Last May 30, 2023, the Philippine Society for Talent Development (PSTD) concluded its 3rd Philippine Talent Development Summit with the theme, “Building on the Talent Development Together.” It was a very timely comeback for a full face-to-face event bringing in 80 TD professionals from both private and government sectors. The whole day summit has displayed the zeal of TD professionals in honing their craft by engaging in conversations during the panel discussion and survey results Q&A.

Keynote speaker, Ellen C. Fullido, VP for Human Resources & Administrative Services – Elizalde Group of Companies, gave an inspirational talk about the current challenges and future trends in Talent Development and her insights as to how TD professionals are to prepare themselves and the talents they develop and an emphasis on cultivating a culture of continuous learning.

The panel discussion highlighted the approaches and programs in talent development planning and Career Management. Both panelists shared about their personal journey in the discovery of their talents and passion, which is the 1st stage of the TD framework, Pagmulat.

Robert Gonzales, Chief People Officer of Mynt (Gcash)’ shared about GCash’s Fintech University as a strategic response for the need of an agile learning and development function that tightly links with organizational talent management imperatives. These ensure the continuous upskilling and reskilling of talents hinged on role-based pathways. Robert and his team has set-up a Gcash Fintech University to address mission-critical elements such as business continuity, industry competitiveness and adoption of new capabilities that sustain its position as market leader, employer of choice and home of the most brilliant talents in the industry.

Ruby Palma, Principal Partner of Leadership in Motion, has emphasized the shared responsibility of both talents, leaders and organization in navigating career options and decisions that ensures awareness and alignment of all stakeholders. Ruby champions the use of Team Coaching as an approach where leaders and staff engage in partnering in a co-creative and reflective process with the team on its dynamics and relationships in a way that inspires them to maximize their abilities and potential in order to reach their common purpose and shared goals.

The summit was also a venue where the initial results of the survey on Talent Development practices that covered, programs and initiatives and challenges faced by TD professionals were presented by Dae Lee, of Fourthwall. The survey highlights the 2 major priorities for TD planning as: Designing training programs for the talents’ capacity building and identifying skills and behavioral gaps in the organization. However, it was noted that results of the survey show that current priorities of TD professionals do not match their current programs. Dae Lee also shared his insights as to the need to shift from collective to personalized approach to talent development.

Juan M. Roy, currently the OD Consulting Head of Nomura Research Institute and PSTD Adviser for Good Governance, has put together the sharing of the morning session to elaborate on the various components of the Philippine Talent Development framework (see below diagram). He presented how the TD framework was developed and champions how relevant the Talent Development professional’s role and contribution in driving the ESG efforts in every organization for sustainability. The interactive workshop actively brought out the sharing of TD professionals and practitioners on their current strengths, how they can continue to develop their craft, skills needed and identify priorities using the Lego Serious Play (LSP) method. Michael Marcelo Santos of Brick by brick successfully facilitated the said workshop. The output from the creative exchange would be a jump-off point on how PSTD can also support the challenges and priorities of its members.

Ms Fe Marie Cabantac in her closing speech gave a very comprehensive integration of the power of Talent Development in action during the entire summit. She called to action the TD professionals to rethink how they operate, how leaders in organizations are developed and look into the various forces like market shifts, client demands and technological hyper advancement, generational shifts, and how these impact how we build a future proof organizational model through Talent development.

She proposed to focus on talent as a person, an individual, emphasizing that “Talent development is not just a function but a mindset, where every individual has the potential to soar to greater heights when given the right support and opportunity” She then recalled how Talent Development is defined in the Philippine TD framework and that, it is the journey towards realizing a person’s full potential and maximization of one’s contribution to the organization and to society.