Template for Auditing 6 Non-Technological Barriers to Internal Mobility in an Organization | Brian Heger

Internal mobility (IM)— the movement of employees across different roles and opportunities within the same organization — is a critical component of effective talent management. And while technology (e.g., internal talent marketplace platforms, etc.) is an enabler of IM, organizations often approach IM as a technology initiative and give less attention to the non-technological components critical to IM. Last week, I made a post on LinkedIn that showed examples of six non-technological barriers that detract from IM. These barriers range from policies that restrict internal movement (e.g., the employee must be in a role for a certain amount of time before moving to another internal role or opportunity) to narrow and irrelevant selection criteria (e.g., managers include criteria that are too specific or not relevant to success in the role and end up limiting the internal talent pool). As a supplement to that post, this one-page editable template provides talent practitioners with a simple way to identify if the six non-technological IM barriers exist in their organizations. For each of the six barriers listed in column 1, place a checkmark in column 2 if you believe the barrier exists to a moderate or significant extent in your organization. Clicking the box will automatically insert a check mark. For barriers you checked, use column 3 to identify a few actions your organization can take in response. While there are other non-technological barriers to IM, this template can help jumpstart your thinking on this topic.