Democratise Development but NOT Talent Management

During a phone call with a potential client, my interlocutor was talking about how he wanted to “democratise talent management” in his new role.

Woah there sunshine, hold your horses, this is NOT a good idea.

I asked him if he was familiar with Pareto’s Principle?

You might know it better as the 80/20 rule.

At the beginning of my self-employment journey, I was working with a mentor who helped me set up my business, he told me to remember the 80/20 Rule:

• 80% of leads come from 20% of the activity
• 80% of problems come from 20% of the clients
• 80% of business come from 20% of the clients

The 80/20 rule applies across the board.

I was reminded of the work I had done as Head of Talent when I came across similar numbers with regards to Talent Management. In this case, 20% of your employees are responsible for 80% of the business outcomes.

Now, I’m not saying that you should only develop your talent.

You need to develop ALL of your people.

You just need to do something DIFFERENT for your talent.

If 80% of your business outcomes are going to come from 20% of your employees, it makes business sense to nurture and develop these people just a little bit more.

Democratise development but not talent.

If you are wondering what I mean by “Talent”, I like the CIPD definition:

"those individuals who can make a difference to organisational performance, either through their immediate contribution or in the longer term by demonstrating the highest levels of potential".

Your talent are individuals, the last thing they need is another sheep dip style training that you are putting everyone through.

✅ ✅ ✅ Box-ticking exercise come to mind? ✅ ✅ ✅

They need (and want!) something tailored to their needs, something that is going to get them where they (and you!) want them to get to.

Individualised development plan it is then.

But what to include?  There are a myriad of options - where do you start?

You could of course go with ever-popular options of coaching and/or mentoring (they are different, drop me a DM if you would like to get to the nuances).  In my experience, this has turbo-charged my development as the conversations are all about me, me and me - what’s not to like?

Enrol them onto an Executive MBA course at Henley or Ashridge Business Schools (other schools are available) which, according to The Guardian, gives you access to an “incredibly smart group of people”.

You could always fund membership of an online bookstore that would give them access to a myriad of tomes that would go some way to curing my insomnia.

What if you give them a development budget and let them spend it however they want?

There is of course the cost of NOT doing anything, the increase in turnover, the increased cost to hire, the decrease in productivity and the increase in organisational risk if critical roles are not covered.

Which one would you prefer to pay for?

Your talent and your people want and need different things from their leaders.

They are all staring from a different place and with your help will have a different path to follow.

Your role?  To act as a marshall along the way.

If you have thousands of ideas swirling around in your head and you don’t know where to start, why not book a 60 Minute Talent Strategy Call with me and I can help you to figure out the plan and get things started.