Eight Steps to
Talent Liberation
Effective Pathway
To Becoming an
Employer of Choice
By Christophe B. Horvath
Principal Consultant & Talent Coach
Primeast Southern Africa
christophe.horvath@inspirall.life
COLOFON
This first edition is published
by InSpiral Greater Life Creation Ltd in April 2009
using Lulu.com online publishing services
Copyright © Christophe B. Horvath 2009
This book is copyright under the Berne Convention
No reproduction without permission
All rights reserved
The right of Christophe B. Horvath
to be identified as the author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with
sections 77 & 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1998
InSpiral Greater Life Creation Ltd
PO BOX 2942
Lilongwe
Malawi
www.GreaterLifeCoaching.com
Printed and bound by Lulu.com
This book is dedicated to
All the talent present in the world
May it be recognised, valued, developed and used
And serve and contribute to make this World a better place.
Starting with yours!
Christophe B. Horvath
18 April 2009
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary ...................................................................................................... 4
Preface ........................................................................................................................... 4
1. Introduction ........................................................................................................... 5
2. Talent Liberation is Value Creation..................................................................... 7
3. Common Sense Distinctions: Competence, Talent & Strength.......................... 8
3.1.
Competence.................................................................................................... 8
3.2.
Talent ............................................................................................................. 9
3.3.
Strengths ........................................................................................................ 9
3.4.
There is a place for competence as risk management .................................. 10
4. Recognising, Valuing, Developing and Using Talents ...................................... 10
4.1.
Recognising.................................................................................................. 10
4.2.
Valuing ......................................................................................................... 12
4.3.
Developing ................................................................................................... 13
4.4.
And Using Them! ........................................................................................ 13
5. Eight Steps to Talent Liberation......................................................................... 15
5.1.
Direction ...................................................................................................... 15
5.2. Philosophy.................................................................................................... 16
5.3. Process ......................................................................................................... 17
5.3.1.
External recruitment............................................................................. 18
5.3.2.
Internal recruitment and promotion ..................................................... 20
5.3.3.
Career development ............................................................................. 21
5.3.4.
Rewards................................................................................................ 22
5.3.5.
Learning and development ................................................................... 22
5.3.6.
Competency frameworks ..................................................................... 23
5.3.7.
Team development ............................................................................... 23
5.3.8.
People leaving the organisation ........................................................... 24
5.4. Plan .............................................................................................................. 24
5.5.
Communication ............................................................................................ 25
5.6.
Leadership development .............................................................................. 27
5.6.1.
Initial Work Shop ................................................................................. 27
5.6.2.
Follow-up Work Shop.......................................................................... 28
5.6.3.
Coaching Programme........................................................................... 28
5.6.4.
Conventional Training Centre or Back to Nature ................................ 29
5.6.5.
“Four Seasons in One Day” ................................................................. 30
5.7.
Talented Teams ............................................................................................ 30
5.8. Review ......................................................................................................... 33
6. The role of coaching in Talent Liberation ......................................................... 34
6.1.
Coaching is not therapy. .............................................................................. 35
6.2.
Coaching cycle ............................................................................................. 35
7. Benefits of Talent Liberation for your Organisation ........................................ 36
7.1.
Effective & Excellent Performance of the Organisation ............................. 36
7.2.
Going from Good to Great & Being Built to Last ....................................... 37
7.3.
Becoming an Employer of choice ................................................................ 38
Postscript ..................................................................................................................... 39
About the author ......................................................................................................... 40
Join the Sharing on Talent Liberation....................................................................... 41
Endnotes ...................................................................................................................... 41
3
Executive Summary
Talent Liberation is a value adding people management philosophy. It is a
new form of experiential learning, based on the natural order of things and
offering great potential for impact and added value for organisations - be they
corporate, public or non-for-profit - and a high return on investment. Instead
of trying to fix weaknesses it focuses on capitalising on strengths.
It is a process of recognising, valuing, developing and using the unique
talents of all existing employees in the delivery of the organisation’s
objectives. This enhances their sense of job-fulfilment, increases the added
value they contribute and strengthens the comparative advantage of the
organisation as a whole. At the same time it reduces attrition, staff turnover
and absenteeism, as well as staff frustration, disgruntlement and that vague
but undermining incidence of passive “resistance”.
The Talent Liberation process consists of eight intuitive, logical steps, which
also include leadership development, team building and change
management. Talent Liberation ties in with Talent Management as a top
priority for organisations worldwide, both allowing the organisation to make
much more from its existing work force (this against the context of the current
worldwide financial crunch and economic crisis), and to become an employer
of choice by adopting an enlightened culture of talent.
Preface
This is a write-up, with some further embroidery, of the notes I made during
my wonderful Talent Liberation induction1 journey into Talent Liberation,
with my talent teacher and mentor, Clive Wilson, Deputy Chairman of
Primeast 2, on our journey in Malawi between 22/10 and 12/11/2008.
I hereby express my warm and heartfelt thanks for Clive’s great and inspiring
presence and support, and for the trust that Primeast is placing in me for
expanding its wonderful talent liberating (net)work into Southern Africa.
May you be as inspired from reading it, as I from writing it. Thank you for
taking your time to go through it. Your comments and suggestions are most
welcome. Kindly send them to christophe.horvath@primeast.com.
4
1. Introduction
The eagle never lost so much time
as when he submitted to learn of the crow
William Blake
Our working lives tend to be remarkably at odds with the natural order of
things. A lion doesn’t aspire to be an impala, and neither does any selfrespecting elephant hold grasshopper ambitions. From diminutive acorn to
majestic oak tree, nature simply becomes what it was born to be, growing into
its potential simply by following its calling. Wouldn’t we humans be wiser if
we lead our lives much more in this same time-tested way?
Every company’s goal is to make profit, every non-for-profit has objectives to
achieve, and both types of organisation aim to be sustainable and endure.
And every person working in them wishes to fulfil their human needs and
aspirations, and seeks to contribute, and feel meaningful and be rewarded for
their valued contributions. Our view, which is based on extensive research3, is
that persons can only effectively contribute, and generate added value, to
the degree that they know their innate talents, have honed them into
strengths, and use these strengths consistently in their work to contribute to
the delivery of the objectives of their organisation. This gives people true
fulfilment, allows them to grow, generates significant added value for their
organisation, and is what will give it a leading edge.
In reality however, company leaders often feel frustrated, disappointed and
challenged by a lack of commitment, motivation and involvement of their
work force, who – so they feel – are not engaged with the big picture and the
long term objectives of the organisation. On the other hand, many managers
and employees feel strangely out of place in their jobs, micro-managed,
overworked, stressed out, simply bored or outright depressed. Staff, if they
dare and can afford to, often leave their jobs when they don’t feel fulfilled or
feel trapped, mismanaged, disempowered, burnt out, or even somehow
violated. How to overcome, and - why not? – prevent to start with, these
crucial challenges posed by people being mismatched with their jobs?
A Gallup survey covering 1.7 million employees of 101 companies in 63
countries concluded that only 20% of employees surveyed felt that their
strengths were in play every day. Why are eight out ten employees miscast in
their role? Marcus Buckingham claims that most organisations are built on
two flawed assumptions about people: 1. each person can learn to be
competent in almost anything; and 2. each person’s greatest room for growth
is in their areas of greatest weakness. As a consequence most organisations
spent more resources on training their staff, rather than on selecting them
properly in the first place; more on fixing weaknesses than on building on
5
strengths; and promote people with proven technical competencies, rather
than because of their talents in leadership or management. Contrarily, based
on extensive Gallup surveys, Marcus Buckingham posits that the two
assumptions that guide the world’s best managers are: 1. each person’s
talents are enduring and unique; and 2. each person’s greatest room for
growth is in the areas of their greatest strength 4.
As long as employees are unaware of their talents and worth, try to fit in and
live up to outside expectations, and measure themselves against others,
against external standards and against predefined competencies, they are in
the realm of pretence, comparison and competition – locked inside that
prisonlike box, which is reducing, stifling and stressing people out, trying to
be something they are not. Unlike that struggle and strife that leaves most
feeling like hamsters in a spinning wheel, it is only really through true growth
and creation from the inside out, with the raw and precious matter of the
awesome potential that we all are born with, that makes people feel truly
fulfilled, be productive, and find flow in their lives5.
Likewise, the days of command and control (and coercion) management
styles ought to be over. No measure of pressure from the outside will ever
attract anyone to happily volunteer one’s very best on a consistent basis. The
“utilitarisation” of people as “assets” is unlikely to ever inspire anyone with
some self-esteem and human dignity to give the best of them.
With the Global Leadership Alliance6, we embrace the concept that “leaders see
a better future and have the resilience and interpersonal skills to create the
conditions in which it will happen”. This “creating the conditions” is an act of
allowing, not of forcing. It is about creating an environment in which people
are inspired, empowered and stimulated to grow, create and contribute. And
it foremost includes the ability to attract and keep great human talent, and let
it do what it loves, and therefore does best, in the realisation of the
organisation’s objectives.
In my understanding, Talent Liberation is thus all about supporting people to
discover their authenticity, enabling them to give that “best of themselves”,
which in turn will provide a greater contribution and more added value to
their organisation (as well as their family and wider society), and, in so doing,
to experience the greater flow, aliveness and fulfilment that come from
engaging one’s unique combination of talents to make a truly meaningful
and valuable contribution. That is the natural order of things.
