Talents first - How I develop people in fast-paced environments

Michelangelo is regarded as the most talented artist of the Italian Renaissance. One says he was born with a talent… but is talent inherent and static? In my opinion talent is not necessarily innate and Michelangelo was not only a lucky guy with unique genes. Instead, his ability and willingness to constantly improve combined with the right circumstances and tremendous effort allowed him to reach his incredible level. Fast forward five centuries, the principle “practice makes perfect” needs to be reviewed. Our world is changing with relentless speed and what is the point of hard practice if your success today does not guarantee your success tomorrow?

As a result, the traditional experienced-based career ladder is not as relevant anymore for an increasing number of industries. Instead, an agile approach for talent management is necessary where stability is no longer the norm. But not all traditional cultural ideals should be thrown over. Agile does not equal chaos and leaders must clearly focus on a talent development system designed to enhance meritocracy to offer the best opportunities to the most talented people. This gives clarity about an executive’s values and priorities and signals employees the path to follow. All should follow a clear performance logic: those who perform are promoted, non-performance pays off as a malus.

Within such an environment, the role of a Finance organization is changing. We are becoming a stronger partner of the business function/leads not only from a Total Shareholder Return perspective. Managing a company’s human capital is equally important and hence a crucial management task for all of us. HR is hereby a facilitator that provides transparency, tools, and processes, but it’s up to each individual leader to dig deep, as it is becoming increasingly important not only to attract talent to the company but also to retain it.

And here I follow a clear principle: talent over experience. Experience fixes short term, talent goes all the way! It is all about enabling networking and swarm intelligence within the organization – thus learning from each other by giving motivated and smart employees an audible voice. A great way to do so is through regular employee events, like All Hands meetings, project breakfasts or even a short lunch run. Those allow me to get to know my organization more deeply while at the same time breaking silos and opening communication channels between teams. This regularly results in cross-divisional promotions for employees who are hungry for new challenges and roles.

Further, I try to challenge the status quo and thus existing organizational structures and processes on a regular basis. But how to enable a fresh view on operations, breaking up old structures, asking uncomfortable questions and building inter-divisional bridges without bringing in expensive consultants what nobody really embraces (as it somewhat means declaring defeat)?

• A program I specifically value is the “Finance Fast Track Program“, a great example of talent and cross-divisional development. We bring in talented finance professionals (either internal or external) with one core competency/spike (e.g., 5-7 year experience in either M&A, Treasury, Accounting or Controlling) and let them first acclimatize within the new company and their “weak” areas. During a 12-18 months job rotation we give them the opportunity to complete their skill set (with 6-12 week sprints each – e.g. shadowing an M&A project or preparing a quarterly investor reporting), to build a deeper understanding of the industry and to establish their internal network. Afterwards the candidates take over a CFO/ senior finance role within the organization. A truly win-win for both: candidates and the organization.
• Further, I am a passionate advocate of current scientific research as an assistant professor at RWTH Aachen University. Science is more than mere knowledge transfer. At the intersection of theory and practice truly magic things can happen. Define a new research area (with practical relevance and likely theoretical contribution), motivate smart and ambitious students to go for it, provide guidance where needed, but let them work independently otherwise. And they will develop exactly the skill set you are looking for in a business environment.

To sum it up: Transforming traditional businesses into a talent first environment is an incremental process which needs alignment among the senior leadership and cannot simply be delegated to an HR function. Make organizational coaching a priority and take time for individual mentoring. It is all about empowering talent to leverage a team’s full potential. Talent is usually not inborn and work experience is not everything. In today’s markets, where new technologies and thus business models emerge faster than ever, often there simply is nobody on the market with significant relevant “experience”. Thus, hiring for experience fails more and more often. I personally focus on relevant skills, passion, and attitude instead of seniority and resume.