HR Management Associates, LLC. : Reading Room

Managing Individual Talent: Key to Commitment

Hiring for Talent : the fundamental ‘basic' when it comes to people, an organization's most costly and valuable resource

Bob Largent, SPHR

HR Management Associates, LLC.

How many times have you left an interview and felt elated that you'd found just the ‘right' person for the position open in operations? Not only that, but his or her degree was in the right field and the past two positions listed on the resume indicated he or she was performing a very similar set of skills and responsibilities…just what we need in our organization!

You make the candidate a job offer…he or she accepts…and come to work.

Two months later, you, their manager, wake up at 3:00 am in a cold sweat and realize the person you hired--with all the right credentials and the one who made you feel so good during the interview with the right answers to your questions--is simply not the same person you've experienced the past several weeks. More importantly, he or she is going to show up at 8:00 am this morning and still not be able to perform at or near the level you believed they could!

This scenario is repeated daily in thousands of organizations. The result: a cost of millions of dollars in nonproductive people, unfinished tasks, pushed back deadlines, unhappy customers, and accounting ledgers that just never seem to balance. Why? The answer often comes from the fact organizations today still hire like they did decades ago: the ‘gut feel' of the interviewer, based primarily on the resume and interview, that this is the ‘right' person.

Is that wrong? No, not really. But when the resume and interview are used, these two tools need to have a focus on talent , not skill .

Hiring--and then managing--people for their ‘natural' talents and strengths , instead of hiring them for their ‘teachable' skills and those skills they've acquired in the past is key to an increased bottom-line…and happier and more productive employees.

An organization can teach just about any task needed in the workplace, such as how to use a keyboard or turn a widget. What organizations can't teach is how to use the keyboard fast (or slowly ) and accurately , or how to turn the widget with precision at exactly the right time . Likewise, it's often difficult to gauge a person's innate ability to sell. What organizations typically look for here is product knowledge, when in fact it's assertiveness and a willingness to meet strangers naturally that typically sell products or services; they can learn about the product's specifics as they sell.

Once employed, motivating and managing people day-to-day--by providing an environment where their talents can flourish-- are also crucial. Ensuring negative environments are kept to a minimum produces a powerful force for most people, since a negative environment can diminish or negate a number of key positive motivators.

So, another basic in today's organization, and to have in one's ‘quiver of arrows,' is any of a number of business-focused personal assessments that will accurately provide the hiring manager a look at talents , strengths , and expected behaviors in the workplace. Issues that are usually addressed by a viable and valid tool include communications, leadership, decision-making, productivity, attention to detail, motivators and negative environments, among others. These attributes can't be taught in the classroom…they're naturally in each person, though to a very significantly different degree

Therefore, looking at a resume and a series of credentials and hearing what the candidate wants to tell you in the interview are OK, it's just not the wisest and surest method to bring talented people into your organization today. And remember, people are the organization's most costly and valuable resource.

Give me a naturally talented person any day; we'll teach him or her what we want them to know.

“People don't change that much.

Don't waste time trying to put in what was left out.

Try to draw out what was left in.

That is hard enough.”

First, Break All the Rules

Bob Largent, SPHR

HR Management Associates, LLC.

Today's managers face multiple challenges in the workplace. One very critical management responsibility is to take advantage of individual employee talent—the natural strengths that employees bring to work. To be most effective, today's managers must create positive and supportive work environments that can influence and maximize desired behaviors and outcomes and instill commitment—not just dedication—to the task and the organization as a whole. To many managers, this means applying a new set of management practices—a set of practices that specifically focuses on individual talents and strengths in the workplace.

Today's managers need to be able to:

Energize. The best managers are masters of making things happen, yet realizing that each employee reacts differently to this opportunity. Based on what motivates each employee and how they naturally produce, successful managers create compelling visions for that employee to strive for then they get out of the way.

Empower. Great managers allow their employees to do their job. They delegate responsibility and the authority necessary to get it done. This is a vital function of management, since even the world's best managers can't succeed alone. To achieve their goals, managers must depend on employees’ skills and how those skills are implemented the talents each employee has and the freedom to use those talents efficiently in the workplace.

Coach. It used to be the manager’s job to give orders and make sure employees did as they were told; this isn’t the case any more. Managers, today, must be coaches and cheerleaders for the employees they support rather than ‘prison guards’. The best managers allow employees to make mistakes, realizing it might not be the employee’s individual talent at fault, but rather the process itself that might be flawed.

Communicate. Communication is the lifeblood of any organization, no matter what the size. Companies are most successful where employees and managers communicate frequently and honestly, and not near as successful—often failing—where they don't. Managers who recognize the preferred communication style of each employee are much better able to ensure the employee understands and fulfills his or her job expectations.

It’s up to each manager to make these management practices a part of the way they do day-to-day business with their employees. Recognizing the individual talents employees brings to the workplace is essential to maximizing their value to the organization and their commitment to its goals.

Contact HR Management Associates, LLC. at 478-987-2435 or solutions@hrmasolutions.com to learn more about how to hire talent and how it can make a positive difference in your business organization