Starry Eyed Talent Development

Recently I read a great post on the i4cp Productivity Blog. The title was “Performance Management: Not Everybody’s a Superstar.” Here’s a passage that jumped out at me.

“It’s time to take off the type-A blinders and get some perspective; not everybody in the workplace is a superstar or future leader, and a lot of people don’t want to be. They want to work, to get things done, to keep things moving and to do a good job of it. They don’t have huge egos or need constant attention, validation, public praise or a corner office.”

That makes a lot of sense to me. I’ve been wandering around workplaces since I came back from the Marines forty years ago and went to work in the private sector. Here are some of the things I’ve noticed. They are in no particular order

Companies that divide everyone in the company into “people who matter” and “people who don’t” are sowing the seeds of trouble. It’s not part of human nature to enjoy being treated as a second class citizen. It is in human nature to rebel at such treatment, in ways aggressive and passive, large and small, visible and covert.

For your investment in high potentials to pay off, a high potential must turn into a high performer. Many times that doesn’t happen. Many times the high potential moves on to “greener” pastures.

Training and development opportunities tend to be lavished on two groups of people: high potentials and those at the top of the org chart. When you do that, you lose the many training benefits that have nothing to do with the curriculum.

Investing in training and development for a person is a good idea, even if he or she isn’t a “high potential.” People want to be good at what they do. They want to learn. When they can do that, they’re likely to work harder.

The key to improving the performance of your workers is often improving the performance of their bosses. The way a boss does his or her job has a profound effect on both productivity and morale. So helping bosses become better bosses has a multiplier effect.

Wally Bock

Wally Bock is a coach, a writer and President of Three Star Leadership.