3. Understand your future talent demands. Once you have translated your business strategy into operational requirements, you must design the organization and the jobs necessary to implement the strategy. If you contrast this with your organization and jobs as they stand today, you can identify jobs you will need to create, jobs you will need to phase out, and the optimal timing of that transition.
Critical roles are those jobs that are mission critical to your future business strategy. If you don't have a solid plan for filling these roles with capable people, the business strategy simply won't come to life. For example, a new cardiac ward in a hospital needs cardiologists and acute care nurses in order to function.
Critical employee segments can include mature workers, visible minorities, members of Gen Y, ethnic groups, veterans, aboriginals, and others. They can be strategically important to certain organizations that need to fulfill requirements for certain types of government contracts or grants, or that want to meet the needs of key customer groups. For example, if a retail organization wants to position itself in areas with growing Latino populations, then they need to have Latino employees.