For small and midsized companies, talent management gets treated like a luxury—something you’ll tackle once the daily fires stop burning. I’ve watched too many executives kick this can down the road, only to panic when their star developer quits or their best salesperson gets poached by a competitor offering 20% more.
Here’s the thing: by the time your growth curve starts to flatten, it’s already too late to “get strategic” about people.
The traditional HR crowd will tell you to drop $50K on executive search firms, plan elaborate off-sites in Cabo, and implement competency frameworks that read like doctoral dissertations. I once saw a startup spend six months building a performance review system so complex that it required a training manual. That’s not talent management—it’s expensive procrastination.
Here’s what I’ve learned actually works:
Cheap Hiring Isn’t Bad Hiring—It’s Smart Filtering
Your best hires won’t come from LinkedIn Premium or that recruiter who promises “passive candidates.” They’ll come from being brutally clear about who you are and what you need.
Last year, I helped a 60-person software company rewrite their job postings. Instead of “seeking a rockstar developer to join our dynamic team,” we wrote: “Looking for a Python developer who doesn’t mind debugging legacy code and can explain technical decisions to non-technical founders without losing their mind.” Applications dropped 60%. Quality hires went up 200%. That’s what happened when executives are clear and honest about their needs!
And for the love of all that’s holy, stop pushing HR to run your technical interviews. Yes, they should get viable candidates based on the job descriptions YOU’VE prepared. But, look at their recommendations and rank them with explanations about why you like or dislike a candidate. They are usually brilliant at pre-vetting, but they’ll need your help. Your senior engineer knows what “five years of React experience” actually means. Your head of sales can smell BS from across the room. Yes, being a part of the process is inconvenient. Yes, they’re busy. Do it anyway.
Build Your Bench—Don’t Buy It
Most “succession planning” I see is really just anxiety management. Founders make lists of external candidates they could theoretically hire if someone important leaves. That’s not a plan—that’s a LinkedIn wishlist.
I worked with a logistics company that lost its operations manager with zero notice. The replacement took four months to find and another six to get up to speed. A year later, they were still cleaning up the mess. You know what they should have done? Cross-trained their warehouse supervisor who’d been there three years (and actually understood the business).
Stop waiting for people to raise their hands and ask for more responsibility. Most good people won’t; they’ll assume you’re too busy or that they’re not “ready yet.” Create stretch assignments. Rotate people through different functions. Make learning part of the job, not a nice-to-have.
I’ve seen account coordinators become account directors in 18 months when you actually give them client relationships to manage. But if you keep them making PowerPoints until they’re “fully prepared,” they’ll leave for somewhere that lets them do real work.
People Don’t Quit Jobs—They Quit Bosses and Run From Dead Ends
Every exit interview I’ve ever experienced boiled down to the same thing: “I wasn’t learning anymore,” or “my manager was impossible,” or “I couldn’t see where this was going,” “I was micromanaged.” Money is rarely the real reason—it’s just the excuse that doesn’t burn bridges.
Your best people want to know what’s next, how to get there, and that their opinion matters. This isn’t rocket science, but somehow we make it complicated.
Have career conversations every quarter, not once a year during performance reviews. Ask direct questions: What would you like to do that you’re not doing now? What’s frustrating you? Where do you see yourself in two years? Then—and this is crucial—tell them honestly whether that path exists at your company.
I once had a marketing coordinator tell me he wanted to move into product management. The client didn’t have a product manager role available at that time, but they were planning to hire one in six months. Instead of hiring externally, they created a transition plan. He spent time with our developers, sat in on customer calls, and their with roadmap planning. When they created the role, he was ready. Total cost: zero. Total impact: massive.
One Person Leaving Shouldn’t Break Your Business
In a 25-person company, losing your head of Customer Service can tank your renewal rates for six months or more. Losing your only DevOps person can shut down deployments altogether. Yet many small companies operate like they’re invincible.
Ask yourself right now: if your three most critical people gave notice tomorrow, what would happen? If the answer involves phrases like “we’d be screwed” or “I don’t know,” you’ve got work to do.
Real succession planning isn’t about naming a deputy for every role. It’s about making sure knowledge doesn’t live in one person’s head. Document processes. Cross-train constantly. And pay attention to who’s quietly keeping things running while the loud people take credit.
The best succession candidates are often the ones you’re not thinking about—the Customer Service Rep who’s been deflecting angry clients for two years, the Junior Developer who always volunteers for the hard bugs, the office manager who somehow knows everything about everyone.
The Reality Check: This Is Your Job, HR Is Your Business Partner (Not Your Scapegoat)
If you’re waiting for your “people team” to solve this stuff, all on their own, you’re going to be waiting a long time. At a growth-stage company, talent management involves leadership, full stop.
You don’t need employee engagement surveys or 360-degree feedback tools or any other consultant-approved tactics. You need to know your people, challenge them appropriately, and get out of their way when they’re ready to run.
The companies that scale successfully don’t just manage talent—they grow it from within, bet on “potential” over “polish”, and remember that people problems will often require leadership to listen, act, and support.
Everything else is just an expensive tactical exercise.