Your Talent Plan
As MD of Cherryblue Coaching, Mentoring and Training, I work with businesses every day helping them get the best out of the people they work with and for. It’s all about looking closely and discovering people’s potential, or their ‘talent’. By talent I don’t mean whether they can sing, run a marathon or bake award-winning cupcakes, although all of those skills can benefit any workplace, but what ultimately makes them the best they can be at their job.
Talent Management for some organisations can be about recruiting and looking after the ‘high-worth’ individuals or the ‘most talented’, but for others, me included, it’s about managing everyone’s talent, because everyone does have talent, and the best managers are those that can both see and help develop it.
I believe every business or organisation should have a ‘talent plan’, one that looks at who works in the business, what they contribute and what they are capable of contributing, helping them achieve their absolute best and making best use of their talent. Encouraging and discovering talent is a two-way process that can include training, but more often than not, it’s about helping both employer and employee see where that talent lies and how it can be used to make everyone happier and more productive.
After all, successful employees = a successful business.
Managers need to look closer at the talent they already have
The Institute of Leadership and Management conducted a survey of 750 managers recently, the results of which suggested ‘that UK businesses are failing to capitalise on internal talent, with poor skill levels having a negative impact on 93% of UK businesses.”
What was even more shocking about this report was feedback from managers about the ‘lack of internal staff capability to move up in the organisation’ and ‘only half of all management positions are being recruited internally’.
It’s probably of no surprise to most of us that there are many managers out there who have received no management training before moving to the next level and as a result these ‘new managers’ are left to their own devices and experience. But this is truly amazing to me in the 21st century when we talk about the cost and risk of recruitment, extensive assessment days that some companies are conducting to find the right staff, psychometric testing, and all of the knowledge and time we put into finding new staff, that we don’t even consider investing the same amount of time, money and effort into our existing staff.
From my experience as a coach, mentor and trainer, one of the biggest barriers for people looking at advancing their careers and being recognised for what they do, is self-doubt about their capabilities. My role has developed over the past few years as I’m called on more and more to sit with staff (at all levels) and talk to them and help them see what they are good at, how they see themselves in the business, and how they can be better. It seems simple and some would say it’s not necessary to go through this process, but the more senior people become in work and the more responsibility they take on, the more important this process becomes.
Charles Elvin, Chief Executive of the ILM said in response to the report: “The clear link between management and leadership capability and productivity means that organisations should be fully focused on developing managers not just for their current role, but for the future of their organisation.”
He adds: “Businesses with strong internal talent plans can also reap the benefits of improved company culture and employee loyalty.”
Encouraging words from Charles Elvin and ones I wholeheartedly support, and I also believe that ‘the talent plan’ should look at how everyone across an organisation is contributing now and can develop for the future.
If you would like to meet up for a chat about these issues in your company then please just give me a call or an email: 07973 507708 [email protected]