Bringing Out the Best in Your Organisation’s Top Assets by Developing People Ltd

Any organisation that wishes to be successful must master the art of nurturing their talent – the people who will make a long term difference to the organisation’s performance.

Talented people are likely to have a low boredom threshold, and therefore need constant variety and challenge. To keep up momentum, development programmes need to be highly impactful, spread over a limited time span (eg 9 – 12 months), and balance learning modules with challenging assignments and projects. Support also needs to be provided in terms of executive coaching or mentoring to give appropriate guidance and support. This can help talent explore their own understanding of themselves and the wider aspects of their role, such as leading in a responsible way.

Whatever talent nurturing method you choose, it is also important to measure its effectiveness. Dave Marchant at Developing People suggests that organisations use several criteria:

• The successful application of knowledge and skills on the job
• The impact of the employee’s performance
• Acceleration of the organisation’s “talent pipeline”

“In this way, your organisation can be sure that it is nurturing the right talent in the right way”, suggests Marchant, who has helped organisations such as IBM to make the most of their talent.