Listen to what a few of our TalentPredix™ users and practitioners have to say about this next generation talent and strengths assessment system and our training program.
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Your role in helping people achieve their full potential
A key part of your role as manager is to coach and guide your team to help them understand, clarify, and progress their career goals and achieve their full potential. Coaching is a collaborative and supportive relationship involving mutual trust, reflection and exploration. Through a process of discovery, goal setting, and focused action, it can facilitate extraordinary outcomes.
Specific ways you can support team members include:
Key Coaching Skills
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Against the backdrop of a tougher economy and market for talent, one of the biggest challenges for today’s organizations is how to optimize the talents, skills, and contribution of their workforce. To stay competitive and sustain growth in these complex and fast-changing times, organizations need to find smarter ways to improve not just the performance, motivation, and commitment of their employees, but also their intrapreneurship, creativity, and adaptability.
Yet studies show that most employers are generally not good at optimizing people’s talents, strengths, and potential. There are various reasons for this, however, some of the more common ones include:
Below are 5 ways employers can make better use of the talents, strengths, and skills of their people.
Discover people’s unique talents and strengths
If you don’t know what qualities really energize your people, then trying to help them perform at their best becomes a matter of guesswork and trial and error. Managers often think they can work out what energizes individuals by observing what they’ve good at. Based on these subjective and biased observations, they make assumptions about what type of work people will enjoy and be good at. However, there is sometimes a big difference between what people have learned to do well and what they enjoy. One of my first managers assumed I was good at detail because I had learned to do this well. She loaded me up with detail, which quickly demotivated me and became overwhelming, as detailed work really drains my energy. Because so few people truly understand their talents and strengths, the best approach is to get them to complete an accurate and scientifically validated assessment profiler such as www.talentpredix.com . This will reduce bias and provide people with personalized insights about their talents and potential, including tasks and assignments that are likely to boost and deplete their energy.
Align skills development with people’s talents
For an innate talent to be fully optimized and be called a true “strength”, people need challenging learning and stretch opportunities to develop skills and behaviours in their areas of greatest talent. In many organizations, there is too much emphasis on identifying people’s strengths, without consideration of how these can be fully developed and optimized. This is tantamount to labelling a young musician with limited talent a virtuoso without them having put in the hard work to develop the skills and experience required to play at the mastery level.
In most organizations, there is understandably a lot of focus on upskilling and reskilling in order to future-proof the business. By aligning skills with people’s natural talents, we can help them achieve higher levels of performance in areas that are most enjoyable and important to them. This more targeted approach will yield much better returns than trying to upskill everyone or making sweeping assumptions about who will benefit the most from this upskilling based on prior experience. We have seen how badly the latter approach can backfire in companies that persist with the outdated approach of promoting high-performing technical specialists into leadership roles without any consideration of their innate talent for building, motivating and leading teams.
Invest in hiring and training managers to be great people developers
In her excellent book, Multipliers, Liz Wizeman talks about the importance of managers who can amplify the talents and capabilities of those around them through positive behaviours including inspiring and showing strong belief in them, encouragement, coaching, support, and feedback. Studies show that these “multipliers” enable people to deliver results that surpass expectations. But these leaders don’t just grow by themselves. Companies with an abundance of these types of leaders carefully select leaders with the innate talents and motivations to be strong, motivated leaders. They also invest time, effort and resources in training these leaders so they are highly skilled in how to effectively coach, develop, delegate and guide people to achieve their full potential. And because of the leadership “trickle down effect”, great leaders promote the growth of strong and motivated leaders beneath them. This investment is the key to unlocking enabling conditions in your organizations where people feel they are doing their best work and thriving.
Design jobs and career paths that people love
The current speed and intensity of change means that roles and career paths are changing faster than ever. Many job descriptions are outdated within weeks or months of a new hire joining the company. In this rapidly changing world of work, we need to be designing roles and flexible career paths that aren’t too rigid and allow ample scope for evolution, learning and future-proofing.
In response to these changes, more and more companies are organizing around teams and projects rather than along functional lines. They allocate people to multi-disciplinary teams that work on a project in an agile way and then disband once the project is accomplished. As well as promoting collaboration, learning and diverse problem-solving, this has the added benefit of accelerating cross-functional idea generation and creativity. Other progressive organisations provide people with stretch opportunities that challenge them beyond their day-to-day tasks and activities. This provides added variety, learning and social interaction, enriching the work experience for all involved.
