Why developing talent is not optional anymore
Successful companies don’t leave all HR activities entirely for the HR function. Every manager must also take responsibility for the core HR matters of his or her team. One such crucial HR activity is employee development, which should not be pushed into the HR domain only.
Today’s article highlights the importance of talent development and shows you how to do it the right way.
Why Talent Development?
In today’s talent-competitive market, the development of human resources is not an option anymore. It’s how businesses become industry leaders. It’s what makes managers great leaders. While the list can run long, here are the top 4 benefits of developing your talent.
- Increased retention – An organization with a high rate of resignations rarely achieves anything. Developing your employees keeps people engaged and looking forward to more challenging roles. As a result, people choose to stay and unreservedly offer their talents to the business.
- Higher engagement – According to SHRM, the Society for Human Resource Management, development is one of the best steps an organization can take to boost employee engagement and productivity on the job.
- Stronger employer brand – Companies that invest in their employees’ development enjoy a brand that attracts the top talent from the market. Such a position offers a business the luxury of choosing from the best talent.
- Ability to innovate – To stay on top, companies often need to innovate the way things are being done in the industry. But it’s almost impossible to innovate without a talented workforce that’s prepared for such ambitious projects.
These benefits are enough to help you realize the power of this single activity. Now it’s time to hand you some practical tips to effectively start developing your talent.
The Road to Developing Talent
As a manager, assigning projects and overseeing the day-to-day work of your team is just the bare minimum if you have lofty aspirations. The extra mile, which is also necessary towards distinction, consists of developing each of your team members for their next job – even if that means they might leave you!
Based on our vast experience, we’re listing the most effective hands-on tips to help you make talent development a regular part of your management job.
- Let’s start with a major caveat of talent development. Most managers try to develop their teams based on their own management style and preferences. Their efforts fall on deaf ears because it’s hard for team members to relate, which means no real results. The latest thought on the topic emphasizes the need to tailor the content and communication according to their individual needs and ambitions. Everything DiSC on Catalyst is a great tool to do that because it lets you know exactly what your people value and how to best communicate with them for maximum impact.
- Using the same individual approach, work with each of your team members to set up personalized career goals and targets. Once the targets are clear, you’ll need to track their progress, provide individual feedback, and redirect them when necessary.
- Winning managers develop talent with an eye for the entire organization and its current or future needs – not for their own functions only. When every manager is thinking about the big picture, talent starts to flow seamlessly between functions creating a win-win for everyone. Plus, looking ahead to what the organization will need in the next 3-5 years will help your employees see a long-term future – leading to lower turnover and an engaged tenure with your organization.
- If you want stars on your team, don’t hoard your star employees. Sounds counterintuitive? It might but when you put their career ambitions first and let them join another department, you’ll be known as a great manager and people having ambitions for your function will gravitate toward you.
- Don’t assume your direct reports want the same things you do or want to work in the same environment you enjoy. You need to consider what your employees want and need and adapt your style accordingly. Everything DiSC Catalyst can help you end this guesswork. Its Motivation section tells you what exactly motivates (and demotivates) all four behavioral styles and provides tips on how you can adapt to their dispositions. This can be a leap towards personalized management.
- Similarly, to be a great manager, you’ll have to communicate and provide feedback to your team in a style that suits them, not you. For example, passing some instructions in a loud and upbeat manner will pump up D-style people’s spirits whereas C-style people may get offended by the same thing. To avoid such issues, you need to befriend Catalyst and keep consulting it to see who your people are and understand their preferences.
- An important part of talent development is finding out what your employees want to do in the near and distant future. Focusing on the future will help you create a personalized development plan that each of your employees will be committed to and will strive to get there.
Talent Development using Everything DiSC
As we’ve been emphasizing personalization in the last section, the Catalyst platform makes it easy for you to manage all your employees using an individual approach.
There’s an entire section dedicated to developing talent on the Catalyst platform, under the Management module. This section starts by telling you about your natural talent development style and its pros and cons.
Once you’re aware of your natural tendencies, it helps you identify the potential of each of the four DiSC styles in your team. It also shares insights on how you can adapt to their individual styles.
Let’s go back to Mateo’s scenario once again to see him flex his talent development muscle using Catalyst.
As soon as Mateo took charge of his new managerial role, he couldn’t help but notice that Dave, one of his direct reports, seemed to respond to his directions with a certain skepticism and was performing only the bare minimum. Mateo tried to keep his eyes on him and hoped he would improve (a typical sign of an SC style). But soon enough, things started to deteriorate, and Dave’s lack of energy slowly started to bring the team down.
Before making any decision, Mateo consulted Catalyst and quickly saw what he was doing wrong.
Dave had an ‘i’ style on the DiSC map and would benefit from Mateo using a management style that was focused on action, encouragement, and collaboration.
Mateo realized that Dave was craving social contact, encouragement, praise, and optimism. And when he didn’t get the attention he needed from Mateo, he shut down.
The solution? Encourage him for his achievements through public praise and put him into collaborative settings.
That’s what exactly Mateo did. And voila! Dave’s performance and responsiveness suddenly shot through the roof. He was outdoing himself and started delivering more than he was being asked for.
That’s how easy Everything DiSC makes it for you to read others and develop them using an engaging customized approach.
Talent development as a skill
Talent development is a skill you need to use to join the ranks of the best leaders. The shift from a collective talent development style to an individual one will put you on the fast track to becoming the most value-offering manager your team ever had.
To become a leader who strategically develops his people, head over to our Everything DiSC Management section and select from our range of DiSC options.
