About this session
Ask why someone should choose your workplace and the first answers may sound familiar: great people, meaningful work, career opportunities, a supportive culture. The harder question is what those promises mean in practice.
What responsibility will someone actually receive? How will their manager support them?
What development is available within normal working time? What happens when delivery pressure competes with the values described during recruitment?
This session starts with the employment experience itself. Participants examine what people are being invited to join, which parts of that experience are genuinely valuable, and whether leaders can deliver them consistently.
A talent magnet might be a place where specialists can deepen their craft, where early-career employees receive unusually strong support, where frontline colleagues can see credible routes into greater responsibility, or where people have meaningful discretion over how good work gets done.
The task is to establish a compelling offer that reflects the work and the people the organization needs.
Leaders then confront the choices behind that offer. A promise of development needs learning opportunities, manager attention, access, and time.
A promise of autonomy needs decision authority and clear boundaries. A promise of sustainable performance needs realistic priorities and a response when demand exceeds capacity.
A promise of openness needs visible examples of employee input influencing decisions. Participants learn to connect each promise with an observable practice, an accountable owner, the resources required, and evidence that the experience is reaching employees.
The program also follows the promise across the joining journey. What candidates hear from recruiters, hiring managers, future colleagues, and onboarding materials should describe a compatible experience.
Differences between teams, roles, locations, or working arrangements need to be explained accurately. Employees should be able to understand what they are choosing, including the demands of the role and the opportunities the workplace can credibly provide.
Longer formats use a real talent priority as the application context.
Participants develop a small set of evidence-backed cultural commitments, test improvements with an appropriate employee group, examine what happens in practice, and prepare a leadership decision about what to maintain, change, or expand.
They leave with a Talent Magnet Blueprint that connects the employment offer to operating practices, ownership, investment, and review.
The emphasis is on building an experience worth choosing. Recruitment messaging becomes more credible when the underlying culture gives leaders, employees, and candidates something specific to point to.
What your people take away
- Define the capabilities and role populations your culture needs to attract and support, using evidence about work and career needs rather than demographic assumptions
- Identify a small set of distinctive employment promises that employees value and the organization can credibly deliver
- Translate each promise into observable manager behaviors, working practices, resources, ownership, and proof
- Create greater continuity between candidate expectations, hiring conversations, onboarding, and the first months of employment
- Prioritize and test culture improvements against employee value, practical feasibility, equitable access, and implementation effort
- Build a Talent Magnet Blueprint and measurement approach that distinguish leadership capability, promise delivery, and longer-term talent outcomes
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What each length covers
30 minutes
30 Minutes — Key Points: Define the Employment Experience Worth ChoosingA focused 30-minute session on three key points from Define the Employment Experience Worth Choosing: start with the talent and the work, separate essential conditions from distinctive value and find cultural strengths in everyday evidence.
- Start with the talent and the work
- Separate essential conditions from distinctive value
- Find cultural strengths in everyday evidence
Covers 3 of 4 points in Define the Employment Experience Worth Choosing.
60 minutes
60 Minutes — Find the Credible Reason to Choose Your WorkplaceA focused introduction to the leadership choices behind an attractive culture. Participants examine one talent priority, distinguish essential employment conditions from distinctive value, and test one proposed cultural promise against observable evidence. The session concentrates on Module 1 with a short application of the Promise-to-Practice Map. Participants leave with a draft promise, its current supporting evidence, and one leadership action to strengthen delivery.
- Define one role or capability priority
- Identify the employment experience that matters in that context
- Separate essential conditions from distinctive strengths
- Compare one cultural claim with current employee evidence
- Identify a practical delivery gap
- Complete the first section of the Promise-to-Practice Map
- Live Q&A
Covers 1 of 4 parts: Define the Employment Experience Worth Choosing.
90 minutes
90 Minutes — Turn Cultural Strengths Into a Credible Employment OfferAn extended session covering Modules 1 and 2 with guided application. Participants develop three proposed employment promises for one talent priority, identify the strongest available evidence, and translate one priority promise into a concrete operating practice. A realistic pressure scenario tests ownership, access, resources, and the limits of the commitment. Participants leave with a draft employment offer and one detailed practice ready for internal review.
- Clarify the talent priority and evidence gaps
- Develop three focused employment promises
- Distinguish established strengths, inconsistent practices, and future ambitions
- Complete one Promise-to-Practice Map
- Apply the Culture Access and Pressure Test
- Identify resources, ownership, and approval needs
- Prepare a 30-day evidence-gathering and design action
- Live Q&A
Covers 2 of 4 parts: Define the Employment Experience Worth Choosing and Turn Cultural Promises Into Working Practices.
3 hours
Covers 3 of 4 parts: Define the Employment Experience Worth Choosing, Turn Cultural Promises Into Working Practices and Deliver a Consistent Experience From Interest to Joining.
Full day
Full Day — Talent Magnet Culture Design IntensiveAn eight-hour workshop day, including 75 minutes of breaks, for a leadership, HR, and Talent group working on one defined talent priority. Participants build the employment offer, pressure-test its operating commitments, reconcile hiring and joining expectations, and prepare a pilot for internal approval. The day includes 405 minutes of facilitated work, case analysis, design, challenge, and revision. Participants leave with a complete proposed Talent Magnet Blueprint; workplace delivery is tested through the subsequent pilot rather than assumed at the end of the workshop.
- A defined talent priority and evidence register
- Three employment promises supported by current evidence
- Operating practices with owners, access criteria, and resource requirements
- Candidate and first-90-day expectation alignment
- A bounded pilot with baseline, review criteria, and employee feedback
- A sponsor-ready Culture Investment Decision Sheet
- A complete proposed Talent Magnet Blueprint and 90-day roadmap
- Live Q&A
Covers all 4 parts.
