5 Insider Tips to Develop Top Talent

Talent Management Tips to Develop Top Talent

While there are many proven tips to develop top talent, it seems that talent management often becomes too complicated.  Simply put, the purpose of talent management is to attract, develop, engage, and retain the top talent that leads to individual, team, and organizational success — in both the short- and long-term.  This article focuses on the professional development portion of talent management.

Experience-Driven Talent Management
We believe that the best way to develop talent is to learn by doing — Action Learning that is relevant, timely, and challenging. When learning by experience is well designed, aligned with the business strategy, and effectively executed, working and learning become symbiotic.

Not only will your organization be able to attract and retain top talent, but you can also more easily boost your leadership succession pipeline and accelerate the development and engagement of your employees at every level.

5 Insider Tips to Develop Top Talent

1. Assign Tasks Based on Development Not Just Past Performance
   When you only give out assignments based solely on an employee’s current role or past success, you miss the opportunity to develop an employee in a new direction or equip them with a new skill.

   Think first about who might benefit from the learning experience rather than who has already proven they know how to tackle the assignment. Match the task to someone who can learn and grow their career from the new experience.

2. Maintain a List of Stretch Assignments
   Consider the core competencies needed for specific stretch assignments. Then think about the experience journeys for specific roles. Then you can use those stretch assignments for developing employees for certain key jobs when the time is right.
3. Expand the Opportunities for New Experiences
   Do not limit yourself to task assignments. Create new types of experiences through which employees can grow in ways that meet the strategic needs of the business.

   What about cross-functional experiences, or new market development, or new client opportunities, or even leadership roles beyond the workplace in the community?

4. Add to the Experience with Learning Best Practices
   Supplement the experience with a variety of effective learning modalities and methods. Utilize tools such as assessment centers, reflective exercises, performance tests, coaching, feedback, and workshops that are customized to specific business and learning outcomes.
5. Support a Continuous Learning Culture
   When learning is a core value in your culture, continuous learning should be central to your hiring, development, and recognition processes.

   Hire workers who are eager to learn, give them opportunities to grow, and reward employees not just for their own development but also for developing others.

The Bottom Line
Make sure your organization is ready for the future with a talent pool that is fully prepared with the skills they need to take on new and ever-shifting challenges. Otherwise, you risk being left in the dust of those who do not invest in the learning potential of their employees.

To learn more Tips to Develop Top Talent, download The Top 5 Employee Training Strategies and Key Mistakes to Avoid