The 44% of workers use AI, but as an operational tool. HR Directorates are lagging behind in adoption
May 13, 2026
Rethinking talent: how to unleash the potential in organisations | Report
May 19, 2026
Rethinking talent: how to unleash the potential in organisations | Report
On 14 May, the first May meeting of the Alveria Talks, the webinar series dedicated to the evolution of HR systems and performance management. The webinar, “Rethinking talent: how to unleash the potential spread across organisations”, saw the participation of Filippo Cannavò, Michela Mariani and ISMO, They explored how the concept of talent is undergoing a profound transformation in the contemporary organisational context. The starting point of the discussion was clear: Talent management can no longer be interpreted as a set of practices aimed at a minority of “high potentials”, but must evolve towards a model capable of recognising, activating and enhancing the potential spread within organisations. In a context marked by the growing complexity of the labour market and a progressive shortage of skills and people, it is indeed necessary to radically rethink the way in which companies observe, interpret and develop their human capital, going beyond selective and fragmented logics to build integrated and coherent ecosystems.
From talent shortage to labour shortage and the change of perspective for HRs
For years, organisations have been dealing with the so-called talent shortage, i.e. the difficulty in finding appropriate skills for new business models. Today, however, this phenomenon has expanded to become a real labour shortage, i.e. a structural reduction in labour supply, fuelled by demographic dynamics, social changes and profound transformations in labour participation patterns.
This change has a direct impact on the strategic priorities of Directorates HR, because it shifts the focus from the ability to attract talent from outside to the need to make much more effective use of the people already in the company. In other words, competitiveness not depends no longer only by the entry of new skills, but the ability to bring out, develop and connect internal potential through organisational and digital systems capable of reading competencies, performance and growth prospects in an integrated manner.
Talent is not rare: it is rare to see it
One of the most significant assumptions that emerged from the comparison is that talent, in most cases, is not a truly scarce resource. What is rare is rather the ability of organisations to recognise it, due to the use of “interpretative lenses” that tend to oversimplify reality. Rigid roles, standardised performance management systems and undynamic competence models in fact end up reducing the complexity of human behaviour, rendering invisible forms of value that do not fit into predefined patterns.
When talent is observed solely through consistency with a job description, anything outside that perimeter risks being missed. It is here that one of the main limitations of traditional models emerges: not so much the lack of talent, but its failure to be detected.
In this perspective, talent can no longer be considered a static individual attribute, but must be interpreted as a dynamic relationship between person, context and organisation. The same person can in fact express profoundly different levels of effectiveness and impact depending on the environment in which he or she operates, the challenges he or she faces, and the conditions that favour or limit his or her expression. This implies a paradigm shift: it is no longer just a matter of identifying who has talent, but of designing contexts, practices and systems capable of making it visible, activatable and developable over time.
Beyond the high potential model and the need for widespread talent
The traditional approach focused on a small elite of high potential today shows all its structural limitations. Indeed, the concentration of development on a few individuals entails obvious risks in terms of organisational fragility, loss of knowledge in the event of turnover and reduced capacity for widespread innovation. Added to this is an equally significant cultural effect, linked to the perception of exclusion that may emerge within organisational populations not involved in “elite” development programmes.
For this reason, a more evolved approach tends to go beyond this logic, focusing on the distribution of talent and the ability to intercept different contributions, often not immediately visible in traditional performance models but essential for organisational resilience and innovation. In parallel, the way in which skills are observed is also changing, job descriptions lose centrality and leave room for a more dynamic reading of the work, based on what people actually do to generate value rather than on what is formally stipulated in the role.
How to observe talent and create the conditions for it to emerge
To overcome the limitations of traditional evaluations, organisations are increasingly adopting tools oriented towards the observation of actual behaviour. The Behavioural Event Interview (BEI), for instance, allows analysing concrete episodes experienced by people, reconstructing the ways in which they acted in complex situations and identifying skills actually expressed on the basis of evidence and not statements. Similarly, Assessment Centre and Development Centre allow observation of behaviour in simulated but realistic contexts, offering a direct insight into decision-making, interpersonal and problem-solving skills.
