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In This Issue
Brighton Marathon
'Let's do business' Brighton & Hove 2010
Are you making the most of the talent within your organisation?
How to find talent and what to do with it when you have
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Congratulations!
 
 We would like to say a big 'well done' to all those whose took part in the first Brighton Marathon on Sunday.

Some of our clients were running and Jan, one of our associates, was acting as a marshall.
 
For race results and more information click here

'Let's do business'
 Brighton & Hove 2010
The business to business exhibition is to take place on Thursday 13 May
 
For more information click
LCP Newsletter
Greetings!  
 

With an election just around the corner and an erupting volcano in Iceland we started to think about how do organisations identify and develop talented leaders that will help them to meet the future challenges in such an uncertain world?

Getting the right leadership talent in place is crucial for any organisation if it is to survive the turbulent waters that lie ahead.  In our first article we concentrate on the different aspects of talent management and in our second we look in more depth at how to assess and develop your high potentials.

Are you making the most of the talent within your organisation?

Talent management is about identifying the high-flyers your organisation needs to deliver its longer-term strategic goals.  In other words, it is about recruiting, developing and deploying tomorrow's best leaders to maximise their value.

How do you define talent?

What constitutes 'talent' will vary from one organisation to another; for example, 'artistic ability' may be seen as critical to a film production company but mean very little to a firm of accountants.  Talent is therefore always considered within an organisational context.

All companies and institutions are constantly seeking top quality talent to help their organisation thrive and prosper and if key positions can't be filled quickly it can limit the potential for growth.

Your organisation's success is defined by one factor; the quality of your leaders" (Byham, Smith & Pease, 2002)

 

This statement is backed up by research from the Hackett Group who found that companies with more mature talent management capabilities had 54% greater net profit margins.

Aspects of the talent management process

There are a number of different aspects to a typical talent management process:

1. Attracting and recruiting talent

To do this effectively you need to define the criteria in terms of knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviours an individual needs to be considered talented within your business.  What does the profile of a potential 'high-flyer' look like and how can it be assessed as part of the recruitment process?

2. Appraising current talent

What skills and competencies are critical to your present and future success?  How does your existing workforce compare against this template both now and in terms of their potential?  According to the 'The Talent Management Handbook' most companies classify between 6% and 15% of their employees as top performers so it is important to be clear about the tools and measures used to assess outstanding performance and potential.

3. Developing talent

Your organisation needs to consider the developmental activities it can use to grow your future senior managers and fast track your high potentials.  Initiatives can vary from traditional management development programmes through to interim assignments.  For the best results activities should focus on both short and longer term development needs.  Coaching is often seen as an effective way of developing leadership talent as it can be tailored to the organisation's and individual's needs.

4. Deploying talent

Planning the roles and assignments for high-flyers is an important aspect of the talent management process.  What breadth and depth of experience do they need to be ready to take on the future challenges facing the organisation?  Assignments outside of an individual's preference need to be thoughtfully communicated in terms of the benefits both to them and the company as a whole.

5. Tracking talent

Talent management programmes involve time and investment so it is vital to monitor what's working and what isn't.  Consider the metrics you can use to track the performance of your talent pool such as promotion rates, staff feedback, outcomes of change programmes etc.

6. Retaining talent

This is a huge topic in itself but once your organisation has invested in its talented people it is important to focus on retaining them.  This can be a complex area and involves building a mix of short, medium and long term incentives for high flyers.

How to find talent and what to do with it when you have

 report

In our first article we considered the various aspects of a talent management programme.  In this section we aim to drill down into the assessment and development parts. 

Assessing talent

One of the key challenges of any talent management intervention is how to identify your high potentials.  Today leadership is a complex business and defining the attributes of top quality leaders both now and for the future can be demanding.  Dalziel from the Hay Group, suggests it is about three things 1) how a person thinks, 2) how a person works with others, and c) how resilient a person is.

There are a number of different approaches organisations take to assess the leadership talent in their business.  One way is to use the line manager's manager to rate the individual's potential.  A benefit of this approach is that this level of management will have a clear understanding of what is required further up the leadership pipeline.  An alternative is to only focus on the general leadership roles at the most senior levels, so that job or sector specific knowledge is less important. 

Many organisations use key leadership competencies or behaviours to assess high potentials such as self-confidence emotional resilience and strategic thinking.  To get these right for the operational context it is important that the top leadership team are involved in defining the best indicators of success both now, and in the future, as they have the strategic focus.

There are a number of tools that can be used as part of the assessment process including performance ratings, assessment against core competencies and ranking grids that compare performance against potential.  Figures vary but top talent can account for between 3 to 5 % of the population.

Development options

Once the talent pool has been identified there will be a need to plan development priorities to ensure a good fit with the strategic direction.  The focus on development is within the context of high quality job performance rather than an added extra.

Ideally, an individual will meet with their coach or mentor to draw up a tailored action plan on how to develop their core competencies, organisational knowledge and leadership skill set.  This development should be targeted and measured for effectiveness.  This means the measures should include the application of skills and knowledge as well as the acquisition.  The personal development plan can then be used to document any development undertaken, evaluate its success against pre-defined criteria and review the key achievements. Development activities should fit with personal interests as well as organisational priorities.

Types of development

Development will vary between individuals and will comprise of a mix of activities such as short-term, high-impact programmes; short term learning assignments; task force membership; strategic projects; peer learning sets and one to one coaching.

High potentials will need a succession of advisors, teachers, mentors and coaches during the course of their careers.  For optimal development it is likely that these high potentials will receive a greater proportion of the training budget.

If you would like some support with recruiting, developing and retaining talent in your organisation please call us on 01273 707404 or email us.

Learning Consultancy Partnership provides bespoke coaching and development solutions to meet the specific needs of organisations, at all levels.
 
To find out more, please visit our website at http://www.lcp.org.uk