Sporting lessons to better manage your talent!

Posted by Carolyne Burns | August - 13 - 2015 | 0 Comment
Corepics VOF / Shutterstock.com

Corepics VOF / Shutterstock.com

In the game of business – apply sporting lessons to better manage your talent!

At Expr3ss! we are absolutely committed to helping our customers with tools to select the right talent, for the right role, who are keen to and can do the job.

More than ever before, the key to business success depends on how well you manage your talent. Mobility in the digital age means more competition for talent, so your people can choose to move on to other challenges, anywhere and any time.

How do you make them the best that they can be, while you have them?

Managing business ‘talent’ is just like managing sporting talent – and here’s an article that has given me great perspective when it comes to managing my people. From the FT Weekend of London, May 2015. (link)

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/054e2602-f9ae-11e4-97b2-00144feab7de.html

As a former state hockey player, it rings true for me. Managing a team of skilled staff and dealing with egos, disappointment, rivalry and, of course, success is imperative to keep a business on track. Just like a sporting team.

You want to grow your business, but to keep them engaged you want to grow their skills, capabilities and contribution.

Dr Glyn Brokensha and I shared our insights with Masters students at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) recently.  The evaluations were awesome!

Are you as a manager able to set aside your ego – and trust your staff to drive the business further?

It all starts with recruiting the right talent from the start. “99 per cent of recruitment is about who you DON’T sign”.

Yes, recruit talent from the start and manage them well. They may reach their peak in your business. Even if they do, and they are poached by another, they’ll be brilliant for your business on the way through.

Just like a talented sportsman or woman.

As described by Mike Forde and Simon Kuper in the FT Weekend, May 2015, here’s how to take care of your talent:

  1. Big talent usually comes with a big ego. Accept it.
  1. Look for big egos that have ‘got over themselves’
  1. Single out and praise those who make sacrifices for the organisation
  1. The manager shouldn’t aspire to dominate the talent
  1. Ask the talent for advice – but only for advice
  1. The manager’s job isn’t to motivate – good talent always motivates itself
  1. The talent needs to trust each other more than it needs to trust the manager
  1. Improve the talent
  1. 99 per cent of recruitment is about who you DON’T sign
  1. Accept that the talent will eventually leave
  1. Gauge a moment when a talent reaches his/her peak

Our combined insights and experience in developing awesome teams using Expr3ss! and applying these valuable sporting lessons certainly resonated with the QUT Masters students.  Scoring an average of 4.8 out of 5 for both content and delivery, over 80% of these highly-motivated and experienced students gave us a perfect score!

Course convenor, Professor of Psychology QUT, Julie Hepworth,  was kind enough to say, ”I’d call this a huge success!”

Ch33rs!