“Neither the private nor the public sector can depend on supermen or lion tamers for efficient performance. Our establishments must continue to be staffed by men of normal or even fairly low endowment provided that such men are prepared to learn and persevere,” Peter Drucker.
Several people define talent in differs ways, but the essential qualities of a talent are, ability and capacity that spurs individuals to perform excellently. While abilities could be natural or experiential, our capacity are ever stretching with preparation and perseverance and grit. So, what makes a talent is far more than what the talent can do but so much more about the potential to develop required skill set to ace current and future roles.
The act of selecting the right candidate for the roles within organizations is an essential skill, in fact, it is a leadership skill and a leadership function.
In the past, we mostly think that the worst-case scenario for poor selection was hiring the wrong person, but today, that is only the third worst-case scenario. Two other major problems are:
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1. Failing to recognize and hire the right person, instead, letting this ideal candidate sail invisibly through the selection process and
2. Leaving the wrong person on the job for too long.
What do these problems suggest? It implies that, the ability to recognize the right candidate during selection process is the first key leadership skill, whilst the ability to take quick decision to let a wrong person on the job go within reasonable time is second to it.
These two skills are essential to creating a pipeline of talent within any organization and creating a sustainable future.
The second close to the above listed skills is, job design, except the people for whom a job is designed values the job, it would matter less if they were A players or impact players as I prefer to call talents.
By job design, I mean all its components, which includes job specification, job rotation, job enrichment and enlargement.
The future of work is here, and talent management models are incredibly changing, but research consistently show that what makes people happy at work is their ability, values and life interests.
Abilities are simply skills, experience, and knowledge a person brings to the job and ideally makes an employee feel confident and competent, the feeling of incompetence can hinder creativity and by extension productivity but the reality is that, people who are good at their jobs are not necessarily engaged by their jobs and this is exactly where the interest of your people in the organization’s business play a more significant role and followed by their individual values as aligned to the organization values.
Have you ever bothered to profile your talents in terms of the rewards that they seek? Some people value money whilst others want intellectual challenge and still others desire prestige or a comfortable lifestyle. What makes your people thick and how are you meeting those needs creatively toward driving better performance?
Innovation, collaboration and creativity have become essential as the ability to lead from a distance and to communicate effectively online are now a must have, this connects to why job content must consistently reflect the changes imposed by technological nuances and the ecosystem.
In the field of public administration, the most fascinating for me of all topics is Ecology, which simply means the study of the interrelationships of living organisms and their environment, the crucial elements of which are, the place, individuals, the physical and social technology.
From ecology as business strategist, organization development and talent management specialist, we draw an inference from the study of the volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous business environment as it impacts talent management and drives efficiency and productivity.
A peculiar instance is the ongoing brain drain, as an episode of Nigerians and business talents move abroad, “the greener pasture”, the systems in the United States, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirate have continued to attract many Nigerians as they proceed to either further their education or relocate completely with family members. This increases the chances of the growth of the advanced country businesses at the expense of the developing country businesses.
The conditions that impact talent decision to migrate could be completely outside the employer’s control.
Another worrisome reason for talent attrition and migration to other countries is the unprecedented devaluation of Naira, inadequate protection of life and property, poor security safety net upon retirement, poor systems and infrastructure and finally, a major distrust of the leadership of the country to fix the problems.
The above listed environmental challenges put business leaders and organization development and talent managers under pressure and adds to possible internal pressure which could include,( I ) the leaders role ambiguity in the face of constant changes (ii) challenges bothering on how transparent business leaders should be when it comes to such issues as downsizing and performance,( iii) How to build trust among employees who are increasingly distrustful of management and (iv) how the business will compete in the global market place and win the war of talent.
The reality is, if only HR utterly understood organization and assessment and help all leaders work at the right level, the organization could make significant leaps in productivity, now and in the future, this strategic role is what Organization Development professionals seeks to fill and bridge the gap between business strategy and people by simply creating an alignment while viewing the organization as a system and emphasizing the adoption of the principle of self-managed and self-directed teams, where the line mangers play a significant role in planning and development as it is increasingly becoming the line manager’s responsibility to identify his subordinates’ developmental needs , to help them cultivate new skills, and to provide them opportunities for professional development and personal growth.
Matthew (SPHRi, ODCP, CPMP, ACIPM, MOLDN) is board chair, Centre for Organization Leadership & Development and practice development manager, Bloomfield Law Practice.