Another growing trend is for organizations to introduce job crafting which enables some scope for employees to personalize their job to make it more engaging and meaningful. Job crafting can take a variety of forms, however, the most common include giving employees greater levels of autonomy and control over the type of work they do, how they perform that work and/or how to find the right balance between their work and personal life. Job crafting is of course not without challenges and is not appropriate for all roles, however, the growing trend for employees to have a greater say in their work and how it is designed is likely to accelerate in future.
Provide people with positive stretch assignments
Studies show that providing people with stretch assignments can be a big enabler in unleashing their potential. However, not all stretch assignments are effective. It is important to align stretch assignments with people’s goals, talents, and motivations, otherwise they can easily lead to demotivation and even burnout. Managers should also find out what support, coaching and guidance people need to take on the assignment and overcome any fears or limiting beliefs they may have. Assigning people stretch assignments and leaving them to “sink or swim” is not positive stretch. Taking such a tough and uncaring approach can result in people feeling overwhelmed, unsupported, and reluctant to take on similar assignments in future.
Companies are typically not good at identifying and communicating stretch assignments. This often results in the most interesting assignments being allocated to the same group of favoured people in the business. And research shows that the most coveted assignments are not allocated equally between men and women, with men often getting the lion’s share of these. To avoid these problems, it is important to publicize key stretch opportunities, train managers and leaders to identify and initiate more stretch conversations and promote a proactive, learner mindset across the workforce so people can identify stretch opportunities in line with their aspirations and talents.
To overcome the tsunami of challenges and succeed in today’s fast-changing and volatile world, organizations will need to employ more effective ways to identify, develop and optimize people’s talents and potential. Businesses that invest in best-in-class talent optimization strategies such as those described above will achieve better results and gain a clear competitive edge over rivals. They will also innovate faster and be better equipped to seize new opportunities that sustain their growth and success.
If you would like to try out TalentPredix™, our next-generation talent and strengths assessment system, contact us at info@talentpredix.com
1. How can career planning help me?
Career planning maps out how you’re going to get from where you are now to where you’d ideally like to be. Having a clear vision and goal in mind will help you to identify alternative pathways and actions you need to take to get there. Career planning also enables you to take stock of your strengths and how you can best leverage these, as well as any critical improvement areas you need to be aware of so you can tackle these areas so they don’t trip you up.
2. What support and resources are available to help me plan and progress my career?
You are the ultimate owner of your career and the choices you make. However, there are numerous resources and sources of support you should call on. In addition to your manager and the HR team, you should also put aside time to put together a “Personal Development Board” or group of diverse people within and outside your organization who can assist you with your careers in different ways including providing feedback, guidance and advice, mentoring, encouragement, etc. You can also search for career resources on the Internet and professional networking platforms like LinkedIn that will provide additional tips and guidance.
3. How can I find out more about what it’s like to work in a particular job and/or functional area?
The first step is to find out who is currently doing, or has recently done, the jobs you’re keen to do in future. You can then connect with them to invite them to a virtual or in-person meeting to find out more about their experiences. It is important you prepare some questions to find out as much as possible about the role. Examples include:
4. How can I make the best career choices that take account of my desired lifestyle and personal situation?
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Grit, a relatively new psychological concept offers fascinating insight into why some people succeed in their careers while others fail to achieve their full potential.
Angela Duckworth, a leading author and professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania defines Grit as the capacity to sustain both effort and interest in projects or tasks that take months or longer to complete. It is essentially a combination of perseverance and passion. The latter can best be defined as a “fire in the belly”, or positive energy to achieve and outperform against one’s goals.
Duckworth has found that people who are high in Grit don’t deviate from their goals, even in the absence of positive feedback and in the face of adversity. Although research on the concept is still in its early stages and far from conclusive, Grit appears to be positively related to success in many spheres of life and has been linked to important outcomes such as improved performance, career success, learning motivation, commitment and resilience.
So how can companies incorporate this promising new concept into their people management practices? Below are 3 ideas to get you started:
Assess for strengths and motivations when hiring people
The mantra “hire for attitude as well as skill” is widely espoused, yet few recruiters know how to translate this into practical action during the hiring process. One of the ways you can do this is by using strengths interviews and strengths assessments to measure not only the required skills and experience for the role, but also the person’s strengths, motivations, and values. A good alignment between these softer human factors and the needs of the role, as well as the work culture, will enable you to recruit people who are motivated to go way beyond the minimum requirements of the role. When people’s strengths, motivations and values fit the job and company well, they are far more likely to deliver excellence, embrace learning opportunities and stay longer with your organization.