What is needed, in my view, is thus a global paradigm shift from an
obsession with scarcity, weaknesses and change; to a focus on potential,
strengths and creation.
What can thus be done, so that people rekindle the passion for what they are
naturally good at – their talents - and bring this enthusiastically to work?
6
How to support people and organisations in the discovery, appreciation,
reinforcement and application of the precious talents that are already present
in their midst (though oft still in undetected and slumbering mode)? How to
foster these talents into strengths? How to let those strengths contribute real
added value for, and strengthen the comparative advantage of their
organisation? And how to enduringly embed this mentality into the
organisational culture? The answers to these questions are what we will
uncover in this paper.
The Talent Liberation Philosophy:
“Organisations reach prime performance
When they recognise, value, develop and use
The unique talents of their people
In the delivery of their objectives” 7
2. Talent Liberation is Value Creation
Adding value to an organisation
Means you increase its worth
And its capacity to serve its customers
Stuart L. Levine 8
We at Primeast strongly believe and make a case that any proper Talent
Liberation intervention is a wise and profitable investment, which will yield a
manifold return on investment (ROI). Talent Liberation is not just like any
other training; it is a transformative process that is as effective in adding value
as it is in causing enduring culture change.
A Manager at the Building Society had recognised in herself the talent of being very
effective at helping other people going through change. An important new programme
was to be implemented, but it was facing delays, because one key person was reluctant
in adopting it. She took some time apart with him and could coach him and persuade
him to engage with the new programme and adopt it. The implementation of the
programme meant an added 10 million pounds per year to the bottom line. Her
intervention brought the implementation forward with at least three months. So for a
few hours of her time, the use of her talent was worth a value of 2.5 million pounds.
A man working in marketing in a London-based company was excellent at making
cold calls. He really connected with people, and made record sales. However, having to
spend 65 % of his time on administrative tasks, he could only spend 35 % of his time
on this work, which was the part he really enjoyed. By reviewing the work allocation
7
in his team, he would have been able to double his time spent on cold calls, to 70%,
thus increasing his sales turnover from around GBP 500,000 to about GBP 1,000,000
per year. Unfortunately, his company was not open to this idea, so, instead, he left the
company, trusting that his talents would be put to better use by another employer.
If recognising, valuing, developing and using each individual’s talents and
strengths is adding great value, then it is easy to see that doing so for your
entire work force will give your company or organisation great additional
competitive advantage.
Measuring it
While value adding actions would in principle refer to all actions contributing
to the realisation of the objectives of the organisation; in order to prove the
effectiveness of talent liberation, we believe it is appropriate and practical to
focus on measurable added value, as can be translated into monetary value.
This of course does not preclude or underestimate the worth of any other type
of added value, in addition, which is however less tangible and measurable.
In this, narrower monetary, sense “value added” action remains as relevant to
any corporate, as to any non-for-profit organisation; and may mean any of the
following things:
• Increase profit (corporate);
• Attract funding or otherwise enhance financial stability (NFP);
• Decrease financial haemorrhaging / costs;
• Ensure/Improve relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact,
sustainability and/or visibility of the organisation and its actions, as
can be translated into monetary value.
3. Common Sense Distinctions:
Competence, Talent & Strength9
3.1. Competence
Competence is the baseline level of skill
required to a job without error.
In other words, a competence is the ability to do something well,
adequately, without mistakes. This says nothing at all about how naturally it
comes to you; how little or how much effort, strife and struggle you need to
put into it to get it done; how much you enjoy or loathe doing it; and how
easy and fun, or difficult and frustrating it would be to perform this task well
on an ongoing basis. Competence therefore only looks at results, without
taking into account the psychology, emotions and natural abilities and
propensities of the person concerned.
8
3.2. Talent
Talent is something someone is naturally good at
A talent, at the other hand, is something you are naturally good at; that you
enjoy doing; that comes naturally and easy; that makes you feel good when
you do it; that makes you forget time when you are fully engaged in it; and
that you would happily do even if you weren’t paid for it. At a more spiritual
level, talent thereby is intricately linked to your calling and purpose – that
which you were born to be and do.
3.3. Strengths
A strength then, is a talent that has been developed to the point that it adds
value. According to Marcus Buckingham it is consistent near perfect
performance in an activity. A strength thereby has three components: the
talent, the knowledge and the skill to do the activity10. While knowledge and
skills can be learnt by training and/or experience; without talent, that either
simply is innate or is lacking, there can be no true strength. Therefore the
most important ingredient of a strength is the natural born talent, which then
can be developed and honed into a strength through training and practice.
A Strength is a talent that has been developed
to such an extent that it adds value
In order to be successful then, rather than focusing our limited time, resources
and energies on stop-gapping our weaknesses and trying to be a "wellrounded (yet mediocre) professional"; if we wish to be outstanding in our
delivery and take joy and pride in our work, it clearly makes much more
sense to focus on our talents, capitalise on our strengths and only risk-manage
around our weaknesses – both on an individual, team and on an
organisational basis.
Against this background, Talent Liberation is thus all about identifying your
innate talents, helping you to foster them into your core strengths, providing
greater added value by maximally using them, and enjoying greater
fulfilment and alignment because you do what you were born to do.
An important point hereby is that everybody has talent. Thus when we
mention “talent” we do not only mean the high achievers, the super
performers, the top 10%. Everybody has talents that can be developed into
value-adding strengths, and recognising, valuing, developing and using the
talent of all its present existing staff in the delivery of its objectives is what
organisations will allow to reach prime performance.
9
3.4. There is a place for competence as risk management
This being said, competence still has its place. While talent is what will deliver
added value, it will of course continue to make sense to avoid making risky or
costly mistakes. So while it is highly recommended to adopt a strong focus on
talent and strengths; assuring that minimal competence is in place will still be
useful as a risk management strategy.
Eg while a natural leader would greatly benefit from further developing their
leadership talents, it would also be good that he learns sufficient accounting skills, so
that he can at least understand the work of the financial manager, and verify and
control it, without needing to go into the detail of accounting work.
The practical recommendation hence would be to focus at least 80% of the
training and development budget for a person on further developing their
talents; and maximally 20% of it on damage control.
Still we advocate to maximally focus on core strengths, and delegate,
outsource or simply let go of all other work. After all, with 7 billion people on
Planet Earth, there is somebody else going to be really good at what you
happen to be very poor at. So why not let them take care of it?
4. Recognising, Valuing, Developing and Using
Talents
4.1. Recognising
Concealed talent brings no reputation.
Desiderius Erasmus
Traditionally, most employee performance assessments tend to be based on
competency frameworks, which basically focus on ensuring delivery of
planned results without mistake. They will ask: what is wrong with this
person, if they fall below the line of the required competence? This report card
approach will then lead to the conclusion that the weaknesses of this person
need to be fixed. According to Gallup, a mindboggling 90% of all training
budgets in large companies are used for fixing people’s weaknesses.
This approach completely fails to ask the key question: “What is special, great,
unique about this person, that would really help us reach our objectives?” And
indeed what is?
10
Imagine that a child in school would consistently receive tutoring, not for the
subjects in which it gets C’s or D’s, but for the subjects in which it gets straight
A’s. Imagine what creativity would grace the world, and how all of us would
benefit from all that talent and genius. Why does society insist on producing
perfectly rounded mediocre performers? Who actually benefits from this?
What if we focused instead on the A-talents our people show to have in the
execution of their work, and supported them to develop these ever further
into strengths? What if we gradually gave them more work they are really
talented for and passionate about; and therefore really enjoy doing? And gave
the work they are less good at to people who’d excel in doing it instead?
What if we started with recognising the talent we had in house?
In a supermarket Mary and Tom both had exactly the same job description: taking
care of sales and the in-shop stocks for a certain section of the supermarket. Mary was
a great communicator, who had excellent sales results, because customers really took
her sales recommendations to heart. Tom, being awkward and shy around people, had
the opposite effect on customers, and they seemed to turn away as soon as he showed
up. Tom, however, turned out to be very effective at the lay-out design which
significantly improved the stock-keeping and logistics of the section. The shop
manager quickly decided to let Mary cover sales on the shop floor; and to let Tom take
stock-keeping for his account. Both were happy, and the added value of this reshuffle
of assignments was very significant.
So how do we recognise talent? Diagnostic tests on talents/strengths have
been developed, such as eg StrenghtsFinder 11 or the Strengths Deployment
Inventory (SDI), which specifically considers what motivates us when things
are going well and what motivates us when things are going less well and
how this affects our cooperation with others in our teams12. And there is also
Clive Wilson’s very practical and effective book, “Liberate Your Talent” 13
However, it is also possible to simply come to valuable insights through free
form approaches and guided self-reflection and feedback from others may
also produce a personal, valuable, relevant and practical assessment.
An example of exercise is given below under Team Building. It may be
enough to simply pair a person up with a peer to get started. Each one writes
down 3-5 of the top talents they see in the other and in themselves. Let them
talk this through, and then give each time to reflect on their own about their
talents, how to best formulate them, and how they could add value.
