Talent Maximiser

2 years olds playing with iPads, whatever next?

One of my children recently had a birthday. They are now officially a toddler. Interestingly, we kindly received a number of gifts that on the box say they are for slightly older children, but younger children still manage them very well.

Should an iPhone and iPad be considered suitable toys for children?  (Note none of my children personally owes either one).

My husband works in technology, loves technology, and all but sleeps with technology, so not unsurprisingly, we are a technology driven house. Our children are schooled in the art of safely using, holding and carrying a variety of technology products.  Even at their age they are fascinated by what they can see, do and learn, with the age appropriate content we make available to them.

It is amazing to watch them make their way around the iPad and iPhone at such a young age, selecting an animal matching game, or an electronic jigsaw, or a children's movie, or an educational app. The interesting thing is that this does not stop them wanting to do the real things. In fact, I genuinely think it has sparked an early interest in playing with some of the real toys as well.

What will the future of eduction look like for this latest of generations and what about the workplace? My prediction is that children will not carry around stacks of text books when they go to secondary school, but instead carry an iPad, or tablet.  The use of the iPad/tablet will extend into the workplace as have the use of phones. There will be an increasing demand for immediate, real time responses and they will want to have much more control over their environment.

I am starting to see some neat real time applications being developed in the HR/talent management space and we ourselves are developing tools to meet this emerging need.

Tips - to maximise talent management - part 4

Following on from my previous posts, explaining how to go about maximising the value from talent management initiatives, here is the fourth and final 2.5 areas to consider:

Confirm the development delivers - does the development initiatives stretch or cosset? Tip - give identified talent real business issues to address and or put into critical roles, even if they are operating in a shadow capacity.  Often the talent pool are given additional responsibilities or projects to help them grow and profile their talent, but they are overly engineered to ensure very little chance of failure.  They need to experience a challenge first hand and embed the learning to carry the lesson.  It is a fine and difficult tight rope to walk, in terms of getting the right amount of feedback and on-going coaching and mentoring support.  But if they are given too much when they come off the 'spoon fed' programme, if it is not replaced with something else they feel abandoned and they are actually not able to think for themselves in any significantly different way, leading to demotivation and probably departure.  If the development is not up to the job then it is unlikely that internal talent will be promoted.

Define measures of success - are there clearly defined measures of success?  Tip - measures of success can be simple, such as the level of recruitment spending, the number of internal promotions, the size of the talent pool for future leadership positions, the levels of talent engagement and the number of talented employees departing over the past year.  Setting goals will keep the focus on what is important and ensure tracking against the strategic objectives.

Bonus thought - Deliver value over complexity - is the process more complicated than it needs to be?  Tip - At each stage of the process consider what value will be delivered to the business from the implementation of choosen models, tools, technology etc.  Often we can get caught up with creating a (perfect) process that is does not meet the business needs.

Tips - to maximise talent management - part 3

Following on from my first and second post, explaining how to go about maximising the value from talent management initiatives, here are the third 2 areas to consider:

Identify the owners - who is running the show?  Tip - there are a number of key stakeholder and they all have an important role to play.  It is important to define the responsibilities of each.  Typically the role of HR/Talent Manager is to tease out the objectives, provide the framework to achieve the desired outcomes, oversee the process and support implementation. The leaders' role is to reinforce the importance of the process, to act as the role models for the behaviours they want and need the rest of the organisation to demonstrate, while the line have the vital role of helping to deliver the talent management initiatives and manage the talent on a day to day basis.  Whatever the final allocation of roles and responsibilities, the most important thing to maximise the value from your talent management process is to ensure that everyone is clear about their role and the critical part they play in engaging, developing and retain talent.

Ensure useable technology -  is there useful intelligence being produced?  Tip - consider your needs, how complex is your process going to be in the outset?  As you evolve your talent management process you will undoubtably need more technology.  Technology can enhance the process but too much technology is likely to remove richness from the insight and make it a tick book activity that simply has to get done. In the first instance, many companies can still get by using the basics such as a spreadsheet to gather and display the information they need to make decisions. Beware of wasting valuable resources on creating a 'white elephant' that the business does not want to use.

Tips - to maximise talent management - part 2

Following on from my first post, explaining how to go about maximising the value from talent management initiatives, here are the second 2 areas to consider:

Determine eligibility for inclusion - is it open to everyone and can people put themselves, others forward, or is it shrouded in secrecy?  Tip - open nomination sends out more positive messages, is preferred by talent and acts as safety net for picking up potentials.  Not everyone wants or is ready to put themselves forward for a talent programme, so it is unlikely that you will be inundated, but employees report that it is important for them to know that it could be open to them.  If you go down the open route, then having a clear selection and participation criteria is critical for helping people to decide their eligibility. And for those who make it into the talent pool it is also important that they know they have been selected.  Talent often report to being told they are part of the succession plan only when they depart.  Note - participation criteria for being in a talent pool can make clear it is not a life committment.  If employees do not feel they are being given a fair chance to develop and be recognised they are more likely to leave to pursue a career elsewhere.

Decide on the implementation - is it 'done to' employees and are they told what to do and expect, with little opportunity to say whether they actual want to be included?  Tip - engaging all stakeholders in the creation process and putting talent at the heart of the process will ensure it is not just a 'best in class model' but is something that is embraced and made to successfully work within the organisation's culture.  Otherwise it becomes a costly investment that goes nowwhere.