These tools, however, only realise their full potential when embedded in a broader ecosystem in which HR technology and processes work in an integrated manner. Human capital management HCM, in this sense, become strategic infrastructures able to connect data on skills, performance and feedback, while artificial intelligence enables large volumes of information to be analysed and patterns to be identified to support faster and more informed decisions.
At the same time, talent cannot emerge without appropriate contexts. Organisations must therefore design real “stages” of talent, through job rotation, transversal projects and temporary assignments that allow people to confront new and complex challenges. In this way, talent is not only observed, but also activated and developed through direct experience.
Continuous feedback and a new balance between career and development
In this scenario, feedback can no longer be an episodic moment, but must become a continuous practice integrated into daily work. Continuous feedback enhances learning, improves engagement and helps build an organisational culture based on transparency and constant improvement.
The new balance of work can be summarised in the formula “career uncertain, development certain”organisations can no longer guarantee linear and predictable career paths, but can offer continuous opportunities for growth and learning throughout working life. In this context, professional security not depends more by the stability of the role, but by the individual's ability to evolve and adapt over time.
Talent management is undergoing a profound transformation: from a system focused on selecting a few to an infrastructure capable of enhancing the many. In this new paradigm, thehe real competitive advantage lies not in the possession of talent, but in the ability to see it, activate it and connect it within an integrated, data-driven and constantly evolving organisational ecosystem.
Upcoming Alveria Talks
he next webinar, scheduled for 28 May, will be devoted to the topic the organisational transformation enabled by Artificial Intelligence and the design of adaptive systems based on the AI-OD framework.
The meeting, entitled "Organisational Development in the Age of AI: Designing Adaptive Systems with the AI-OD Framework".", will deepen how Artificial Intelligence, in order to generate real value, must be integrated into organisational models, decision-making processes and work dynamics, going beyond a purely technological and experimental approach.
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The full presentation of the event with additional notes from our experts
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On 14 May, the first May meeting of the Alveria Talks, the webinar series dedicated to the evolution of HR systems and performance management. The webinar, “Rethinking talent: how to unleash the potential spread across organisations”, saw the participation of Filippo Cannavò, Michela Mariani and ISMO, They explored how the concept of talent is undergoing a profound transformation in the contemporary organisational context. The starting point of the discussion was clear: Talent management can no longer be interpreted as a set of practices aimed at a minority of “high potentials”, but must evolve towards a model capable of recognising, activating and enhancing the potential spread within organisations. In a context marked by the growing complexity of the labour market and a progressive shortage of skills and people, it is indeed necessary to radically rethink the way in which companies observe, interpret and develop their human capital, going beyond selective and fragmented logics to build integrated and coherent ecosystems.
From talent shortage to labour shortage and the change of perspective for HRs
For years, organisations have been dealing with the so-called talent shortage, i.e. the difficulty in finding appropriate skills for new business models. Today, however, this phenomenon has expanded to become a real labour shortage, i.e. a structural reduction in labour supply, fuelled by demographic dynamics, social changes and profound transformations in labour participation patterns.
This change has a direct impact on the strategic priorities of Directorates HR, because it shifts the focus from the ability to attract talent from outside to the need to make much more effective use of the people already in the company. In other words, competitiveness not depends no longer only by the entry of new skills, but the ability to bring out, develop and connect internal potential through organisational and digital systems capable of reading competencies, performance and growth prospects in an integrated manner.
Talent is not rare: it is rare to see it
One of the most significant assumptions that emerged from the comparison is that talent, in most cases, is not a truly scarce resource. What is rare is rather the ability of organisations to recognise it, due to the use of “interpretative lenses” that tend to oversimplify reality. Rigid roles, standardised performance management systems and undynamic competence models in fact end up reducing the complexity of human behaviour, rendering invisible forms of value that do not fit into predefined patterns.
