Are You Managing Talent Effectively?

In an increasingly competitive business environment, everyone is interested in talent because talent equals commercial advantage. A business that has people with the capacity to learn faster than the pace of change; to understand problems they have not encountered before; spot novel opportunities; and develop new skills ahead of the field, has a critical competitive edge.

In a recent research study we found that the average company uses only about 30% of the talent in its workforce. The rest goes unrecognised or ignored.

But discovering people’s existing competencies, or knowing how they perform in their existing role, is only the starting point.  Understanding what they can become - their potential to learn - and making sure that they do so is the real key to success. This alone creates the organisation’s ability to meet the challenges of the future.

Potentia measures individual and collective talent clearly and coherently. It shows the scope of people’s potential and identifies who will respond most readily to training and development. It also indicates how an organisation’s learning capacity and future demand for learning can be matched by aligning corporate and individual values and by creating the correct career pathways.

It is important to offer development opportunities to all employees – not just graduates – and to understand the potential of administrative, operational and supervisory staff. People have talents that they have never explored fully; people are in jobs that they have outgrown, or which do not play to their strengths; managers lack a consistent means for assessing talent. All these things lead to a pool of learning ability that passes unnoticed or untapped.

By identifying people who have potential to move ‘across the boundary’ and succeed in more complex managerial roles, we have helped many companies to discover an unexpected source of significant talent.  The following are examples of this:

  • How can we cut numbers without throwing out the baby with the bathwater?
  • How do we make equal opportunity an organisational opportunity?
  • We have too many training courses for too little effect...
  • What kind of people make good Six Sigma Black Belts?

If you would like any further information regarding Potentia Prelude, please contact us on +44 (0)20 7865 2180 or email potentia@gtuk.com.