Got Talent?

Spotting the talent and potential in others is a great skill to develop and work on.  Sometimes the person you notice with the potential hasn't yet spotted it themselves - so you identifying that talent can be a confidence booster for that person.

Here are a few strategies to employ/things to consider when thinking about someone with skills.

1. Promote slowly.  Let the talent take their time and develop their skills in their own time.  If the person is older chances they will have the maturity to handle such a move.  However younger or people will less experience may be overwhelmed by the dizzying heights.  Time will allow maturity and life lessons to sink in.  Managers, like fine wine, need time to mature.
2. Provide mentors.  Provide your talent with experienced managers who will provide training and a sounding board for your talent.  No one person has all the answers and it is important that your talent be given the time and opportunity to interact with others giving your talent the chance to formulate a well rounded philosophy and style of management that is unique to them self.
3. Praise publicly.  Managers are people too.  Giving praise in public and backing up your managers no matter what (in public) will raise their self esteem as well as give them confidence.  If they muck up - so what.  Reflect, change and move on.  I like what Bob Sutton wrote on this subject in his blog post about caring bosses.

Oh yeah - one more thing.  Let your talent pick a fight or two.  Like kids you need to allow them to learn to defend themselves when attacked and establish their own methodologies.  That isn't to say you let them take a beating, but you don't wrap them in cotton wool every time there's something going down.

(Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/funky64/4096134002/)

Talent - what do you do with it?

Every employee you have and person you know has a particular talent and tons of potential. The key is to figure out - what is that talent and how do you make the most of it?

Talented people generally are on the move (either upwards or sideways) and think they know where they are going. What you need as a manager to do is to provide a balance between untried ambition and actual skill. Provide a balance between new challenges and the development of new skills as well as the refinement and strengthening of current skills. Getting the balance between the two is hard - but the results are also very rewarding both for your business and the person concerned.

The other idea is to make every employee a CEO of something. Make them completely responsible for an idea or project. Give them a budget, authority and the right amount of support to make it happen.

Talented employees also need feedback and reflection time. The reviewing of KPI's and goals is a powerful motivator. Keep the KPI's short and aggressive. By doing this you, the manager, keeps close to the talent and you can gauge their growth. Where growth is quick - you can set higher targets and more complex problems. Where growth is slower - this provides a good time for both you and the talent to catch a breather before proceeding.

Note - not all talent is under 30! Some of the most talented people you have are over 30, settled into their jobs and are quite possibly bored. the mission is to identify them, lure them out of their secure place and unleash their hidden skills on the world!

Mentors

It pays to have a mentor. Mentoring is defined as - "a developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person " (see Wikipedia)

Here are some tips about mentors -

• They find you. Someone will will see your performance and will offer to help you.


• Stay in touch. You may only speak 3 or 4 times a year - but that is enough. Sometimes you may meet more often, it depends on the needs of the relationship.


• Plan - what you want to talk about. You don't have long sop make sure you know what you want to talk about before you get there. There aren't many seers in the business world with the time to sit and talk.


• Ideas - take your ideas and allow your mentor to re-direct or reshape what you already have. Never go in cold - unless they ask to see you (even then ask what they want to discuss)


• Keep an open mind. Always be open to possibilities and a different point of view.

I have a couple of mentors whom I meet with irregularly, and it's great!