When talent is observed solely through consistency with a job description, anything outside that perimeter risks being missed. It is here that one of the main limitations of traditional models emerges: not so much the lack of talent, but its failure to be detected.
In this perspective, talent can no longer be considered a static individual attribute, but must be interpreted as a dynamic relationship between person, context and organisation. The same person can in fact express profoundly different levels of effectiveness and impact depending on the environment in which he or she operates, the challenges he or she faces, and the conditions that favour or limit his or her expression. This implies a paradigm shift: it is no longer just a matter of identifying who has talent, but of designing contexts, practices and systems capable of making it visible, activatable and developable over time.
Beyond the high potential model and the need for widespread talent
The traditional approach focused on a small elite of high potential today shows all its structural limitations. Indeed, the concentration of development on a few individuals entails obvious risks in terms of organisational fragility, loss of knowledge in the event of turnover and reduced capacity for widespread innovation. Added to this is an equally significant cultural effect, linked to the perception of exclusion that may emerge within organisational populations not involved in “elite” development programmes.
For this reason, a more evolved approach tends to go beyond this logic, focusing on the distribution of talent and the ability to intercept different contributions, often not immediately visible in traditional performance models but essential for organisational resilience and innovation. In parallel, the way in which skills are observed is also changing, job descriptions lose centrality and leave room for a more dynamic reading of the work, based on what people actually do to generate value rather than on what is formally stipulated in the role.
How to observe talent and create the conditions for it to emerge
To overcome the limitations of traditional evaluations, organisations are increasingly adopting tools oriented towards the observation of actual behaviour. The Behavioural Event Interview (BEI), for instance, allows analysing concrete episodes experienced by people, reconstructing the ways in which they acted in complex situations and identifying skills actually expressed on the basis of evidence and not statements. Similarly, Assessment Centre and Development Centre allow observation of behaviour in simulated but realistic contexts, offering a direct insight into decision-making, interpersonal and problem-solving skills.
These tools, however, only realise their full potential when embedded in a broader ecosystem in which HR technology and processes work in an integrated manner. Human capital management HCM, in this sense, become strategic infrastructures able to connect data on skills, performance and feedback, while artificial intelligence enables large volumes of information to be analysed and patterns to be identified to support faster and more informed decisions.
At the same time, talent cannot emerge without appropriate contexts. Organisations must therefore design real “stages” of talent, through job rotation, transversal projects and temporary assignments that allow people to confront new and complex challenges. In this way, talent is not only observed, but also activated and developed through direct experience.
Continuous feedback and a new balance between career and development
In this scenario, feedback can no longer be an episodic moment, but must become a continuous practice integrated into daily work. Continuous feedback enhances learning, improves engagement and helps build an organisational culture based on transparency and constant improvement.
The new balance of work can be summarised in the formula “career uncertain, development certain”organisations can no longer guarantee linear and predictable career paths, but can offer continuous opportunities for growth and learning throughout working life. In this context, professional security not depends more by the stability of the role, but by the individual's ability to evolve and adapt over time.
Talent management is undergoing a profound transformation: from a system focused on selecting a few to an infrastructure capable of enhancing the many. In this new paradigm, thehe real competitive advantage lies not in the possession of talent, but in the ability to see it, activate it and connect it within an integrated, data-driven and constantly evolving organisational ecosystem.
Upcoming Alveria Talks
he next webinar, scheduled for 28 May, will be devoted to the topic the organisational transformation enabled by Artificial Intelligence and the design of adaptive systems based on the AI-OD framework.
The meeting, entitled “Organisational Development in the Age of AI: Designing Adaptive Systems with the AI-OD Framework”.”, will deepen how Artificial Intelligence, in order to generate real value, must be integrated into organisational models, decision-making processes and work dynamics, going beyond a purely technological and experimental approach.