The Talent Mindset

The Talent Mindset is the idea that the most effective leaders have an understanding of who their employees are, where their strengths lie, and what they are capable of accomplishing to benefit their department, customers, and the company. The goal of any company should be to perform at the highest level, and in many studies, it has been proven that high performing companies have leaders who possess the Talent Mindset. 

The Talent Mindset consists of several key characteristics. 

•  A leader should have a deep conviction that better talent, equals better performance. Simple to say, but not as simple to achieve. When looking for someone to fill a position we often settle for “who fits the requirements and how fast can they start.” Sometimes we have to wait for the right candidate to ensure we get the best talent out there.
• A leader should spend 20% of time in talent reviews, staff planning, etc. Leaders who value talent spend meaningful and purposeful amounts of time grooming talent, finding it, and talking about it.
• They should have a sense of the Gold Standard of talent in their particular organization, as well as in their market. How does your company compare with others in what you view as top tier talent? Are you willing to provide the salary, benefits and work environment to ensure that talent wants to work for you?
• A leader takes direct responsibility for building talent pools and succession plans. It all starts with the highest leaders in the organization.  They should lead out and devote time to this.
• They hold all leaders accountable for talent pools and work environment. Talent and its’ development are a part of the leaders’ evaluations and are a requirement to be successful in the company.
• The best leaders are teaching other leaders constantly. The best leaders inspire those in their influence to improve, and in order to do that, they constantly teach others the importance of adopting the Talent Mindset. 

[Adapted from Forman, David C. (2015) Fearless HR. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, p.14]

Wise leaders constantly think about ways to incorporate these characteristics into their own leadership style.  Success in improving keys results is sure to follow.