to guide the profession in what practitioners need to know and do to develop themselves, others, and their organizations.
ATD’s research shows that the future of work will require talent development professionals to leverage interpersonal skills, along with their professional expertise, to work as a true business partner to achieve organizational goals. As organizations respond to trends in business, science, and technology—such as artificial intelligence and automation, brain-based learning, new ways to enlist skilled talent brought on by the gig economy, and other factors—professionals must develop their knowledge and skills from three domains of practice:
- Building Personal Capability
- Developing Professional Capability
- Impacting Organizational Capability
Capabilities for Talent Development offers an in-depth look at the Model and its components, drawing from the research behind it. Inside are application tips for individuals, educators, and organizations, as well as examples and interviews with thought leaders that describe an exciting future ahead for the talent development field.
The ATD Capability Model is future-oriented and can help you personalize your development needs. Grow your career as you grow your knowledge and skills in talent development.
-
![pat-galagan.jpg]()
Full ProfilePat Galagan is the former editor-at-large for ATD. She retired in 2019 after a long career as a writer and editor with the association. She has covered all aspects of talent development and interviewed many business leaders and the CEOs of numerous Fortune 500 companies.
-
![Morgean Hirt]()
Full ProfileAs director of credentialing for the Association of Talent Development (ATD), Morgean Hirt has more than 25 years of experience in personnel certification and accreditation across a variety of professions. She provides strategic leadership and technical expertise in developing and implementing credentialing programs, focusing on test development, policy and standards development, program audits, strategic planning, and ANSI/ISO 17024 and NCCA accreditation. Believing that standards and certification enhance professionalism and credibility, Hirt has led a number of organizations through establishing industry standards for emerging professions, including clinical research, massage therapy, and mortgage brokering.
Prior to joining ATD, she served as an account executive at MetaCred, a boutique association management firm specializing in managing credentialing programs, and spent 12 years as president and CEO of Certified Fund Raising Executives International Credentialing Board, where she was responsible for establishing international support across six continents for a unified standard of fundraising practice. Hirt is also active with the Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE) and recently earned the Institute for Credentialing Excellence Certified Credentialing Professional (ICE-CCP) designation.
-
![courtney1 copy 2.jpeg]()
Full ProfileCourtney Vital is the vice president of education at the Association for Talent Development. With more than twenty years’ experience, her work focuses on the development of learning initiatives that enable professionals to achieve their potential, demonstrate their credibility, and advance their career. Courtney holds the Certified Professional in Talent Development (CPTD) credential.
