Our Tools: How We Turn Talent Risk into Solvable Problems
At the Steve Trautman Co., we’re often brought in when the stakes are high: a major reorg, an AI implementation, a looming retirement, a critical gap that’s slowing down a strategic initiative—or a team that simply isn’t aligned with the strategy.
In these moments, business leaders don’t need platitudes. They need clarity. Structure. A practical way to see where their real workforce risks lie—and what they can do about them right now.
That’s where our tools come in.
Turning Talent Risk Into Data You Can Act On
Over the past 30 years, we’ve refined a set of proprietary tools that help our clients make smart, measurable decisions about their teams—tools that work across functions, industries, and organizational size. Three of our most widely used tools are:
1. The Big Picture
Before we get into roles, skills, and risks, we start at the top.
The Big Picture is a strategic framing tool—a concise presentation deck built from a series of focused questions designed to clarify your organization's goals, priorities, and what “good” looks like at every level.
We guide leadership through interviews that draw out what matters most—then cascade those insights through the org to define how teams and individuals support the broader strategy. The result? Clearer boundaries, aligned priorities, and a shared understanding of what needs to get done and why. It’s a vital foundation for any transformation, reorganization, or workforce planning effort.
2. Knowledge Silo Matrix
Think of this as a heat map for your team’s knowledge. It reveals where you’re at risk—because one person holds all the know-how, because standards are not clear resulting in costly inconsistencies, or because key roles lack clear backups.
The matrix is fast to build, easy to understand, and surprisingly actionable. In just 90 minutes, we can show you where your team is vulnerable—and what to prioritize to reduce risk. It doesn’t require any new software, just focused input and expert facilitation. When combined with Big Picture context, the Matrix provides a grounded view of who’s doing what work, where talent risks exist, and how ready your teams are to execute the strategy.
3. Skill Development Plan
Once we know where the knoweldge and skill gaps are, this plan helps close them—fast.
The Skill Development Plan is our roadmap for scaling expertise from your most critical team members to others who need to learn. We break down complex roles into learnable skills, prioritize based on business need, and guide mentors and learners through a structured, trackable process.
This isn’t about dumping information or handing someone a manual. It’s about teaching the right skills, in the right order, with the right level of accountability—so teams can perform with consistency, clarity, and confidence. The plan supports onboarding, succession, AI integration, post-merger alignment, and any scenario where lost knowledge would mean lost performance.
It’s Not Just the Tools—It’s the Conversations They Enable
The real transformation doesn’t happen in a spreadsheet or a deck—it happens in the conversations that follow.
At STC, our consultants work with your leadership and managers to unpack what the data reveals and decide what to do next. We don’t just hand you a Matrix or a Plan and walk away. We guide you through the hard stuff—together.
Beyond the Tools, We Help By:
Facilitating alignment meetings where teams compare Talent Risk Matrices, surface conflicting assumptions, and align on what “good” looks like
Delivering executive-readout reports that translate your raw data into clear themes, highlighted risks, and prioritized action items
Leading mitigation planning conversations so you can shift from analysis to execution with speed and clarity
Modeling scenario planning when change is coming—like a re-org, AI rollout, or M&A—so you’re ready before the disruption hits
Recommending the best talent risk response—which sometimes involves knowledge transfer, and sometimes doesn’t. Our job is to help you choose wisely
Our tools get you the data, but our facilitation turns that data into action.
Summary
You don’t have to fly blind when it comes to your people.
If you’re facing a transition, struggling with alignment, or wondering if your teams are really ready to execute, we can help. Our tools turn ambiguity into clear, measurable, solvable problems—backed by experience, data, and a proven methodology.
Let’s talk about how we can help you map the risk and move forward—with a workforce strategy that’s aligned, agile, and built to deliver.