The heart of talent and its managment...

Do you believe you have talent? Yes? If so, why are you stagnant while your friend or colleague is ahead in the race of life? Is it because he has more of it than you? Or do you have none at all? Or has he marshalled it better?

The origin of talent

Maybe, maybe not. Talent is simply a natural aptitude or skill for a specific activity. Some of its synonyms are flair, aptitude, facility, gift, and knack. These synonyms give us a better understanding of the term talent. So the answer is, most likely yes, for in my book, talent is the product of primarily genetic factors, three of them in fact - Personality orientation, Body Type and Intelligence Type. Consequently, each one of us is born with some talent or the other, repressed or undiscovered.

Our Body Types predict the type of talent that lies deep within us - All of us are either Ectomorphs, Mesomorphs or Endomorphs, again a genetic origin. Ectomorphs are characterized by lean and long bodies and have difficulty building muscle. Endomorphs are big made, often pear-shaped, and have a high tendency to store body fat. Mesomorphs on the other hand are muscular and well-built, with a high metabolism and responsive muscle cells. Obviously, talented athletes will fall in either the first or the last category, while intellectuals can come from any of the three. Wrestlers will necessarily be mesomorphs, while a fast bowler can never be and Endomorph.

Like the body type, there is no dispute that intelligence is mostly inherited, its seven types classified early last century  - Naturalist, Musical, Logical – Mathematical, Existential, Interpersonal, Bodily Kinesthetic, Linguistic, Intra-personal, and Spatial. Of three dimensions of talent, intelligence type is the clear winner in the talent stakes for it clearly determines in which direction the individual will go - it guides the personality orientation too. It can’t do much about the body type in which it is housed, but generally, science has ensured that both of these are well coordinated. For instance an individual with bodily kinesthetic intelligence as a dominant intelligence will not normally be an endomorph and so on.

Each of our personalities are oriented in a particular direction - We adopt this orientation to deal with a situation - Commander, Competitor, Developer, Maximizer, Postivitivist, Wooer.  These orientations have a lot to do with genetics for they depend in some way or the other on our intelligence type, rather than upbringing, though upbringing might shape the personality and its orientation to some extent.  

What is talent?

So is Talent, just tall intent, or a strength?  How can we define it? Talents are naturally recurring patterns of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied. A strength on the other hand is the ability to consistently provide near-perfect performance in a specific activity.  So talent is not a strength and a strength is more useful and powerful than talent. How can we convert one to the other? Its simple addition. Genetics which gives rise to Talent + Desire which gives rise to passion + Hard work which gives rise to practice + environment which provides support.  All of these must be in tandem, feeding and building on each other to deliver to its driver, a strength which he can consistently apply to win fame, money and / or provide a unique service. Sachin Tendulkar is a prime example. Vijender Singh the boxer, is another one, as is Leander Paes, or for that matter our Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Talent Management in Organizations:

Two questions arise. Why do organizations need talent? And having got what they need, why do they have to manage it? The first part of this article informed us that talent alone is useless. However Talents, skills, and knowledge, creates a strength. But talent is the key, for it cannot be acquired, unlike skills and knowledge. For example, as a salesperson you can learn your products' features (knowledge), you can be trained to ask the right open-ended questions (a skill), and you can practice making a sale (investment).  However, the innate tendency to push a customer to commit at exactly the right moment, in exactly the right way must be naturally occurring and cannot be learned. It is also clearly the difference between a bathroom singer and an Indian Idol!  Talent provides organizations with the competitive edge and it is for this reason, that talent needs to be acquired, maintained and retained and most organizations struggle with this. It is this struggle that is often referred to as talent Management - the management of people with special innate abilities that are the key to the organization's competitive success!

Key Roles vs Key Persons:

Talent lies within people, not within the roles. In an organization hierarchy, several management roles have been created, each one to supervise and guide more people than the rest, with the ultimate supervisor, sitting at the top.  But the key to the success of the person sitting at the top, is possibly a guy sitting in the middle or the grunt worker at the bottom.  For he may have the ability to manage a myriad issues, ensuring that output is at its peak. He may be where he is on the hierarchical ladder, because, he lacks one of the three factors that convert a talent into a strength - Desire, Hard work or a supportive environment.  I recall, in my previous organization, my assistant, was a dynamic person, who was the first line of approach of employees seeking redressal from the management - because he was the fountain of all regulatory knowledge - it was a special talent he had.  His role was not very important, but he was, and that was the difference. Other companies would have gladly hired him in a similar or better role, to the detriment of our Company, if we didn’t go out of our way to retain him, the person!

Basically Talent Management is a process, which believes that from sourcing to reward (branding, recruitment, onboarding, alignment, assessment, coaching, recognition and retention), each process must recognize and nurture talent's special needs, sometimes pampering, sometimes disciplining, but always keeping a watchful eye on it, to ensure that organization brings out the best in people with talent, while retaining it.  This strategy, formulated in board rooms, must be translated on the ground, so that talent feels it, and enjoys its fruits, else it will fail.

Hr professionals and CEO's were polled recently on the critical Global talent priorities (deloitte global human capital trends). The survey threw up interesting trends. The top five talent priorities were 1. Plugging Leadership Gaps 2. Reskilling Hr (they are outdated in their approach to talent management) 3. Talent acquisition and access - This was a major concern as talent is no longer easily available as retention efforts grow 4. Talent & HR Analytics - A new and growing field - very important in large organizations, where talent serves under the thumb of his boss, and is easily suppressed, and 5. The overwhelmed employee - employee burn out due to an all work and no play concept.  These priorities stem from the fact that the millennial worker is different in many ways from his previous century predecessor - He is more able, mobile and informed. He is more of a risk taker and wants to be wooed because he believes he is valuable. This makes a strong case for innovative engagement practices.

Strong Engagement Practices

These include Meaningful work (Autonomy, Selection to fit, Small Teams, Time for Slack), Great leadership (Smart and quick goal setting, Coaching and Feedback, Leadership Development, and a modern Performance appraisal system), Great Environment (Flexible and humane work environment, Recognition rich culture, Open work spaces, Inclusive and diverse HR culture), Growth opportunities (Accelerated and facilitated talent recognitions and mobility, multiple career growth paths, Self-development, A great learning culture where mistakes are encouraged), and finally creating a  trust in leadership ( A clearly articulated vision and mission, transparency in communication and leadership charisma and honesty).

In all of this perhaps accelerated and facilitated talent recognitions and mobility are the key to talent retention. There are many ways to do this, but personally I favor the 9 Box method of talent recognition and mobility, it helps identify talent early and provides the organizations with the opportunity to create appropriate paths for its top talent.  Talent Management is all about innovation and a talented talent manager can make a difference.

Conclusion

What is the use of talent if you don't put it to use? Recall the parable of the talents from the Bible. Through this parable, Jesus sought to explain that God has given each of us some talent or another, most of which are buried deep within - Sometimes we don’t recognize them, and we do, we do not put them to use for the service of others - for that is what they have been given to us for. It’s only when we use them that they multiply, or for that matter, bear fruit! There a few takeaways from that parable related to the concept of talents 1. We are not all created equal - Our talents differ. 2. God always gives us everything we need to do (Talents) what he has called us to do. 3. Success is a product of our work - We need to use the talents that we have been given. 4. We must not work for our own selfish purposes - Always use our talents in the service of others and 5. We will be held accountable by the giver of these talents - so beware.