What is a talent review?

A talent review is a meeting in which leaders, usually with HR, discuss the people in their part of the organisation as a group: how each person is performing, how much potential they show, whether they are at risk of leaving and what they need next. It looks across a team or function at once, which is what distinguishes it from an individual performance review.

The output is a set of decisions rather than a set of ratings: who should be stretched with a bigger role, who is a credible successor for which position, who needs support, and where the organisation lacks depth. Many teams structure the discussion around a 9-box grid of performance against potential, and a talent review is often the forum where succession plans are updated.

Talent reviews go wrong when they rely on whoever speaks most confidently, or when candidates are discussed one at a time from memory. Agreeing the evidence set in advance helps, as does comparing candidates for the same role side by side. CLEAR Talent's succession planning software supports this with an interactive 9-box grid, readiness ratings tied to competency gaps and a side-by-side comparison of candidates, all drawn from the same review, competency and 360° data, so the meeting starts from a shared record rather than a slide deck.