Stretch people in areas they enjoy most
To develop higher levels of grit, ensure your people are provided with stretch opportunities that push them beyond their comfort zone. However, ensure this stretch is positive in nature. Positive stretch involves discovering a person’s underlying talents and strengths, then challenging them to take these to the next level by developing skills, experience, and flexibility in the way they apply these. It is important to provide coaching, support and feedback when encouraging people to stretch their strengths to maintain high levels of energy and avoid negative stress, panic and burnout.
Promote a growth mindset and learning culture
Perseverance involves working hard to achieve goals and sticking with a task even in the face of immense pressure and setbacks. There are different factors that accelerate perseverance, but one of the most important appears to be the extent to which people are encouraged to learn from setbacks and take ownership for their own learning. People with a growth-oriented mindset are better learners and demonstrate greater agility in adjusting to changes and setbacks than those who don’t believe they can learn new skills and abilities required for success.
Organizations can encourage growth mindsets by creating a supportive environment where failure is seen as part and parcel of the learning process and reasonable mistakes are tolerated. They can also ensure regular feedback and coaching through engaging performance dialogues and regular manager and co-worker feedback channels to empower people to learn, grow and improve their performance.
It is also important to create a work culture characterized by high levels of interpersonal connection and collaborative learning. By building strong support networks (both face-to-face and virtual) such as collaborative platforms and tools, hangouts, brainstorming/brainwriting sessions and socials, organizations will provide people with greater opportunities to solve challenges collaboratively, experiment and deliver solutions that multiply business results.
Further Reading:
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, 2016, Angela Duckworth. London: Penguin
If you would like to find out more about our talent coaching solutions, contact us at info@talentpredix.com
The strengths-based approach to people management has been around for around 25 years, although many of the central principles and ideas were first introduced by management gurus like Peter Drucker and Dr Bernard Haldane decades before this. The central premise is that focusing on strengths is a more powerful way of accelerating performance, learning and engagement in organizations because it unlocks people’s intrinsic motivation, helping them achieve excellence in areas more aligned with their natural strengths and personality.
Today, strengths-based approaches are one of the fastest-growing trends in people management and for good reason as research shows they can yield significant improvements in sales, profitability, retention and engagement. A strengths-based approach to performance and feedback conversations is also more likely to generate more positive behaviours and results compared to a traditional weakness-based approach.
Yet, one of the biggest mistakes companies make when bringing in this approach is to overlook or downplay people’s weaker areas. This is likely to significantly undermine the value of the approach and result in scepticism among senior leaders and decision-makers, especially given the negativity bias that has dominated much of our approach to people management in the past.
Problems that arise when organizations focus only on people’s strengths
Various problems can arise for both the individual and company when there is a myopic focus on strengths without any consideration of weaknesses. Some of these include:
Reducing weaknesses and performance limiters
Effective development is very much about balancing two interdependent dualities – optimising strengths and reducing the effect of performance limiters, including weaknesses and overused talents and strengths.
Performance limiters are things that can get in the way of people achieving their goals. There are four main types: In Excess or overused talents and strengths; limiting weaknesses, self-limiting beliefs and fears and external blockers.
Because we all have limited time to invest in our personal development, we typically recommend an 80-20 rule of thumb with 80% of this time focused on optimizing strengths and 20% on tackling performance limiters. However, this may vary from person to person depending on their experience, competence, and the extent to which their limiters are undermining their results and/or relationships.
The strengths approach offers tremendous potential and it appears that we have now reached a ‘tipping point’ where the majority of leading organizations are using this approach to people and talent management. However, a sole focus on discovering and optimizing people’s strengths will not yield sustainable improvements in engagement and performance. To be effective, a strengths-based people strategy needs to also help people find innovative and powerful ways to reduce their weaker areas and performance limiters, especially when these are undermining the performance and growth of the person, team and/or company.
For more details on how to design and implement an effective strengths-based people strategy that delivers exceptional results, contact us at info@talentpredix.com
In this episode, James Brook, Founder and CEO of TalentPredix™, interviews Simon Alexander Ong, author of the book “Energize”.