11
4.2. Valuing
People add more value when they do
what they are naturally good at
Marcus Buckingham
The more we can optimise the use of people’s talents and strengths, the more
value they will add. So the logical lesson is to let people do more of what they
are good at, and enjoy doing; to develop their talents and strengths even
further, so they get better at them still; and to let them do less of what they are
not so good at, and don’t enjoy. Just like companies, let people stick to their
core business, and delegate, outsource or get rid of the rest. The rewards will
be manifold, as these and above real life stories illustrate 14:
A Communications Manager for a large company, spent many evenings out with her
husband at cocktail parties and events. It turned out that the lion’s share of her added
value actually came from her exchanges with the press and other socialites during her
nights out; and that her mornings in which she sat grumpily at her desk, micromanaging her staff, were far less productive. Her boss recognised this, and allowed her
to engage more fully still in her evening activities, while also allowing her to only
come in to the office in the afternoons to get her desk work done. The result was that
she was happier and produced even more added value.
The head of the legal section in a large bank realised that her unit really was the
bottleneck that determined, and thus limited, the turnover of the bank. She also
realised that, when she spent less time on legal analysis and more time on beforehand
in dialogue with the responsible managers on each dossier - a thing which she also
really loved to do - the lead time of each dossier could actually be halved. This simple,
yet precious realisation would thus allow the bank to double its turnover.
Standard Bank Malawi did a talent liberation workshop with its entire senior staff
team. After having identified their talent, they worked out that, if they used their
talents more wisely, they could add millions of Malawi Kwacha to the bottom-line of
the company. So they worked out what these actions needed to be, committed to taking
them, and dedicated themselves to their delivery in the presence of their CEO.
We all bring talents to work, but rarely value them. But what if we did?
12
4.3. Developing
Talent is like a muscle:
Without something to push against, it atrophies.
So we deliberately put obstacles in our path
- Barriers that will inspire us.
We disciple ourselves as to what to do,
While we're boundless as to how to do it.
Robert McKee
It is not enough to know and value your talents, to be effective they need to be
developed into strengths. This may mean studying, learning, training,
practicing and/or engaging in any activity that will make sure that our
natural born talents are further and further honed into strengths.
An organisation may be able to provide relevant training opportunities for its
employees, based on performance reviews or similar, as discussed above.
However, depending on the size and resources of the organisation, wouldn’t
it make most sense to guide and allow the talented person to seek out the
most appropriate training programs, that will really further develop their
talents, themselves? Just as it would be good to allow employees to choose
which professional on- and offline reviews and information to subscribe to, it
seems sensible to make available a dedicated budget and allow employees to
come up with their proposals for training that will be the best for them, and
the most coherent with how they wish to point their talents to the realisation
of the organisation’s objectives.
4.4. And Using Them!
A big selection of quotes, because they say it all, loud and clear:
The person born with a talent they are meant to use
will find their greatest happiness in using it.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Hide not your talents. They for use were made.
What’s a sundial in the shade?
Benjamin Franklin
We all have ability.
The difference is how we use it.
Stevie Wonder
13
If you have a talent, use it in every which way possible.
Don't hoard it. Don't dole it out like a miser.
Spend it lavishly, like a millionaire intent on going broke.
Brenda Francis
When I stand before God at the end of my life,
I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left,
and I could say, "I used everything you gave me.
Erma Bombeck
When you engage in a work that taps your talent and fuels your passion
--that rises out of a great need in the world that you feel drawn by conscience to meet—
therein lies your voice, your calling, your soul's code.
Stephen Covey 15
While developing our talents evermore into value-adding strengths, it is at
the same time also important that they are maximally and optimally used in
our organisation and in our teams. Not only does putting people’s talent to
work generate very significant added value, as elaborated above 16, it also
greatly enhances employees’ sense of well-being, fulfilment, significance and
contribution. It is also clear that people’s talents need not be fully developed
into strengths before they are used; as their deployment itself will precisely
ensure the acceleration of their development into powerful strengths.
“Use it or loose it” is good ole’ common sense. We could add “don’t use it and
get a therapist”. People who don’t get the opportunity to do what they like, to
do what they are good at, and to use their natural born talents, are seldom
happy campers. In my experience as life coach, the primary cause for people
getting depressed is that they don’t find meaning in their lives, and haven’t
found their purpose to dedicate their talent and energy to, as their unique
contribution to the world. And finding our purpose, our mission, our life
calling if you will, has everything to do with recognising and pointing our
talents, passions and values, as Aristotle said, “to the needs we see in the
world”. This is how we contribute, this how we find meaning, and this is how
we experience fulfilment.
Enabling people to use their talents then becomes a powerful win-win
situation: the organisation gets the driven engagement of their staff and the
significant added value their committed talent brings; and the employees get
the fulfilment of doing what they love, and loving what they do, and find
meaning in contributing it to a greater, common purpose.
14
5. Eight Steps to Talent Liberation17
Below we will explore the eight steps, as intuitively designed by Clive Wilson,
that naturally and logically need to be taken, in order to make sure that Talent
Liberation can be sustainably embedded in the organisational culture, as a
truly transformational approach to significantly enhance both the
productivity and effectiveness 18 of the organisation, as well as the enduring
commitment and well-being of its employees.
Not only will any company or non-for profit organisation enormously gain
from adopting this approach in the delivery of its objectives, as it will enjoy
greatly increased commitment and engagement of its employees. It will also
naturally become an employer of choice, and in the process substantially
decrease turn-over and absenteeism , if it embraces and applies Talent
Liberation as its guiding principle.
5.1. Direction
What are we here for? And where are we going to?
“Without a vision, my people will perish”
Direction is established in close consultation with the top leadership (CEO /
MD of the company, or director of the non-for-profit Organisation / NGO).
This requires full engagement of the leadership with the talent liberation
facilitator, during a well-prepared and focused meeting.
Direction is concerned with the answers to the following questions:
“Fundamentally, what is this organisation here for?”
“What are we all about?”
“What are we here to do?”
And:
“How far do we look ahead?”
“What do things look like 2, 5, 10 years from here?”
“Where is this organisation going?”
Direction is thus both about the reason – “raison d’être” – of the organisation
and its planned and travelled journey, milestones and ultimate destination –
“where it is going.“
Without direction,
People do not know
What to point their talent at 19
15
Direction includes:
• Purpose/Mission statements
• Vision (written/pictorial)
• Objectives/long term planning/BHAG - “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” 20
• Values
Questions for leadership:
- Does the organisation have all these elements in place? If not, can we be of service in
establishing them? If yes, are they up to date? Or should they be reviewed?
- Is there a written / pictorial version of either/ all of these?
- How have they been shared, presented until now? How could they be more
effectively communicated (see below)
- If up to date, how many people in your organisation actually know and get the
purpose and vision of the organisation? What difference would it make if everybody
actually did?
- What are you doing to make sure all staff and stakeholders are fully familiar with the
direction your organisation is taking? What could you do?
- Are you comfortable and ready to present and explain the mission statement, vision
and values of the organisation? To all Staff? Clients? Business Partners? Suppliers?
What would it take for you to be fully prepared for that? What means could you use to
inform and further remind people for the future of “what this really is all about” and
“where we are going together with this”?
5.2. Philosophy
We recruit the best;
We give them work they love to do;
And then we develop the hell out of them
Google Philosophy on Talent
Liane Hornsey, EMEA People Director, Google
The Philosophy on Talent is also reviewed / created in close consultation
with the CEO / MD of the company, or Director of the Organisation,
normally during an additional two hour meeting.
At the start of this meeting the above distinctions between competency, talent
& strength should be clarified. The TL facilitator will then inquire:
- What is required to successfully deliver the vision of the company / organisation?
- What do you think is most important: competence, talent or strength?
- Which approach would you expect to only lead to adequate results? And which to
great results?
- If there would be only focus on competency, would this be sufficient to realise the
vision? Or would only an adequate, even mediocre, job be done.
- What is your view about how the talents/strengths of your people can support the
delivery of your organisation’s objectives?
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-
Would it be possible to deliver the vision if all the talents and strengths of staff are
committed?
Why is talent important for this organisation?
Do you really know all the talent and strengths you have in house?
Is there an official written statement on the talent philosophy of the
organisation?
If not, what is the talent philosophy? What can be done to officialise it? What
form could it take? How could it best be communicated and reinforced?
The Talent Philosophy need not be an elaborate, verbose document. A simple
statement of principle would suffice. The point is that there needs to be a
public commitment by the company, endorsed by its top leadership, saying
something along the lines of “talent is really important to us; and we can only
realise our vision if we leverage all our talent in order to deliver it”, if the company
believes in talent liberation and aims to be an employer of choice.
A Talent Philosophy is
the commitment in principle
by the leadership of the organisation
to recognise, value, develop and use
the unique talents of their people
Once the Talent Liberation philosophy is adopted, it is important to appoint a
Talent Manager or similar within the organisation, to help with the adoption
and roll out of the talent culture throughout the organisation. Whatever the
name given, it is essential to have one person appointed who will be both the
steward of the talent liberation process and the point of reference for anyone
with questions or comments. This could be the CEO or Country Director, but
they may not have the time to fully focus on this. It could also be the HRD or
HRM or Learning and Development Manager. Whichever staff member is
chosen, it should be an engaged, cooperative and assertive team player, with
a passion for talent liberation, high moral standing within the organisation,
and a commitment to confidentiality as required. Given the necessary
training, this person could over time also become the internal Talent Coach.
5.3. Process
The crucial question
In performance assessment
Is not: where did you fail?
