The research is clear: in high-performance organizations, frontline manager involvement in talent management initiatives is a critical component to achieving organizational performance goals and business results. New research by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) found that high-performing organizations are three times more likely (42%) than low-performers (14%) to have their frontline leaders highly involved in leadership development. They are also twice as likely to partner with frontline managers in career/employee development and high-potential employee development.

Involving line managers in the design, development and execution of a firm's talent management practice is also highly correlated with market performance.

The research, available in the new i4cp report Talent Management in the Trenches, shows that high-performance organizations - those reporting the greatest growth in revenue, market share, customer satisfaction and profitability over the past five years - are more than twice as likely (52%) as low market performers (22%) to involve frontline managers in the design and development of talent management strategies, as well as in the execution of talent management activities (44% compared to 22%).

As frontline managers are in the best position to identify, direct and develop the key talent who will contribute the most to the success of the business, ensuring and increasing their involvement only makes sense . However, this study also reveals that only about half of high-market performers - and less than one-fourth of low-market performers - say their frontline managers are highly involved in such activities. This begs the question: if involvement of frontline managers in talent management has such a measurable impact on market performance, why aren't more organizations doing it?

The Talent Management in the Trenches report seeks to answer this question and to provide insight into how high-performance organizations involve frontline managers in the talent management process and the development of people. i4cp members can now download the full report.