Every week, I review blogs that cover talent development to find you the pick of the lot for the week. In this post, you’ll find pointers to pieces about talent management semantics, teamwork or talent, senior leadership and talent development, another survey on innovation and job satisfaction, and gender-specific management training.
From The Employee Performance and Talent Management Blog: Talent Management Semantics
“A few recent blog posts have got me thinking lately about the language around talent management. This started a couple weeks ago with a post from Paul Hebert. He looked at the use of the word management versus the term supervision, with the point being that what we really want our managers to do, as the front line on talent management programs, is supervise.”
Wally’s Comment: What we call things certainly matters. And in recent decades we seem to have created a world of dueling definitions for many important terms. In the same period, we’ve exalted some terms (leadership) and devalued others (supervision). Sean Conrad draws on posts by Paul Hebert and Kris Dunn to make the point that we need to both examine our language and become more consistent with our definitions.
From Working Girl: Teamwork or Talent?
“Consider this: Although each of us can easily buy a computer mouse no one on Earth knows how to produce one. That’s right – lots of people know how to produce parts of the mouse, but not one of them could actually produce one on their own. Even a mouse designer (who probably only designs parts of the mouse rather than the whole mouse) would not be able to produce his own plastic and metal bits to make a mouse if push came to shove. The point is that combined ideas allow us to do extremely tricky things that none of us would be able to do – let alone understand – on our own.”
Wally’s Comment: Laura Schroeder starts with observations on the complexity of the current world. Then she leads us on a review of the relative values of individual talent and teamwork and how they interact. Laura also introduces us to Adam and Oz and the increasing complexity of the spear business way back in the day.
From Great Leadership: Leadership Development: Executive Self-Assessment
“What’s the #1 differentiator between companies that excel at succession planning and leadership development and those that simply go through the motions’?”
Wally’s Comment: Dan McCarthy writes about something that’s very important but often glossed over. We talk about the importance of a rigorous process of talent development a lot. We talk less about the importance of senior management as active participants. When that happens, it has two results. First, the process becomes more effective. Second, top management participation sends the message that talent development is important. If you’re a senior manager, take Dan’s self-assessment.
From the Talent Management Blog: Leadership Survey: Examining Innovation & Job Satisfaction
“Last week, Roslyn Courtney, an award-winning expert on leadership, business change and talent management, announced the results of her survey on leadership and careers in a business world that is radically changing. Courtney surveyed 320 leaders and managers and conducted in-depth interviews. The survey looked at the use of talent, innovation and more, with some interesting results.”
Wally’s Comment: Heather McCulligh reviews some recent research and shares her observations on the importance of company success in retaining top talent, the level of innovation at big companies, and the impact of Gen Y on the workplace. For some additional reading on innovation at work, read Mary Jo Asmus’ post: “Influencing Creativity and Innovation.”
From Dorothy Dalton: A case for gender related management training
“Let’s stop being trapped by political correctness. Do men and women need different types of management training? I think so.”
Wally’s Comment: Dorothy Dalton is one of my favorite bloggers on issues of women in the workplace. You may have read her posts on the way women negotiate for salary or her posts on women who are workplace bullies. Read this post to get Dorothy’s analysis of issues that should be addressed in management training.