But: where did you succeed?
The HR processes need to support and be in tune with the declared
organisation’s direction and talent philosophy.
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Once the organisation’s statements of direction and philosophy are
designed/reviewed and endorsed by the leadership, it is time for the Talent
Liberation facilitator to sit down with the Human Resource Director/Manager
and their team to make sure that all the human resource management policies
and processes are actually in line with the fundamental direction and talent
philosophy as adopted by the organisation’s top leadership.
The organisation’s rules, policies and processes
Must be aligned and coherent with its direction and philosophy
Recruitment and performance management processes are the most important
ones to align with direction and philosophy. These include:
- Recruitment (including vacancy notices and terms of reference)
- Equal opportunities, which prevent preference in hiring and promotion,
based on race, colour, religion, disability.
- Performance appraisal/development
- Training, learning and development (L&D)
- Reward and recognition; incentives
- Promotion
- Career development
- Dealing with people leaving the organisation
The key is that all these different policies and processes need to be aligned
with the (new) leadership decision to recognise, value, develop and use the
talent present in the work force.
5.3.1. External recruitment
The dominant recruitment focus nowadays is on competencies and
competency frameworks. Recruitment may be process or project-based, and is
either done by the organisation itself or through external entities, such as
assessment centres, outplacement agencies or head hunters. Typically, in
order to find a person in order to fill a pre-defined role, terms of reference and
a vacancy note are prepared, and job advertisements are posted in
newspapers, magazines and/or on the internet. The competencies listed may
include things like: “presentation skills”, “creativity”, “leadership”; or
“advanced certificate in operating the machine (no-one else can)”.
Very often these competencies are based on competency framework, which
will foresee multiple levels. Eg: presentation skills:
- level 1: To boss
- level 2: To colleagues
- level 3: To clients
- level 4: To the company as a whole
- level 5: To large public audiences
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So it may be decided that a specific post eg requires a level 4 creativity, a level
4 presentation skills and a level 2 leadership.
However, while one can profile most any job in this – closed - way, this does
not say anything about that special something that someone can bring that
will give unique and outstanding results, and does not leave open space for
that person to be attracted.
Examples:
Advertising a vacancy for a Country Director of an NGO that is both active in the
health and IT sectors in Malawian NGO expressed it was looking for someone who
combined high level skills in both medicine and computer science. What the NGO
truly needed however, already having both above skills in house or in association, was
an effective general manager with the capacity to lead the NGO towards a greater
vision. Fortunately, this is what they eventually got, being flexible enough to learn
from the recruitments process. It so happened that one of the applicants, who indeed
had a great and proven talent for management, leadership and team-building, and
completely lacked any particular skills or experience in either medicine or IT, saw the
real needs of the NGO, and was able to convince the recruitment committee of what it
was that they really needed and persuaded them to select her for the position, instead
of a doctor or computer geek.
Previously, the very same person, who was very keen to work on the post-tsunami
reconstruction in Indonesia, recommended a reputed international aid agency in her
application letter to re-combine several local vacant posts it had advertised and to
even relocate the job from Banda Aceh to Jakarta, where she lived with her family.
Through several exchanges, she could persuade the agency because she had an even
larger vision than they did, could consvince them that it would gain far more from the
changes and indeed got the job which she absolutely wanted. Her results after two
years on the job were outstanding, as confirmed in unison by management,
colleagues, donors and beneficiaries.
Conversely, some organisations have very stringent rules about recruitment, for
reasons of “fair competition”. For instance, if they have published an ad that says
“requirement: Master’s Degree in Natural Resource Management”, and a person
applies who has a similar diploma (but not exactly as required) or equivalent
experience, and who, indeed, would be an absolute winner for the job, they cannot hire
this person, because of the requirement as published. In this case the selection
committee can thus not hire great talent when it sees it, even if it wanted to, blocked
by red tape and application of misconceived rules – which may keep the bureaucracy
all happy and alert, but don’t serve any higher purpose. A bit of a case of total
efficiency and total lack of effectiveness as, unfortunately I have seen many in a
previous life – going at 180 km/h, but, unfortunately, in the wrong direction….
The point is that a future employer should ideally be in a position of
flexibility, freedom and openness to assess all; both verifying the
competencies as understood to be required to achieve the objectives of the
job; as well as taking into consideration the actual talents and strengths,
19
and therefore potential, that an applicant has to offer. It seems only common
sense that, when your company looks for a sales manager, and you have a
choice between a person who is likely to meet your sales objectives, but no
more; and another who can do that, and who also offers you a clear and
thought-through vision on how, with their ideas and experience, they can
dramatically improve your marketing and bring your company to a whole
new level. Which one would you choose? The mere executor or the visionary
creator? And which one is more likely to be happy in their job, and therefore
more likely to stay – and stay committed? The one who merely does as told,
or the one who gets the chance to forge their great vision into reality for your
company? I am convinced that if an organisation hires people who see
themselves as entrepreneurs, yet are loyal to the companies vision and
mission, it will logarithmically outshine any other set-up that satisfies itself
with people who will greyly do what they are told, and nothing more.
So while an employer may want to tick off all the boxes of competencies
required, a question to always bear in mind when recruiting seems: what is
special and unique about this person?
One company thus stated: “We only hire people who are passionate about what
they do and bring something special to the job”. What is the likelihood that such
company will merely produce mediocre results, stagnate and attract noncommitted people; or rather deliver on its objectives, grow and be an
employer of choice?
All the organisation’s recruitment policies and processes should therefore be
reviewed in order to make sure that talents, strengths and potential receive
attention, as well as the mere pre-defined skills and competencies required to
do the job.
5.3.2. Internal recruitment and promotion
In internal recruitment, the prevalent competency focus tends to be further
compounded by a hierarchy focus, which values management capabilities,
and thus “vertical” promotability, over “horizontal” technical abilities. It is rare
to find an organisation that offers equivalent career paths in both.
At the same time it is common sense that a person, who is technically
excellent in, say, pastry baking, would not necessarily make a great manager
for the bakery, which is very sought after for its unique delicacies. The
manager would likely have nothing much to manage, were it not for the
unique creative pastries the baker rather magically produces every Sunday
morning. And there is clearly as much an increased challenge going from
plain bread baking, over the further step of bread rolls and sandwiches; to the
high art of fine pastry baking, as there is between step in-, middle and topmanagement positions; which therefore could be rewarded with equivalent
20
status, salary and bonuses. There is no reason why vertical should be better,
more important or better rewarded than horizontal, other than that it seems
simply the way things tend to be done as a matter of habit.
The real question is: what is what this very person delivers - on a consistent
basis - actually worth to the organisation? From this perspective, it may well
be that the bakery manager contributes far less, and is far more replaceable,
than the culinary artist in the kitchen!
The organisation’s policies and processes, and even its overall structure and
design, may need to be reviewed and adapted to accommodate for the real
value that people bring, so that not only the management career path is
validated, but technical delivery is as much appreciated where it counts.
And this may include issues such as: “who gets the corner office?”…
Sometimes talent may have inadvertently walked in onto your work floor.
The art is clearly in recognising and catching opportunity when it presents
itself.
Examples:
An expatriate in Cambodia, who had relocated there with her husband who worked for
a UN agency, had a diploma and experience in advertising, and started working as a
temporary consultant trainer in an international advertising agency in Phnom Penh.
She delivered so well and became so indispensable for the business, that within six
months she became the general manager of the agency, and two years later its
managing director, growing the agency from 5 to 35 people in the process.
A professional in Belgium, who was hired as a business consultant to look at the
business case and marketability of a local company in professional nail care products,
ended up as their managing director within one year. Two years later she had
expanded the previously only locally focused business to the level of a international
renowned high quality brand, with company trained franchisees around the world.
Obviously, it takes two to tango, and while management has a key role in
detecting talent when it presents itself, employees have as much
responsibility to take charge of their own career. The more they can bring it
into alignment with what they naturally excel at, and therefore love to do, and
can express this in their own “business case”, the more successful and fulfilled
they are prone to be in their careers, and the more value they are likely to add.
5.3.3. Career development
Is there a policy on career development? In how far is there support for career
development for the organisation’s staff? This may include items such as
career coaching, extra-curricular support and training.
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Is there an ongoing dialogue in the company on things like internal mobility,
internships, the sharing of cross-sectoral resources? To what extent is it
possible for somebody to test the waters in a different department?
The key question is: Is there dissonance or coherence between the measures
in place, and the organisation’s direction and talent philosophy on talent?
5.3.4. Rewards
Is talent rewarded? If the way the organisation rewards its people is inflexible,
following a fixed and rigid career path, with class and grade nomenclatures
and associated salary grids, chances are it has no great propensity to reward
talent.
Is team work promoted? And if so, is it also rewarded? If you really want
people to work as a team, then don’t (only) reward them as individuals!
From a talent liberation point of view, reward should be commensurate
with value added, which happens through the effective use of talents and
strengths.
5.3.5. Learning and development
How do we train and develop our people? Focusing on fixing their
weaknesses? Or on developing their talents?
Typically reviews are centred on weaknesses:
- “Where did you feel weak last year?”
- “Where did you fail?”
- “Where were you not performing well?”
Conversely L&D can also be aspirational or talent-based.
- “What did you particularly like last year?”
- “Where do you feel you performed best?”
