Successful organisations need to have people using their best strengths every day, and for talented people to be identified and given opportunities for growth and progression.  Line managers are key to this – but many managers haven’t chosen the development of people as their specialist subject – they are IT managers, call centre managers, production managers.

Over the past decade, talent management has focused on potential models, identifying top talent, and tracking succession plans through sophisticated software.  But the Talent Team’s time is limited, and often 90% of their time is invested in 5% of the organisation’s people.

To get beyond this to a situation where talent management is happening across the organisation, we need to help line managers become talent managers.

Identifying & Nurturing Potential – for Managers
INT is a workshop plus manager’s toolkit that looks at how managers work with people who are already turning in Satisfactory or above performance.  We help managers tackle 4 areas:

• Spotting potential – what are the different types of potential in my team, and how do I adapt my style to get the best from everyone?
• Understanding differing talents – how do I spot and develop strengths, rather than always focusing on weaknesses?  
• Succession Planning – how can I do local succession planning that helps to avoid fire-fighting and releases talented people to move on?
• Self-driven development – Can I help talented people draw up development places that they’ll want to drive themselves?  Do all weaknesses have to be developed, or can some be managed?

Managers work with the tools to do a team audit from different talent perspectives.  They compare notes on what the tools reveal about the different teams reporting to participants.  

The reaction from managers is hugely positive.  We worked with one group of the 20 highest potential managers in a Utility Company, as part of a 4-week Leadership Excellence Academy.  After the session, they gave INT 5 out of 4!  They also it was the most inspiring session of the entire Academy.  100% of managers attending INT in the last 6 months have rated the workshop and tools as Excellent or Good.

We’ve also proven real skills improvement and behaviour change as managers take the tools back to their teams and continue to work with them.  Below are the skill shifts 3 months after the programme.

Want to know more?
Read the article on Turning Line Managers into Talent Managers
Read the case study at Nationwide