What is critical talent

Critical talent refers to employees who are essential for business success or future leadership. If these employees leave, the organization faces dependency risk. Marking talent as critical signals dependency risk and ensures succession planning begins.

Examples of critical talent

• A rare-skill architect
• A key regional leader

Why critical talent matters

• They hold unique skills or knowledge.
• Their absence can slow down projects or affect strategy.
• Identifying them helps build strong succession pipelines.

What happens when talent is marked critical

• The employee appears in the STAR grid.
• The system prompts to create a succession pipeline.
• If no pipeline exists, the employee remains flagged as “Critical with no pipeline.”

You can also mark an employee’s role as critical. To learn more, refer to Mark a role as critical.