The so-called "talent management" refers to the talent available to all people, but we tend to think, above all, of the talent to take over from managerial positions.
There are certainly young people in companies, with visible potential to take on management and leadership tasks; a potential that they have to develop sufficiently before accessing positions of greater responsibility. And if these individuals were not available, they would have to be searched.
Companies depend more and more on the talent of their people, and especially on managerial talent. It is worth asking now what we understand by managerial talent and how it should be managed, because apparently it is not always correct when trying to identify it. Managers play an important role, both in detecting and in developing the potential of their talented employees. If the simplification is accepted, having a managerial talent would imply a certain innate ability to direct; But directing is something that demands new skills every day, and of course a high dose of well-understood leadership.
The leadership that is sought is not that of those who overvalue their strengths and relativize their weaknesses; it is not that of those who crave power more than achievement.
The profile of the manager of the XXI century, Without detracting from the traditional functions of business management, it aims at a high level of intra and interpersonal intelligence. Managing the talent of its people means, for companies, putting it at the service of the cause: developing it individually in tune with the needs of the organization, and above all, retaining it.
Attract it, cultivate it, harness it, and retain it. Managers of the 21st century Perhaps we do not know very well how to learn to be a manager-leader, but undoubtedly companies need to manage their people through the exercise of leadership. The managers-leaders of the 21st century will gather very specific competencies that not all of us can develop sufficiently.
Young people called to exercise this leadership present certain innate or acquired values, qualities, attitudes and other attributes, which warn psychologists and managers of organizations about their potential to pick up the baton in the direction of the department or company.
It is obvious that this is not a trivial matter for companies: the stakes are high.
We are in no way thinking of charismatic leaders. Peter Drucker warns us that charisma could convince leaders to be infallible, make them inflexible, and prevent them from making the necessary changes.
The manager runs the risk of being wrong, and has a duty to know it. We naturally appreciate that you are confident, but not to the point of being infallible. The manager, in short, does not need to be charismatic; what you need is to communicate well with others.
In reality, the skills we expect in the ideal manager are very diverse. We are not willing to follow someone simply because they can raise our salary: we are only willing to follow a leader. Only leadership activates our emotional energy. A good number of organizations have implemented programs to detect people with high potential in recent years, and orchestrated subsequent plans to develop their skills.
These initiatives have not always progressed satisfactorily, and we now know that the very process of identifying future managers has sometimes been successful, but sometimes not so.
Much of the role in the selection of individuals with a future has been in their hierarchical superiors and that is how it seems that it should be, although this carries some risks. And the fact is that, even with the best intention, some managers tend to see in their apparent clones the most suitable men or women to face the future; or, simply, they apply systems of values and competencies that do not always fully coincide with those most desirable for the organization.
But there are naturally many other managers, perhaps more aligned with the evolution of management and better imbued with their corporate culture, who are contributing professionally and effectively, in their areas of influence, to the identification of future leaders and their proper development.
Furthermore, it is not just about the nose of these current executives and managers: they almost always - especially in large organizations - count on the assessments of individuals, carried out by professionals. Assuming that, qualitatively and quantitatively, the group has been well selected, the experts coincide in seeing four main - and very important - agents in the subsequent process of competence development: the individuals themselves, their hierarchical superiors, those responsible for HR of the company, and also the consultants.
This last complex function of help-advice-guardianship-arbitration-coordination-evaluation could be assumed by a company manager or the immediate boss or director himself, but it can often seem more effective to think of an internal or external expert, specialized in the development of manager-leaders, and perhaps working full-time in this role. Each of the four agents has a role to play, but without a doubt the greatest commitment is that of the individual himself, to whom the process logically generates expectations that should not be frustrated.
This is the point of view of FYCSA, after collaborating in this endeavor with large organizations for more than ten years. For things to go well, people who have been attributed high potential need to do more than exercise circumspection and cultivate their image.
In addition to meeting the demands of their current job, they must strive to improve their skills profile, taking advantage of their necessary dose of self-criticism and receptivity to feedback. They must believe in the future that is offered to them, because if not, they will lack the necessary encouragement to sustain this additional effort. They will find references and help in the other agents of the process, but their development is, to a great extent, a self-guided development.
They will have - if the analogy is valid - a vehicle, roads and signs, but they will drive: if they were not good drivers, they probably should not reach their destination. The boss is a facilitator -at times a coach- of the development of the individual, according to the planned plan; its proximity allows you to follow the process and feed it back. But the development objectives -that is: the profile of the manager sought- will have already been drawn by the Human Resources Department, whose responsibility in the process extends to the entire group, and which can orchestrate common training, information and development actions..
The consultant (or consultants) to which we refer is the specialist made available to individuals; Based on the defined profile, this consultant has to attend to the skills that are lacking - and the traits that, where appropriate, are left over - of each individual under tutelage, to facilitate their progress.
conclusion
When we speak of leaders for the 21st century, we think, ultimately, of young people who today combine their work well with their personal and professional development; that they will climb positions at the right pace; who, in due course, will successfully combine their management and leadership skills; who maintain and will continue to maintain an attitude of learning and improvement; that they will respond satisfactorily to what their organizations demand of them; that they will always be loyal to their companies and their collaborators; that they will be good strategists and will have a clear vision of the future of the company; that they will earn the trust of their interlocutors every day; that they will create teams of high performance and satisfaction; that will facilitate their own succession by new leaders… To do so,Management development programs must be very carefully conceived and orchestrated, because there are many factors that can derail each personal project.
