ATD’s Foundations of Talent Development

Your Talent Development Atlas

If you’ve been directing your organization’s talent development effort during the last few years, you might think you’re on a journey without a map. There are few published resources to guide you in a challenge that many experts promise will only become more urgent, and necessary, in the coming years.

Elaine Biech, a legendary leader in training and development, understands the road ahead and has partnered with ATD to present a new book that will point the way—ATD’s Foundations of Talent Development: Launching, Leveraging, and Leading Your Organization's TD Effort.

Biech imbues this comprehensive volume with the energy and passion she has manifested in a career spanning more than three decades. In her hands, you have a trusted adviser who provides guidance, leadership, and direction to your organization. Biech painstakingly guides you over 36 chapters—taking you from developing your talent development strategy, creating an operating plan, and reinforcing your organization’s talent development mindset, through design and delivery, measurement and evaluation, and preparing for the future. No matter where you are in your development, you will be able to pick up this book and select chapters that describe how you can help your organization. What’s more, Biech has included a new customized model to assist you. Plus, she’s invited dozens of her friends and colleagues to contribute—well-known authors, ATD subject matter experts, and icons in the field—to present a cross-section of voices and approaches in the field.

In 2018, ATD celebrates its 75th anniversary by delivering ATD’s Foundations of Talent Development, its first published reference to the profession it leads and supports. Think of this book as your professional atlas.

Table of Contents:

I. Identify and Clarify the Organization’s Learning Foundation
1. Your Organization’s Learning Culture
2. Leaders Champion Learning
3. Employees Value Learning
4. Everyone has a Learning Mindset
5. Clarifying Your Organization’s Readiness

II. Develop a Talent Development Strategy
6. Build A Business Case for Learning
7. Enhance Your Organizational and Industry Savvy
8. Expand Talent Development’s Purpose
9. Partner with Business to Become Trusted Advisors

III. Create an Operating Plan:
10. Align TD to the Organization’s Needs
11. Manage the TD Function
12. Balance Services and Budget
13. Leveraging Technology for Learning

IV. Reinforce an Organizational Talent Development Mindset
14. Maturing Your Organization’s Learning Culture
15. How Your Organization Learns to Perform
16. Managers Develop their Employees
17. Employees are Accountable for Their Development
18. Talent Development Professionals are Consultants



V. Design and Deliver Learning

19. Formal Learning

20. Learning from Others

21. On-the-Job Learning

22. Contemporary Content

23. Services Provided by TD Professionals



VI. Fortifying the Learning

24. Enable Social Learning

25. Empower Employees

26. Coach Managers

27. Foster Continual Self-Learning

28. Develop TD Staff



VII. Define and Measure the Impact

29. Determine and Demonstrate Organizational Impact

30. Evaluation Methods

31. Getting Started with Evaluation

32. The Future of Evaluation



VIII. Prepare for the Future

33. The Workplace of the Future

34. The Workforce of the Future

35. Talent Development Future Trends

36. Guiding Your Organization’s Future