Talking Talent: A Promise Kept

Talking Talent: A Promise Kept

By writing this post, I am fulfilling a promise to myself this Sunday afternoon. Instead of doing ‘real stuff’ (like alphabetically arranging my recipes in food rainbow order - yikes, I need a life) that promise being that once I wrapped up my dissertation I would start ‘regular’ writing again.  It's going to be interesting to see how unique my thoughts and views are, since my gray matter has, admittedly, been batted around these past five years by tons of research. Having highlighted text in hundreds of studies, dissertations, articles and books, I swear I can still see all the pretty colors I used to highlight text even with my eyes closed - neon yellow  means 'pay attention'; neon green means 'use this quote somewhere'; neon pink is for 'Huh? What is this guy talking about?'

So my promise to do more 'regular' writing begins by reviving my blog, 'Talking Talent' which started in 2010 when tablets were made of stone and the stylus was a chisel - or at least it feels that long ago. 'Talking Talent' emanated from my mantra, "Without the people, it's an empty building.' But even with people in the building, there are forces and dynamics that keep us from doing something about the challenges face leading our talent or being led. Here is an excerpt of my dissertation that speaks to this.  

Caution: The following is not ‘regular’ writing. You have been warned!  

“The business world of the twenty-first century presents physiological, experiential, motivational, and cognitive aspects to modern work life that are rife with opportunities for conflict to emerge (Izard, 1991; Mayer, Salovey, Caruso, & Sitarenios, 2001).  Each of these aspects has the potential to exert significant influence on the quality of work and of life itself (Ashkanasy, 2004).  There are also some twenty-first century business realities never before experienced with the intensity and immediacy they present now.  These realities include constant and rapid change in work processes, greater employee diversity, flatter organizations requiring workers to “do more with less,” increased complexity from matrixed organizational structures with multiple and conflicting priorities, and an ongoing pressure to be cost conscious (Burke, 2006).  Such realities mandate that workers strategically administer and deploy the available resources (italics mine) in ways that quantifiably contribute to the organization’s overall performance by delivering better customer service (Ashkanasy, Hartel, & Daus, 2002) and increasing sales (Cherniss, 2009) even while in a highly competitive business environment.’ ©Patricia Baxter

Of course, those ‘available resources’ referred to is the talent that walked into your place of business today. They will walk right back out at the end of the day, with no guarantee that, with all due respect to former Governor Schwarzenegger, they’ll be back. So, how might we assure that our ‘available’ talent comes back to benefit our enterprises and customers?

In a workplace that is often imbalanced and in hyperdrive, nothing beneficial happens without talented people who not only do what they are paid to do but can add the extra effort that can jolt the bottom-line.  Talent management circles these days are paying greater attention to what drives the decision to apply discretionary effort - to go the proverbial ‘extra mile’. Over the years, I’ve reported to many (many) individuals and each one possessed unique gifts, points of view and styles. My two best managers understood that every night, their talent walked out  and, while it was likely they'd return, there was no guarantee they would return whole.

Even if they returned in body, the spirit may have been left elsewhere. Disengaged from the enterprise and, most especially from the manager who represents the business, workers return and do whatever they must to get through the day. You know them, you see them. You may have been in that robotic state yourself. The reason my two best managers were that - best, at least to me - was because they  understood their success lay in helping their talent come to work and come to life. They proactively and continually connected the dots between what we did in our individual jobs to the business, reminding us how our work served customers and helped the business prosper and grow. My colleagues and I really knew what it felt to be greater than the sum of its parts - to be whole and wholly committed.  (Thank you for that gift, Eleanor and Ron.)

‘Talking Talent’ is dedicated to underscoring the understanding that it is within every people manager to inspire, and get people to willingly come back in mind, body and spirit to achieve great things. Those people managers who truly ‘get it’ know what drives, engages and sometimes literally move people to action.

In the coming blogs, we’ll look at what some of those drivers might be. One powerful driver that I believe people managers don't apply enough is the conscious display of empathy. Have you ever considered how your ability to show empathy, a sincere expression of understanding and concern, can influence someone’s willingness to deliver results that matter? You want to engage and motivate people? Then it's time to 'Show and Tell' them you care. Yes, it's about emotions but don't be scared. Catch my next blog about how true empathy can drive people to do and be more.