- “What would you like to do more of?”
- “Where did you add most value?”
- “What are your strongest talents and strengths in doing your work?”
- “What are courses you would like to follow; memberships you would like to sign
up for; subscriptions you would like to take, relevant to your work?”
The more people feel personally fulfilled in their work, the more they will
engage and take responsibility, and the more added value they will generate
for the organisation.
22
Are we giving people a hard time because of what did no go so well – “where
did you fail”, or are we focusing on appreciating them in what went well –
“where did you succeed?”? Are we appreciative or critical? Again the critical
approach may have its place in terms of risk management, but it also risks
putting us on the path of the weakness-fixing cycle.
5.3.6. Competency frameworks
Competency frameworks, role profiling and performance reviews based on
them are used to work out the skills that are needed for a job, set the level of
competencies needed to execute a job without mistake, and focus on training
people who fall below the line. This indeed is the old paradigm of fixing
weaknesses, assuming that that could somehow lead to great performance.
The problem with that is that we have forgotten what is excellent about
people.
While competency frameworks are used to map competencies and
weaknesses, they are not necessary all bad (from a talent perspective) and
often can still be tweaked and rebranded in into “talent/strength
frameworks”. Of course this should not just be a mere cosmetic exercise in
semantics. The whole point is an underlying shift of focus from “scarcity,
fixing and weakness” to “potential, abundance and possibility”.
Their unique combination of talent, passion, values, energy and commitment
really is for people what a brand is for a company; and a strategy to develop
talent into strengths is at an individual level as important, as the growth
strategy for the whole organisation.
Related to this is “talent mapping 21”: the art of recognising present and
attracting relevant outside talent in support of current and future needs and
objectives of the organisation. “What talents do we need to secure to achieve the
future vision of this organisation?” A key related question, especially relevant in
a climate of financial crisis, is then obviously: “what talent do we actually already
have in house, and what can it further be developed into in the service of our
objectives, without even needing to seek additional people elsewhere?”
5.3.7. Team development
In a talent-based organisation, every team gets the chance to make the most of
the talent combined in its midst. This gives a great opportunity to make a
showcase of what teams have contributed and how they have added value.
These results are well worth being publicised, at least within the organisation,
as highly inspiring evidence of the amazing results that come from
synergising human talent and potential.
23
This does not need to remain within the “productive” side of the organisation.
Why not encourage people to do sports or other edifying activities together.
As Clive Wilson put it, “Teams that play together, stay together 22”. Related to this
it is also important that during training events, management really allows
space so that members of teams can really share from their actual life
experiences, without having to fear any repercussions for their
straightforwardness. Obviously there are many times when the team will
need to exude professionalism; but the team will be all the more team in
crunch time if it also gets ample opportunity to play together outside of that.
5.3.8. People leaving the organisation
People leaving the organisation (unless when dismissed for serious fault or
lack of commitment) will usually leave a talent vacuum (and therefore a value
loss). Both the person and the organisation need to deal with the change, and
may need support.
One solution may be to offer an exit interview and strategy. Eg When
employees leave on good terms, there may be great value in offering them eg
career coaching (eg by a qualified Talent Liberation coach) and/or re-training,
in exchange for their advice in the selection of their replacement, a proper
hand-over, and their mentoring of their successors. If this is done well, this
ensures both a smooth succession, but also that the person may become a
brand ambassador (rather leaving with hard feelings) of your organisation.
He will create a good impression for your company, preserve or even enhance
your reputation, and, who knows, may even wish to return to your
organisation in the future, enriched with valuable training and experience
gained somewhere else.
So even in the hour of separation, the talent liberation approach may prove to
be the way of enlightened self-interest.
5.4. Plan
This what we want,
This is what needs to be done, and
This is what we are going to do about it
Having clarified the direction, adopted a talent philosophy and made sure
that all processes are aligned, the question is now: “How to concretely
implement the new Talent Liberation culture, so as to ensure the engagement
of all concerned?”
24
This is done by reviewing the direction, philosophy and processes, making
sure that they are both fully understood and coherent with each other, and
coming up with a clear, structured and time-bound plan, listing what remains
to be done.
The plan may include:
- Process: any items that may remain to be completed so that the processes
are fully aligned with direction and philosophy
- Communication plan
- Leadership development training. Leaders not only have to know how to
build talented teams; they first need to apply the talent liberation process
to themselves, before they can pass it on to anybody else.
- Team building and development
- Review
If agreed, in order to ensure maximal ownership, it is advisable that the
person in charge of Talent Liberation in the organisation (CEO or HR
Director/Manager) is responsible for the write-up of this plan, as well as of
other key documents in the process. Doing it for them as a consultant would
therefore not be helpful, but would rather be incapacitating. In any case, the
endorsement by the top leadership is absolutely essential.
5.5. Communication
Great leaders
1. tell a compelling story about themselves: who they are,
where they come from, what they stand for, what they expect.
2. tell a compelling story about the organization: its mission and
purpose, why it is a great place to work, invest in and buy from.
3. make people feel an essential part of the story
through the work they do every day
…Remember this mythical JFK anecdote?
The president was visiting NASA headquarters and stopped to talk
to a man who was holding a mop. “And what do you do?” he asked.
The man, a janitor, replied, “I’m helping to put a man on the moon, sir.”
Knowing their part in your organization’s story
engages people and gives them a sharp sense of purpose.
Phil Dourado
Communication is not a one-off thing; it is a consistent and continuous
engagement that is about internalising direction and culture, sharing the
challenges and celebrating the big wins.
Communication is a crucial phase in the Talent Liberation process. The aim is
no less than the engagement of all employees, as well as all other
stakeholders, with the direction, philosophy, process review and plan
adopted.
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“People can only enjoy meaningful change
When they are part of the journey” 23
Communication here is not to be taken lightly, as it is about three things at
once:
- Relaying a coherent and consistent message to create awareness and get
buy-in
- Effectively creating a new culture
- Making a public commitment to do so.
To be consistent and coherent, the message has to be without contradiction or
ambiguity, both on its own, and in relation to other communications in the
organisation. There are multiple ways to pass the message, and a combination
of many will be much more powerful and effective, than the use of only one
or two. While the message should always be clear and unambiguous, it is also
important that it stays fresh and inspiring to generate the desired buy-in and
engagement. The appointed Talent Manager in the organisation will have an
important role to play to keep the message alive.
Relaying the message can happen in many practical ways:
- An official declaration / speech by the CEO / Country Director,
addressing all staff (and key stakeholders), declaring adoption of the
(new) direction and philosophy, policies and processes, and the plan.
Ideally this should be given in plenary and then circulated in written form,
as given.
- Declaration plus commentary by the HRD/M in the organisation’s
newsletter
- Posting it on notice boards, on the organisation’s intranet (if present)
- Posting vision, values and talent philosophy in a prominent space within
departments, sections and teams, and creating space for sharing on Talent
Liberation and progress, as well as making it an agenda point in regular
management and/or team meetings.
- Making direction and talent philosophy part of corporate/organisational
branding. Let it contribute to becoming/staying an employer of choice.
- Make it part of any leadership development, management and team
building training
- Make it part of any new staff appointment and induction, who should
also be welcomed by the Talent Manager.
- Sharing outside the organisation, in communications to shareholders,
clients, suppliers, donors and other stakeholders
To avoid the risk of being seen as nothing more than some new management
fashion fad, the new adopted culture must further ring true and authentic,
and thoroughly permeate the organisation. To effectively create a new talent
culture, it is thus important that talent really becomes part of everyone’s job:
how it is described in terms of goals and objectives, as well as how the
performance, contributions and added value off all staff members are
evaluated.
26
Communication, as a creative speech act, lastly is a commitment that should
not be made or taken lightly. The leadership, on behalf of the organisation, is
committing to make a change. Leadership has to embody the change it wants
to see in the company24, and must practice what it preaches, if it wants to act
with integrity, and be credible and effective.
5.6. Leadership development
As the business mantra resoundingly goes: “people – not processes or systems
- are our most important assets”. Yet, strangely, they are very rarely treated
that way…
The only effective way to let Talent Liberation effectively permeate and
change the culture of an organisation is for the change to start at the top. You
need to get the buy-in and ownership of the CEO, the MD, the top leadership,
or else the whole process is a non-starter. It is they who need, more than
anyone else, understand the importance of the required culture change; make
it a top priority, and commit to going the distance. This process is not about
short-cuts; it is about re-aligning with the natural order of things. And there
may be a lot of resistance to that. Souls will need to be searched, commitments
made, and hard work done. And the promise is that, inevitably, great results
and prime performance will be achieved.
“Leaders see a better future and
Have the resilience and interpersonal skills
To create the conditions in which it will happen” 25
Managers must therefore prove that they “got it”, before they can start
promoting Talent Liberation, rolling it out into their teams, and contributing
to turning their organisation into an employer of choice. This requires them to
first go through the necessary talent liberation training themselves, discover
their talents, understand their value and how they can develop them further,
and commit them to the realisation of the objectives of the organisation,
through specific, measurable individual and team goals. This is what will
produce great results. Or as Warren Bennis said: “Great things are accomplished
by talented people who believe they will accomplish them.”
5.6.1. Initial Work Shop
Ideally, the initial Talent Liberation Work Shop takes 2 days, and may have a
framing program to ensure full connection, presence, action and reflection
(see below) by all participants.
