Virtually all articles that talk about talents begin by discussing the idea of the war for talents and suggesting that the success of organizations is intrinsically linked to their ability to identify, attract, and retain high-potential employees, largely right after they graduate and, in another part, for leadership roles and strategic positions.

Talent management, high-potentials, talent strategy, among others. There are several expressions used, but the fact is that there is still a lot of intuition and little objectivity in this area. To cite an example, Estimates indicate that companies spend more than US$300 billion on employee training, but only 5% of this amount is directed specifically for talent development.

Therefore, it is important to understand more comprehensively and scientifically based, how we should conduct talent management, especially with the irreversible paradigm shifts caused due to the covid-19 pandemic scenario.

It will be increasingly difficult to retain talent

Your company may, right now, be experiencing difficulties to retain talent as a result of the change of scenery.
If this is not your case, the tendency is that it will soon be, probably sooner than you think.

Some global economic macrotrends help explain this phenomenon and need to be taken into consideration, especially because they tend to impact talent more strongly:

1. The hard pill to swallow: A significant portion of people were (are?) disillusioned or dissatisfied with their jobs. In exchange for a certain level of stability and a salary, they would settle for companies they did not truly identify with. Studies on protean careers had already been pointing to this issue, which seems to have become even more evident during the pandemic

2. The rise of the passive candidate: Many people, even if they are not actively looking for a new job, position themselves as open to receiving new opportunities—largely because they do not feel fully engaged in their current roles. There is a fine line between being satisfied enough not to seek other opportunities and being relatively comfortable while still keeping an eye on other possibilities. If you know of cases where talent once considered “retained” was lost, this may have been one of the reasons.

3. The rise of entrepreneurship: Not only have people been more consistently pursuing self-employment, but even young talent has increasingly shown a desire to work in an entrepreneurial way. The growth in the number of startups in recent years, along with their relatively low average age, are two indicators of this trend.

Absolutely every action companies take regarding talent management must consider these macrotrends (in addition to specific cultural and market factors), otherwise they risk continuing to face difficulties in retaining talent and being repeatedly surprised by the career movements of high-potential individuals.

But after all, who are my talents?

Despite the vast number of definitions of “Talent” and the frequent confusion with other concepts, we can define talent in a simple and straightforward way based on four general rules suggested by the author and researcher Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic:

1. The Vital Few: In some organizations, there is a relatively small group of people who generate a significant impact on the final results, while a larger portion operates in a more maintenance or support capacity. This small group represents the talents, which some authors suggest may account for at most 10% of the workforce.

2. The Peak Performance Rule: A person’s talent is best measured when they are truly striving to perform at their best. In this sense, it is important to consider motivational factors, as well as whether the duration of performance is long enough to allow for a reliable assessment (neither too short to be unrepresentative nor too long to cause fatigue or demotivation).

3. The Effortless Performance Rule: If we consider performance as a mix of ability and motivation, we can say that a talented individual is able to achieve the same level of performance as a less talented person while using lower levels of effort.

4. Talent Is Personality in the Right Place: There are countless stories of highly talented individuals who, before achieving success, were incredibly unsuccessful in other roles. A person will only demonstrate talent when they find the right context or role for their natural dispositions and behavioral tendencies. A recent example is the co-founder of WhatsApp, who was rejected in a selection process to work at Facebook, only to later sell his company to Facebook for nearly $20 billion.

So, what should be done?

Let’s then understand the two sides of our problem: as if the current and future scenarios weren’t already indicating challenges in talent retention, companies urgently need to gain greater clarity on who their talents are.

In this context, we once again have significant support from science: for the first part of the problem (the scenario), the solution is based on two key elements: learning agility and entrepreneurship. Companies need people who are capable of learning quickly (handling today’s volume of information, learning, and adapting) and who have an entrepreneurial mindset to turn ideas into products and services, exploring opportunities and generating value.

For the second part of the problem (knowing who the talents are), the solution lies in one key element: self-awareness. Studies have shown that, to be fulfilled and adaptable in the new market, people must first invest in self-awareness. Companies should therefore help individuals better understand themselves, so that together they can develop their talents and make better career decisions.

If you want a more modern, scientifically grounded, and effective approach to talent management in today’s context, self-awareness, learning agility, and entrepreneurship are the three key words. To support you in this journey, you can rely on Clave Consultoria. We conduct diagnostics through Assessments, enabling efficient and accurate talent management.

References

1. Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2017). The talent delusion: Why data, not intuition, is the key to unlocking human potential. Piatkus.

2. Narayanan, A., Rajithakumar, S., & Menon, M. (2019). Talent management and employee retention: An integrative research framework. Human Resource Development Review, 18(2), 228-247.

3. Tarique, I. (Ed.). (2021). The Routledge companion to talent management. Routledge.