Talent? How
do you measure the talent on your team?
For many years I have had the opportunity to share my career with extraordinary, full of talent people that could often not even imagine.
Now, I have
to say that always found it difficult to measure the talent of my teams and
partners, for which, after many years, I came to a Solomonic conclusion is that
"You cannot measure the talent of a fish by its ability to fly" .
The above
is what it should be and is the minimum that any leader should do for his/her
people, I would define it as a fair chance to prove what they're made of, and
for that reason I also find it absurd that organizations want to measure
everybody using the same rule.
So true is
this that I have seen hundreds of talent in an organization were listed as
"Poor Performers" or "Below Expectations", these talents of
course were expelled by "The System", and then came to another
organization in which almost immediately they transformed into
"HIPO`s" or high potentials.
One would
think, maybe it's a different culture, others almost certainly blame the
bosses, both the previous one for the negative and the current one for the
positive, and honestly both arguments are very powerful.
However,
for me there is a third factor, which is the individual performance evaluation,
which becomes your label within the organization, at least for the next 12
months, hoping that the next time the stars are on your side and Your Boss is
pleased with your performance, being humans make us really difficult to be
objective and impartial, this in various degrees of intensity depending on the
type of personality of each one of us.
Ironically,
the previous organization would immediately claim the success of this person,
with phrases like "Thing is that we are a talent pool" and the best
I've heard so far "After we train them they leave to use that somewhere
else”, well, at this point I would like to introduce a very personal thought, is
that people do not quit organizations, organizations lose their people.
Now, what
is the solution to all this?
I would say
not a single solution, but a combination of several factors:
1. Have
open and clear conversations in which you can put on the table all your cards,
for both parties, business and worker expectations, clear rules.
2. Follow
up on the performance of your employees, as often as possible, so no surprises
at the end of the annual cycle and you may be able to correct 99% of the
improvement opportunities.
3. Provide
the necessary tools to accomplish the goals, even though it sounds obvious this
is something that organizations, through their leaders, always fall short or
simply fail, a metaphor would be, if you want the fish to fly, give it wings.
Finally, remember
that organizations are composed of human beings and the invisible ties that
bind human beings are relationships, that´s why it is so important to look
after these ties..
Regards,
Armando.
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Armando Ramirez