Also available as a 4-week or 8-week program, for change that lasts. Ask us about it.
What’s covered
Define the Employment Experience Worth Choosing
Every length- Start with the talent and the workBegin with a specific capability need or role population rather than a generic ambition to attract the best people.
- Separate essential conditions from distinctive valueSome features of an employment offer establish whether it is workable.
- Find cultural strengths in everyday evidenceUseful evidence includes how decisions are made, what employees can influence, how work is allocated, what development actually occurs, how managers respond to mistakes, and which commitments survive busy periods.
- Make culture choices explicitA credible employment offer involves choices.
Turn Cultural Promises Into Working Practices
90 minutes and longer- Give every promise a practice and an ownerTranslate the promise into something an employee can experience.
- Test what happens under pressureA cultural promise needs to remain credible when deadlines tighten, a manager changes, demand rises, or resources become constrained.
- Design access across different rolesA shared promise may require different delivery mechanisms.
- Resource the culture you are promisingCulture design creates operating commitments.
Deliver a Consistent Experience From Interest to Joining
3 hours and longer- Give candidates a realistic view of the workCandidates need to understand the opportunity and the working reality.
- Align the people making the promiseRecruiters, hiring managers, interviewers, and future teammates may describe different versions of the same workplace.
- Make the first 90 days demonstrate the offerTranslate the employment promise into early experiences.
- Use feedback to correct the experienceEmployee and candidate feedback should help leaders improve the offer as well as explain it.
Test, Measure, and Sustain Your Talent Magnet
Full day only- Pilot a culture commitment before expanding itA promising design needs workplace testing.
- Measure delivery as well as attractionSeparate three questions: can leaders design and govern the offer.
- Decide what to keep, adapt, or expandA pilot can produce mixed evidence: strong employee value but too much manager effort, useful results in one role but limited access in another, or improvement in delivery without enough hiring activity to assess attraction.
- Give the employment offer ongoing governanceThe offer needs review when business priorities, operating conditions, leadership, roles, or employee needs change.
Tools and materials
- Talent Priority Brief — defines the capability need, role population, work context, stakeholders, and evidence questions
- Culture Evidence Register — separates current practice, examples, counterexamples, coverage, assumptions, and missing evidence
- Employment Offer Canvas — connects three employment promises with employee value, supporting strengths, demands, and limits
- Promise-to-Practice Map — specifies the employee experience, manager behavior, process, owner, resources, access, and proof
- Culture Access and Pressure Test — examines delivery across roles, working patterns, peak demand, and leadership changes
- Culture Investment Decision Sheet — records time, cost categories, dependencies, capacity needs, approval requirements, and the next decision
- Realistic Work Preview Brief — explains actual work, support, responsibility, development, demands, and current constraints
- Candidate-to-Employee Expectations Map — aligns recruiter, hiring-manager, team, and onboarding descriptions of the offer
- Joining Promise Checkpoints — defines first-week, first-month, and first-90-day experiences, owners, and correction routes
- Culture Pilot Canvas — sets the learning question, scope, baseline, operating steps, feedback approach, and review criteria
- Pilot Evidence and Learning Log — captures delivery, employee value, access barriers, effort, unintended effects, and design changes
- Talent Experience Scorecard — separates capability, delivery, and talent indicators with definitions and data limitations
- Scale, Adapt, or Stop Decision Guide — supports an evidence-based recommendation about the next implementation scope
- Talent Magnet Design Review Rubric — supports developmental assessment of relevance, specificity, evidence, feasibility, access, continuity, and measurement
- Talent Magnet Blueprint — consolidates the employment offer, operating commitments, evidence, pilot findings, and implementation decisions
How booking works
- Book online. Create a free Workbliss profile, then pay with session credits, by card or by invoice.
- Pick a date. Choose a date at least 14 days ahead, or book now and set the date later.
- Choose your expert. Within 3 working days, we send you profiles of the experts available for your date.
- We deliver it. Your expert is briefed on your people and goals, then runs the session live online or at your site.
Questions about Culture Design: Building Your Talent Magnet
How long is Culture Design: Building Your Talent Magnet?
Culture Design: Building Your Talent Magnet runs as 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes, 3 hours or full day. You choose the length when you book. A 30-minute session covers three key points from Define the Employment Experience Worth Choosing: start with the talent and the work, separate essential conditions from distinctive value and find cultural strengths in everyday evidence. A 60-minute session covers Define the Employment Experience Worth Choosing in full, with a live Q&A. A 90-minute session adds Turn Cultural Promises Into Working Practices. A 3-hour session adds Deliver a Consistent Experience From Interest to Joining. A full-day session adds Test, Measure, and Sustain Your Talent Magnet. It is also available as a 4-week or 8-week program.
Can Culture Design: Building Your Talent Magnet be delivered online or in person?
Yes, both. It runs live online, so every office can join at the same time, or in person at your site, in any country.
How do we book Culture Design: Building Your Talent Magnet?
Create a free Workbliss profile with your work email, then open Culture Design: Building Your Talent Magnet to see the price for each length and book it. You can pay with session credits, by card or by invoice, and choose a date at least 14 days ahead, or set it later.
Who leads the session?
A vetted Workbliss expert, briefed on your people, culture and goals before the session. After you book, we send you profiles of the experts available for your date within 3 working days, so you can choose who leads it.
Can it be tailored to our company?
Yes. Every session is shaped around your goals, your people and the benefits you already offer, and delivered by experts in your people’s languages.