In this paper, the Human Dimension Capabilities Development Task Force (HDCDTF) conducts a comparative analysis of five of the most-widely utilized talent management models found in the academic and professional literature. It then makes a number of recommendations regarding a model for the Army to use as it continues its organizational innovation in pursuit of human performance optimization. The strategic environment continues to change, growing increasingly complex. As a result, the Army of 2025 will need to be prepared for a wider and wider array of potential missions. Furthermore, due to an increasingly austere fiscal environment, the Army will need to be able to accomplish these increasingly diverse missions with significantly less funding. In order to ensure continued success in the future, the Army is taking a critical look now at the way in which it accesses, employs, rewards, promotes, and retains talent. This paper supports this effort by recommending a talent management model to enable leaders to not only describe the complex system of functions, processes, and policies by which the Army manages talent, but, more importantly, to predict how changes to one process will impact the myriad others. The HDCDTF initially identified seven talent management models through a review of the literature. Upon further investigation, three were discarded due to insufficient theoretical or empirical support, while one was added after collaboration with the greater Human Dimension Community of Practice (HD CoP). The HDCDTF describes and analyzes each of the models in order to identify strengths and weaknesses. Ultimately, this paper found that while all of the models captured some of the critical aspects of a talent management system relevant to the Army, none of the models captured all of them. Therefore, the HDCDTF makes the following recommendations regarding the way ahead for the Army: 1. Develop a hybrid talent management model that combines the Colarusso & Lyle and the Bersin & Associates models. Due to its framework being already tailored to meet the Army requirements and situation, the Colarusso & Lyle model should be used as the core, with elements of the Bersin & Associates model being integrated as appropriate. As elements are added to the model, analysis should be conducted to ensure horizontal and vertical fit of each element. 2. The U.S. Army's Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis (OEMA) should lead the effort to build the Army's talent management model. The Talent Management Tiger Team (TMTT), which must be fully staffed by representatives from all relevant stakeholder entities and organizations, will support OEMA's effort. 3. The TMTT and OEMA's analysts should conduct the requisite analysis to understand how the different elements and functions of the talent management model interrelate. It is this level of understanding that facilitates prediction regarding the impacts that change to one function (e.g. performance evaluation) will have upon the other functions and the system as a whole. 4. The talent management strategy (currently in development) should reflect the development of the hybrid model as a supporting objective.

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