Positive leaders understand the importance of creating conditions where individuals and team can do their best work and achieve their full potential. They see people not as resources or assets, but as key value-multipliers of the business.
They understand the importance of meeting 4 key needs of employees so that they can thrive at work. Starting at the base of the pyramid below, let’s look at each in turn:
People require conditions where they feel safe, not just physically, but also psychologically. This means that they should feel the company cares about them and will minimize the risks of any harm to them, including emotional and mental suffering. The concept of psychological safety is becoming more popular now than when it was first coined in the 90s due to increased work pressures and the dizzying pace of change.
Having a workplace that is psychologically safe means that people feel able to show up at work every day without being embarrassed, marginalized, bullied, or unfairly disciplined. However, it also means that people are free to express their thoughts and emotions at work without worrying that they will be harshly judged or face other adverse consequences. People want to feel that they can count on their leader to look out for them and provide support, especially when tough problems arise that overwhelm them and lead to significant distress.
Steps leaders can take:
Everyone has a deep desire for belonging, at work and outside. They want to feel they are a valued part of their community or ‘tribe’, regardless of their background or differences. Belonging goes beyond acceptance and inclusion of diverse people, personalities, and perspectives. It involves giving people a voice in how their work is accomplished and in shaping the future of the team and organization.
Steps leaders can take:
Most people have a deep drive for achievement and success. They want to do well and achieve their goals and personal development aspirations. They want to feel they are empowered to act and supported to be at their best.
Steps leaders can take:
People have an innate desire to learn and realize their full potential. They want to grow both personally and professionally.
Steps leaders can take:
Provided the company has a well-defined purpose and strategy, peak performance comes about when leaders hire talented people and provide them with the right conditions where they can do their best work while at the same time fulfilling their key needs. Positive leaders understand the importance of creating a climate where people can thrive at work by taking practical steps to improve their sense of safety, belonging, achievement and growth.
For more details on how to design and implement an effective people strategy that delivers thriving workplaces, contact us at info@talentpredix.com
Welcome to the first episode of Talent Trailblazers! In this episode, Elsa Baptista interviews James Brook, Founder and CEO of TalentPredix™. Tune in to listen to an exciting conversation about talent and strengths assessment, talent development and talent management.
Organizations are increasingly helping their employees discover, develop, and deploy their talent and strengths more effectively. This approach is driving greater performance, motivation, teamwork, and retention. It also marks a significant shift from the traditional focus on fixing weaknesses to a more positive, strengths-based mindset. However, simply identifying and using talent and strengths isn’t enough. When overused, even the best talents and strengths can backfire, leading to unintended consequences or failure.
Overused talent and strengths refer to those that are applied excessively, resulting in negative outcomes. This occurs when a talent or strength, instead of being an asset, turns into a weakness. Overused talents can damage relationships, harm careers, and lead to poor performance. Studies show that more people experience career derailment due to overused talents than obvious weaknesses. For instance, my Boldness talent has been key to my career success, but early on, I was too eager to challenge the status quo without considering the audience. This led to perceptions of being overpowering—a classic case of overused talent.
Several factors can lead to the overuse of talent and strengths, including:
Understanding these triggers helps individuals become more conscious of how to use their talent and strengths more effectively.
Raising awareness of overused talent and strengths brings several benefits:
The first step in managing overused talent and strengths is raising awareness. We recommend using a scientifically validated talent assessment like TalentPredix™, which helps individuals pinpoint the specific behaviours limiting their performance. With this insight, they can use their talent and strengths more selectively and effectively. Learn more about the science behind talent assessments here.
At TalentPredix™, we believe that for talent to be fully optimized, individuals must learn to adapt their talents across different situations. This is expressed as:
Optimized Talent = f (Talent X Skills X Adaptability)
We help employees develop strategies to match their talents to the situation’s needs. Some of these strategies include:
To unleash the full potential of your people and help them achieve their goals, it’s essential they understand how to apply their talent and strengths effectively across different situations. They also need to actively mitigate the effects of overused talents. With this holistic awareness, they can use their talents in a more conscious, careful, and competent way, leading to thriving careers and exceptional results.
For more insights on managing talent and strengths, check out this article. Learn more about TalentPredix™ and how to tackle overused talents and strengths by clicking here.