27
Components may include:
(depending on time available and preferences of client)
- Introduction / breaking the ice & getting to know each other, eg:
o presenting hidden personal talents
o bringing along something related to a much cherished personal
talent
- Exercise: Personal values, beliefs and commitments
- Talent is the focus. However it is talents/strengths + values + beliefs +
commitments that together clarify life purpose and goals
- Importance of Authenticity, Integrity and Completion as a way of life
- Strengths research and philosophy of Talent Liberation
- Real life case studies
- Link between talent/strengths and personal fulfilment/life purpose
- Link between talent/strengths and contribution/added value
- PrimeFocus as a model for leadership
- Exercise: What does your organisation’s vision and values mean for you? What do
these values imply for our behaviour in the organisation
- Alignment of personal and organisation’s values and direction
- Actions by participants:
o Identifying talents
o Pointing your talents in the organisation’s direction: what is the best way
you can contribute to your organisation’s objectives (vision, mission,
values) with your talents and strengths?
o sharing of findings, affirmation and appreciation by colleagues
o committing talents and strengths to organisation’s leadership
- Review and evaluation
5.6.2. Follow-up Work Shop
A second Talent Liberation work shop, will then be held in eg six months.
This second workshop has multiple, necessary, purposes, to complete the
leadership training:
- to follow-up:
- verifying achievements made against commitments ; and
- measuring the added value of these actions to the organisation.
- to give praise and appreciation to the achievers
- to celebrate the great results
- to train the leaders/managers to roll-out talent liberation further into their
teams
5.6.3. Coaching Programme
Between the two work shops, a monthly one-on-one (or group-based, if so
desired) coaching follow-up by a talent coach will make sure that participants
stay on track and do not waver on their commitments (see below).
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5.6.4. Conventional Training Centre or Back to Nature
While the above interventions could take place in virtually any kind of
location; if possible, we would strongly recommend to take people out of their
usual working environment to a place where they can really focus on the
process, unperturbed by the demands of their daily work. Any training or
convention centre could be used and would yield great results.
We would however like to invite you to consider the possibility of doing
things a bit differently, which would contribute to a much more memorable
and powerful experience. We have found that taking managers out of the
conventional training environment, into natural surroundings, has proven to
be highly conducive to the effective delivery of a talent liberation
intervention. It is also offers a strong metaphor: bringing people back into nature
to rediscover their own true nature.
For the same reason, while it is of course perfectly possible to use the
approaches of more conventional work shops, we have observed that people
actually much appreciated it when we avoided - or made only minimal use of
- the typical management training props, such as the ubiquitous overhead
projectors and PowerPoint presentations, and rather focused on a very lively
and engaging delivery (through powerful public speaking, music, acting, role
play and games), combined with ample space for questions and sharing
between participants, both in pairs and in the larger group, while bringing the
whole experience out into natural surroundings.
Not only did we notice that people tend to drop their guard more easily when
out in nature, but it also clearly helps people to get in touch with their inner
selves, their talents and their aspirations, and to share their findings more
openly with others, including their leaders, on a more level playing field.
Natural features can be put to great use in the delivery of the training, eg:
- Water is an excellent metaphor for reflection, and so a stream may be rebaptised “River of Reflection” for the purpose of the training, and be the
perfect place for people to sit by themselves, let their thoughts flow with
the living waters, contemplate what talents they really have and can bring
to their organisation, and making notes of their findings.
- A hillside with a dramatic view over a beautiful landscape can be renamed “Mountain of Vision”, and can be used as the spot where people
think – some time in pairs and some time alone, making notes - about
what the organisation’s value and vision means for them; and how they
can best engage their talents to contribute and give added value in the
delivery of their organisation’s objectives.
- Walkways to cover the distance between these places may be used as
“Paths of Sharing” to pair up participants with each other, have them
exchange their findings, and tweak them before sharing them with the
larger group.
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-
-
A large tree offering shadow and shelter can serve as an ideal place for
relating with others. As in old African tradition, under the “Tree of
Talking” participants can share their findings with the whole group, link
it to their vision, and state the commitment they have come up with on
how they will use their talents in the delivery of their organisation’s
objectives, before its leadership. Colleagues can then affirm what has been
stated, express their appreciation for the contributions of their colleague
and give feedback which will allow the speaker to still tweak what he has
said.
The same Tree of Talking will then later serve as the centre stage, after the
CEO or Country Director has joined the group, for the speakers to each
individually declare their commitment, on how they will commit their
talents, and add real value, in the delivery of their organisation’s
objectives.
5.6.5. “Four Seasons in One Day” 26
Our trainings, whether they take two or four hours, or one or two days, have
their own natural rhythm and phases27 – or shall we say, seasons. There is a
time to connect – to the higher values and the objectives, and to each other.
There is a time to become present – to learn and engage one’s life and
experience in the event. There is a time for action – going through practical
exercises and making actionable plans; and finally there is a time for
reflection – sharing and reviewing what one has learnt and is committed to.
5.7. Talented Teams
Never doubt that a small group
of thoughtful, committed people
can change the world.
Indeed.
It is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
Team building is the sharp end of Talent Liberation. This is where the tires
really hit the ground and Talent Liberation is rolled out, from top to bottom,
throughout the whole organisation. Obviously, depending on the hierarchical
structure of the organisation, additional levels may need to be added, if
required.
Upon completion of the leadership training, the trained managers will now be
enabled to infuse their own teams with the spirit of Talent Liberation. They
will be able to lead, guide and impart the process of recognising, valuing,
developing and using the talent in their team. It is important that the
30
approach is adopted to the learning style of the team, and recommended that
it be out of the usual work premises, and be as fun, engaging and non-formal
as possible. Crucial steps thereby are again to elicit the talents that are
present; to engage those with the values and objectives of the team and
organisation; and to commit those talents through specific, measurable
personal and team goals.
“High performing teams
engage the unique talents of their people,
delivering their compelling purpose
through aligned processes
and complementary behaviours” 28
The first step is that the present relevant talents need to be identified and
recognised; they needs to be pointed to the agreed purpose of the team; and
they need to be committed to it. A useful free form “talent discovery tool”
simply consists of a set of blank cards, to be used by a group of 4-6 team
members. Each of the team members should write for each of the other
members, as well as for themselves, 5 talents they believe they have, eg “great
negotiator”; “seeing needs of the team”, “focused on solutions”. Strong talents
outside of the workplace should also be included – they may actually turn out
to be very valuable in the work place as well.
They further add one “golden card” for each, including themselves, stating
what, in their view, is getting in the way of this person making the most of
their talents. Eg: “short fuse”, “acting without thinking things through”. So while
the 5/1 proportion ensures positive endorsement; the golden card is really
helpful in improving our understanding of how we may get in our own way.
This is the blind spot card which can lead to greatly enhanced self-awareness.
In coaching helping out client becoming aware of what they are not aware of
that they are not aware of often leads to the greatest break-throughs.
The way a team plays as a whole
determines its success.
You may have the greatest bunch
of individual stars in the world,
but if they don't play together,
the club won't be worth a dime.
Babe Ruth
What makes a great team? A useful initial team exercise is to ask “What are
the characteristics of a high performing team?”. Then write all the answers on
a flipchart. It will turn out that all answers will either refer to purpose,
processes or behaviours. A team needs purpose to know where it is going;
processes to make the best of its talents; and behaviours to deliver on the
commitments made. The processes include processes to recognise, value,
develop and use talents.
31
The best way to start and break the ice is to put the team before a challenge
they normally never have to deal with.
Clive and I so set ourselves the challenge of building an African mud hut in a small
Malawian village. The learning process was incredible; and we got help from the most
unexpected corners! And natural talents very quickly emerged! And there is nothing
like discovering what a 30 litre barrel full of water actually weighs, when carried on
your head for a quarter of an hour – and that’s a lucky village with a treadle pump!...
A first exercise, about non-work related talents, could then be to pair team
members up and make them note for themselves and the other what they
were really good at, and what got in the way.
The exercise could be repeated specifically for work related talents. Then
every member would get time for themselves to really identify and own their
talents; what they could do to further develop these talents in to strengths;
and how they could maintain their commitment to use them in the work
place. Then they could share their conclusions with the team.
Any teambuilding work should be aware where the team stands in its own
development. Is it in its forming, storming, norming, performing or
mourning/adjourning/transforming stage? 29 Each stage will have different
sensitivities, and require different approaches and communication.
Where processes are put in place to reach results; it is the actual behaviours
that may (or may not) lead to success. These behaviours need to be aligned
with the direction of the organisation. A key exercise therefore is to inquire
with the team: “What do the mission, vision and values of the organisation
mean for us as a team; for this project we are working on together?”. It would
be most useful to put their meaning into the own words of the team, to ensure
their maximal ownership. For each value the team could come up with four
behaviours that we would illustrate the implementation of that value. Eg
“integrity” may be interpreted very different in “sales” than in “production”.
The next step would be to brainstorm and eventually agree on: “what is really
the common purpose and vision for this team?”, against the overall direction of
the organisation. And how can we best commit our individual talents and
strengths to the common purpose of our team?
The team could write up a charter containing its conclusions from this work,
as a means to hold each other to account in the future. The review of the
charter could become a fixed item on the weekly work-in-progress meeting
agenda, so that eg one of the values of the company per week would be
looked into by one team member and then discussed in the light of the
concrete work on the table.
