Total Talent Thinking: An Integrated Approach
Total talent thinking brings together employees, freelancers, and vendors into one strategic view—creating flexibility, visibility, and better workforce decisions.
In most organizations, employees are managed by HR, freelancers by individual managers, and vendors by Procurement. These silos made sense in a simpler world. But today’s complex, blended workforce demands a new approach: Total Talent Thinking.
This approach goes beyond compliance or operations. It enables better decisions on who should do the work, how, when, and under what model—from a total cost, risk, and capability perspective.
Why silos fail
Segmented workforce management leads to:
- Fragmented visibility across different types of workers
- Inefficient resourcing due to duplicated efforts or mismatched talent
- Inconsistent experience for contributors doing similar work under different terms
- Risk exposure from unmanaged or invisible engagements
Pillars of total talent thinking
A total talent approach integrates the following pillars:
1. Unified workforce planning
Workforce plans should include both employee and non-employee resources—with visibility into cost, availability, and capability. This allows functions to choose the best talent for the work, regardless of employment model.
2. Consistent workforce segmentation
Use a shared taxonomy across HR, Procurement, and business units that classifies talent by role type, criticality, risk, and relationship—not just contract.
3. Integrated systems and data
Connect ATS (Applicant Tracking System), HRIS (Human Resource Information System), and VMS (Vendor Management System) data into one talent intelligence layer.
4. Cross-functional governance
Align policies, processes, and decision rights across HR, Legal, Finance, and Procurement. Ensure talent strategies are coordinated—not competing.
5. Experience design for all contributors
Design onboarding, learning, communication, and offboarding journeys for everyone who creates value—not just employees.
Business benefits
Companies that adopt total talent thinking report:
- Faster time-to-productivity
- Lower workforce costs per output unit
- Improved agility in project-based resourcing
- Reduced compliance incidents
- Better workforce satisfaction and retention (even among freelancers)
These are not marginal gains—they are competitive differentiators.
Cultural shift required
Total talent thinking is as much about mindset as it is about tools.
It requires leaders to stop asking, “Who can we hire?” and start asking, “What capability do we need—and what’s the best way to access it?”
It also requires HR to take ownership of workforce architecture beyond traditional employment. That includes advising on make-or-buy decisions, evaluating gig platforms, and tracking talent performance across types.
Getting started
You don’t need to transform overnight. Begin by:
- Mapping all talent channels currently in use.
- Identifying overlaps and inconsistencies in how roles are filled.
- Creating shared definitions and taxonomies across HR and Procurement.
- Piloting an integrated workforce plan in one function or geography.
- Scaling based on insights, not assumptions.
Total talent thinking doesn’t eliminate silos—it connects them. And in doing so, it unlocks smarter, faster, and more adaptive workforce strategies for the future of work.