I respect and listen to Seth Godin. I also believe that at the core of talent management is Honest Conversations, leading to Thoughtful Actions, that result in Improved Performance. A big part of that is listening well, and know that performance in the end is about actions. Here are some thoughts on Listening well.
We scramble for the perfect gift, and often it is right in front of us, and behind us, and around us. Our time is a great gift, and for leaders it is too often forgotten because of all the other things we are trying to do. How do you make your time matter? First, recognize how valued it is, then give it. Talent management is about great conversations – go have one.
Talent management is about great conversations. One conversation that is powerful is around career development. Looking into the future to plan a career or commit to mastery is exciting, and not easy. Personal ownership is the big key to success, and that is step 1. Here are some tips for owning your own career development and some books/resources that might help.
Seth Godin makes me think. Talent management is about great conversations, and the words we use in our performance conversations are important. Lets drop the lingo, and use words. Here are four that should be used more because everyone understands them.
Talent management is about relationships. If people trust you as a leader and you understand their perspective on the decisions you are making, the outcomes become easier. Goals are great, but when it comes to leadership and teamwork, the process of understanding the goals, arguing about the steps to get there, and finalizing the plan (budget, people, etc.) is the most important piece. In talent management, relationships matter.
Talent management is about great conversations. This is the third post around Jodi Glickman’s book Great on the Job, which is full of useful tips for doing well at your first job. While it is written for people staring careers, it is also a great resource for leaders. This post explores the area of feedback and how we get/give it well.
We now know that talking about ourselves triggers the same sensation of pleasure in the brain as eating or receiving money. How do we use this research to help us get our people more engaged and support the engagement of our leaders in their work? Here are some thoughts on why this matters and how to translate it into what we do as leaders and followers.
Are there things about you that people do not know? We all know the answer to that question – but is anything on that list that they need to know? Maybe you love to problem solve. Maybe you led a team of 20 people at one point in your career. Maybe there is some part of the business you want to learn more about. Maybe you get 150 emails a day and prefer phone calls. Talent management is about great conversations. Here are some tips that leaders/teams can use to share that information.
The basics of creating relationships at home and at work are the same. There are some universal truths, and how will social media alter those? Only time will tell, but here is a TED video that helps us reflect on some of these realities now. It is a great discussion for leadership development and talent management in your organization.
Happiness research tells us it is not the big things, but the cumulative effect of little moments that matters. If we impact each other in positive ways, then lots of good things happen in our teams and our business. Fridays are not the only day to smile, but a good day to try some purposeful things to impact the lives of others. This is talent management, and it is fun.
Talent management is not about training, it is about awareness, individual ownership, and an ongoing partnership between leaders and followers to get better. I joined an HBR study on happiness and here is some reflections on what I have learned.
Much is made about all the responsibilities a leader has, yet many of those go unseen by people that might benefit from knowing. People would probably be surprised by all the things a leader has to deal with, and if they knew they might be able to help. This post uses a letter sent my a worried family member to a the leader of an artillery battery to make the point and remind us some of the responbilities of a leader have not changed much.