It is likely that strengths and weaknesses would emerge during this teamwork
exercises. This new knowledge should be seen as an opportunity to work with
32
this newly emerged information in a constructive way, eg by shifting work to
those who are strongest at it, and away from those who are weakest at it; thus
as much as possible approaching an optimal configuration and attribution of
assignment in accordance with the strengths of the individual team members.
360 degree feedback may be a very useful approach, also in understanding
where tasks have been miss-assigned and need to be re-attributed, or where
roles need to be shifted. The point is that the exercise should be experienced
by no-one as punitive, but rather as opportunitive 30 and supportive of each in
their professional growth.
Potential >
Obviously there are practical, realistic expectations from a team: it needs to
deliver quality work, be steadfast, have a solid administrative backbone and
basically be able to just bloody well get on with things. So, while there is a
whole gradation in the effectiveness of teams, we can grosso modo distinguish
the following matrix:
high
potential
teams
blockages /
low
functionality
high
performance
teams
productive
teams
Performance >
Often, the missing ingredient that is holding people back is clarity. The
following then are simple yet powerful questions to address precisely that.
These are (internal) customer questions, meaning that they should be asked
those people/teams to whom the team needs to deliver:
1. What do you exactly expect from this team?
2. Where do we delight you? and
3. Where do we let you down?
5.8. Review
We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Aristotle
No change intervention process is complete without a thorough and frank
review of what it actually has delivered against the initial objectives.
- what did people commit to
- what was actually done
- how can people be leveraged to produce / deliver more of same
- what is needed: more training? Roll-out to next level of management?
Reinforcement? Coaching? Including newly arrived people?
33
Typically the Pareto principle will be seen in action, in that 20% of the people
(“positive deviants”) will have delivered 80% of the work. There is nothing
wrong with that; that is simply the nature of things. Therefore, return on
investment should be calculated not on an individual basis only, but also on
an aggregate basis, for the whole group, to get the full picture.
The stock take is important, both for the organisation to understand the value
and effectiveness of the process, but also for the facilitator, to build up a
portfolio of credible case studies to document the results achieved.
The review may lead to a new cycle of intervention, which then will need to
pose all the key questions again that need to be asked in order to further learn
and grown, of course building upon what already has been accomplished:
- Are direction and talent philosophy updated or do they need to be
reviewed? Are they clear, known by all and implemented?
- Are the processes still in alignment with direction and philosophy?
- Does our planning address all the current needs? What else still needs to
be done?
- Are directions, philosophy and plan being communicated well? To all
stakeholders? What could still be improved?
- Has leadership fully engaged with the process and did managers achieve
the goals they committed to? What can still be done better?
- What was the added value of their achievements? What was the ROI?
- Was the roll-out into all teams successful? What is needed still to make
sure it is?
- Which gaps and weak areas have emerged? What can be improved still?
Based on frank and open review of these questions, the journey can go on, to
more development of talents into strengths, more commitment and growth,
and more added value and a further strengthened organisational culture.
Further external interventions may still be needed, but possibly the process
can now be fully lead from the inside. The important thing is that the process
is continued, gains are consolidated and the organisation and its teams
continue to grow and thrive.
6. The role of coaching in Talent Liberation
The opposite of poverty is not wealth;
It is the awareness, ability and power to choose.
This is function of your consciousness,
Not of your circumstance.
Christophe Horvath
If training is like the preparation and launching of a space craft to another
planet (the desired change); then coaching is like the necessary ongoing
steering and adjustments to make sure the rocket stays on course and
effectively arrives at the planned destination.
34
While the Talent Liberation workshops give the background and philosophy,
and set out the direction and objectives; the coaching is about the ongoing
guidance and feedback to make sure that individuals or teams stay on course
and on track, and that delays and deviations of plan are mitigated, so that the
set goals are maximally achieved as committed to, and the clients feel the
fulfilment of both having travelled the journey and reached its destination.
Coaching is the art of allowing people to make better choices, set better goals
and live greater lives. More specifically, coaching is a professional, resultorientated dialogue about, in this case, the relevant issues that matter. It aims
to generate and expand achievement, success and personal growth, producing
breakthrough results through insight and action. It is in essence a creative
communication process that increases self-awareness, accountability and
effectiveness.
Coaches enable their clients to:
- Identify their desired outcomes,
- Embark on an intensely personal journey of learning and breakthrough
experience,
- Have more balance, harmony and integration in their lives, and
- Transform their behaviour from what does not work to that which does and
then take appropriate actions from that new place of empowerment.
6.1. Coaching is not therapy.
Therapy analyses and attempts to heal what is perceived to be wrong with you;
coaching uncovers, inspires, liberates and empowers what is great about you.
Christophe Horvath
Therapy may focus on diagnosing, exposing, intervening and adjusting issues
such as traumas, disorders, symptoms, pathologies, patterns and behaviours.
Coaching is a potent and professional partnership that empowers people to
take control of their own lives as a creative process to achieve fulfilment and
personal freedom.
A coach helps a client to focus, prioritise, be proactive, clarify, brainstorm and
achieve his goals. Coaching is outcome-based and emphasises the need for
balance and purpose. A coaching cycle will equip the client to explore new
possibilities and overcome blocks to exercise their unique personal power in
order to strategise and act, thereby creating a fulfilling and purposeful life.31
6.2. Coaching cycle
While one may reach good results with only 2-3 coaching sessions, if we want
to make sure that the Talent Liberation commitments made during the TL
workshops are maximally achieved and enduring changes are made by the
35
participants, then this requires a longer term follow up and support. We
would recommend that ideally at least a 6 session cycle should be adopted.
A first session is to familiarise the client with the coaching methodology,
clarifying what coaching is all about (and what it is not: counselling, therapy,
mentoring), how it works and setting the coaching cycle objectives: the overall
goals the Client wants to have met by the end of the cycle. The second to 5th
session is to both make sure the commitments are kept and achieved, whilst
also allowing focus on several other optional themes to support the Clients in
their work and life. The sixth session is then about bringing it all together,
seeing the big picture, evaluating and celebrating what has been achieved and
looking forward into the future.
7. Benefits of Talent Liberation for your Organisation
“Our mission is to improve organisational performance
by helping people to master leadership, teams and change.”
“We are here to support organisations
in becoming great, built to last and employers of choice.” 32
7.1. Effective & Excellent Performance of the Organisation
The PC principle is to always treat your employees
exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.
You can buy a person’s hand, but you can’t buy his heart.
His heart is where his enthusiasm, his loyalty is.
You can buy his back, but you can’t buy his brain.
That’s where his creativity is, his ingenuity, his resourcefulness.
PC work is treating employees as volunteers just as you treat customers as volunteers,
because that’s what they are. They volunteer the best part – their hearts and minds.
Steven Covey 33
An organisation’s vision, mission and objectives will be achieved only to the
degree that there is total buy in from its staff; and thus that its talent, passion
and commitment is fully engaged and in alignment with the organisation’s
objectives.
We therefore dare say that organisations reach prime performance only to the
degree that they recognise, value, develop and use the unique talents of their
people in the delivery of their objectives. Of course prime performance can
only come from doing what we are best at; and not from continuously trying
to fix the weaknesses that we have.
36
7.2. Going from Good to Great & Being Built to Last
A great organization is one that makes a distinctive impact
and delivers superior performance over a long period of time.
For a business, performance principally means financial results,
specifically return on invested capital. For a social sector organization,
on the other hand, performance must be assessed first and foremost
relative to the organization’s mission, not its financial results.
Notice that by this definition that you do not need to be big to be great.
Jim Collins 34
Jim Collins powerfully presents and documents the idea that ‘good is the
enemy of great’ in his important book, Good to Great 35. Applied to talent
liberation the tendency of society and business to focus on competency
would be “good” performance (as in “making no mistakes”), whereas the full
commitment of talents and strengths to meaningful objectives is only what
can truly lead to “great” results (as in “people taking total responsibility,
being fully engaged and being prepared to do whatever it takes”). 36
Jim Collins offers four key objectively measurable indicators for an
organisation that is built to last: productivity, profitability (in case of a forprofit), employee retention, and client satisfaction (or donor and beneficiary
satisfaction in case of non-for-profits).
Adopting an outcomes model to assess the effectiveness of Talent Liberation,
the results of its implementation are:
- reduced attrition
- reduced absenteeism
- increased productivity
- increased levels of internal senior appointments
- improved employee opinion
- improved corporate culture
- improved client / beneficiary satisfaction
Talent Liberation as a strategy thus produces exactly what are said to be the
key indicators of a great organisation that is built to last.
37
7.3. Becoming an Employer of choice
An employer of choice is a company or organisation
where employee actions are directly aligned with business goals,
employees feel appreciated and valued for their hard work,
and where their contributions are acknowledged and rewarded.37
To us, "Employer of Choice®" means that workers
--employees and contractors --choose to work for that employer
when presented with other choices of employment.
This choice is a conscious decision
--or series of decisions--made when joining an organization
and when deciding to stay with that organization.
The deliberate choice even influences productivity,
as employees choose to do what it takes
to make their employer successful.38
What kind of company would you rather join as a new recruitment, a great
organisation that is built to last? Or one that has a poor reputation, with
complaining employees and dissatisfied clients?
As Linley and Harrington write: “When we use our strengths, we feel good about
ourselves, we are better able to achieve things, and we are working toward fulfilling
our potential” 39 Understanding this alone and applying it effectively can turn
any organisation into an employer of choice.
Allowing people to do what they are best at has all the potential of turning a
grey workplace into a thriving place of creativity and joy. People who do
what they love, love what they do. They are engaged, committed, involved.
They take responsibility and ownership. They are loyal. And they will go the
extra mile and stand by you when the shit hits the fan. Because they are
proud of what they have accomplished, because they have found their
significance, their purpose, and their place in what they do. If an organisation
can make people feel valued and appreciated like this, they will go through
fire for you. Will your organisation benefit of that? You bet!
Other key performance indicators that improve as well due to a talent
liberation intervention are: a reduction in attrition rates (it turns out that
people are most likely to stay with an employer if their talent is recognised
and used) and absenteeism; and an increase in internal senior appointments
(based on conversations senior management has about staff with talents,
strengths and potential) for people who have developed a strong loyalty for
your organisation, rather than outsiders with no such devotion .
In short, if an organisation is able to harness and optimally use a maximum of
its staff’s talents in the delivery of its objectives, it is highly likely to be
effective and successful, to have a loyal work force, to have a strong
competitive advantage and to be an employer of choice. Such is the power of
talent liberation, if fully unleashed.
38
Postscript
People can only enjoy meaningful change
When they are part of the journey 40
This is not where the journey stops; only where it begins. Talent Liberation is
a movement that ultimately aims at establishing a new culture of talent. It is
not only about the benefit of using strengths, so that more added value be
created by companies or greater objectives achieved by organisations; this has
the potential of liberating people on their pathway of human evolution, from
cynicism to trust; scarcity to abundance; fire fighting to creation; and
resistance to growth.
This then is the vision: liberating the talent of the world.
Imagine talent liberation didn’t only start to happen in companies and
charities, becoming employers of choice in the process. But in every school
and in every community, and became a worldwide movement celebrating
everybody’s authenticity and the creative expression of their talent, strengths
and passions.
Imagine children being born in a world of talent, strength and potential where
nothing is higher prized than, in Clive Wilson’s words “the Flowering of
Human Consciousness”.
Be the change you want to see in the world
Mahatma Ghandi
Imagine
And start with yourself,
Answering these simple questions41 with an open mind and total honesty:
1. What things am I naturally simply great at? What do I love doing?
2. What am I passionate about? What purpose would get me out of bed and
into the shower at the crack of dawn singing out loud?
3. What excuse have I got for not pointing 1. to 2. (with complete abandon)?
And this above all:
To thine own self be true
And it must follow
As the night the day
Thou shall not be then
False to any one.
William Shakespeare
39
About the author
Christophe is Primeast’s Principal
Consultant and Talent Coach for Southern
Africa. As coach, facilitator and trainer he
specialises in liberating talent, developing
leaders, building teams, empowering
people and managing change. He is based
in Lilongwe, Malawi, the Warm Heart of
Africa.
Professional Expertise
Christophe has a passion for the actualisation of
human talent and potential, as well as a firm belief in
the transformational impact of inspiring, enabling
and empowering people and teams. In addition to
being a passionate coach, trainer and facilitator,
Christophe is also a gifted writer, speaker and singer,
using his guitar, vocal and acting talents to inspire
and spice up his workshops.
Selected Clients
British Council
UNICEF
Monsanto
American Embassy
PACT
CRS
Concern Worldwide
MASAF (Malawi Social Action Fund)
Portfolio
• Author of “8 Steps to Talent Liberation –
Effective Pathway to Becoming an Employer of
Choice”
• Preparation of Talent Liberation interventions for
British Council and Pact Malawi
• Co-presenter on Talent Liberation at Institute for
People Management Malawi’s (IPMM) 2008
conference
• Co-facilitator, trainer and coach at 2008 Talent
Liberation taster day in Lilongwe
• Multiple briefing meetings with corporate and
non-for profit management on Talent Liberation
• Several current and past local and expatriate
Greater Life Coaching clients
Previous Experience
Before taking up coaching, training and
facilitation full-time, Christophe worked for 15
years in the not-for-profit sector. His
experience included training, communications
and advocacy in the fields of refugee
protection, human rights, environmental
advocacy and development cooperation. As
such, Christophe has lived and worked in
Belgium, Germany, Turkey, Cambodia, Burma,
Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and Malawi. He is
fluent in English, French and Dutch, has good
Spanish and German, and has a strong basis in
Portuguese, Hungarian, Indonesian and
Turkish.
Qualifications / Professional Affiliations
• CCI (Creative Consciousness
International) training
• Thomas Leonard Graduate School of
Coaching training
• Member of the International Coaching
Federation (IFC)
• Member of International Association of
Coaches (IAC)
• Member of COMENSA (Coaching and
Mentoring Association of South Africa)
• Member of CoachVille Community
• Member of the Co-active Coaching
Network
• Masters Degree in Law and Post Grad in
Political Science & International Relations
40
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Endnotes
1
You can find further information on Talent Liberation on
www.TalentLiberation.com, as well as in Clive Wilson’s (so far) two books on
the subject: Liberate Corporate Talent – A strategy for Competitive Advantage and
Liberate Your Talent – Making the Most of Your talent and Your Life, both
published via www.lulu.com. A third, more in-depth, book is under
preparation.
2 See: www.primeast.com and www.globalleadershipalliance.com.
3 Gallup research, based on 2,000,000 interviews with employees and 80,000
with managers, as described in Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton,
Now Discover Your Strengths, 2001 and Tom Rath.
4 Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton, Now Discover Your Strengths – How
to develop your talents and those of the people you manage, 2001
5 As described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book, Finding Flow – The
Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life, 1998.
6 The Global Leadership Alliance is a global entity created by three best-inclass consulting firms, strategically located around the world, who bring
global solutions to vital business challenges. GLA further combines with
three associated partners in other regions to offer a formidable global team.
More info is available on www.globalleadershipalliance.com.
7 Primeast’s Talent Liberation philosophy, as coined by Clive Wilson.
8 Stuart L. Levine; The Six Fundamentals of Success – The Rules for Getting it
Right for Yourself and Your Organisation, 2005.
9 See also on www.TalentLiberation.com, under Talking Talent
10 See: Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton in their book, Now Discover
Your Strengths, cited above.
11
The online StrengthsFinder tests can be found on: www.strenghtsfinder.com
and http://sf2.strengthsfinder.com
12
Thanks to Jan Brause – see: http://www.janbrause.co.uk/page.cfm/content/StrengthDeployment-Inventory/
13
Downloadable at reasonable price from www.lulu,com.
14 See also under “Talent Liberation is Value Creation”
15 Stephen Covey, The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness, 2004, p. 5
16 Under: “Talent Liberation is Value Creation” and “Valuing”, where several
examples are given
17 Also abbreviated as: “TL”
18 Profitability for the corporate sector; meeting non-for-profit objectives for
NFP’s.
19 Clive Wilson
41
20
See: Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and
Others Don't. A BHAG is a form of vision statement "...an audacious 10-to-30year goal to progress towards an envisioned future." A true BHAG is clear
and compelling, serves as unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear
catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know
when it has achieved the goal; as people like to shoot for finish lines. —from:
Collins and Porras, Building Your Company's Vision, 1996.
21 Related to this is the “BE, DO, HAVE”-model. In order to be “A” (vision),
what actions do we need to do (strategy). And in order accomplish these,
what kind of talents “X, Y, Z” do we need to have or still attract?
22 Just as “families that eat together, stay together”
23 Primeast’s philosophy on change
24 After Mahatma Ghandi’s famous quote: “Be the change you want to see in
the world”
25 Primeast’s and the Global Leadership Alliance’s definition of leadership.
Primeast Ltd is a member of the Global Leadership Alliance (GLA) group of
consulting agencies, whose mission is to bring the best of class products in
leadership, team building and change to the world
(www.globalleadershipalliance.com).
26 Title of song by Crowded House
27 As proposed by Clive Wilson
28 Primeast’s definition of Teamwork
29 Bruce Tuckman’s model of developmental sequence in groups
30 As used by Clive Wilson
31 After Marc Steinberg’s “What is coaching”, Creative Consciousness
International document.
32 Clive Wilson on Primeast’s mission (interview)
33 Steven Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People – Powerful
Lessons in Personal Change, 1989, p.58. PC stands for Production Capability.
34 Jim Collins Good to Great™ Diagnostic Tool, 2006 (taken from
www.jimcollins.com)
35 Jim Collins, Good to Great, 2001
36 After Ben Oswin’s internal Primeast presentation “Talent Liberation – The
Origins, Influences and Debate”, February 2009” (v.2, slide 16)
37 http://www.employerofchoice.ca/
38 http://www.employerofchoice.com/recognition.html
39 Linley, A. & Harrington, S. (2006) Strengths Coaching, in International
Coaching Psychology Review, Issue 1, pp37-46.
40 Russell Evans, Managing Director, Primeast Ltd.
41 After Laurence G. Bold, who asks in his book: Zen and the Art of Making a
Living, these 3 simple questions: A. What skills and other resources do you
have access to?; B. What do you feel passionate about? And C. What excuse
do you have for not pointing A at B?
42