As a leader you need to find talent, attract talent, passionately love talent ( with HR guidelines of course!) and bring out the best of that talent. I am a great believer that the search for talent is not something that you do when you have a gap, it is a continuous process. If you find someone with the talent and passion then grab them, challenge them to come into the company and pay for themselves. So where can you talent spot...
- On the web - look at blogs, podcasts etc, look for people with similar values and ones that are putting ideas out there, ones that are pushing the boundaries, trying to define the future.
- Link with colleges and schools - find ways that you can add value to the studies but use it as a chance to look for those bright - untainted by business - brains. Offer work experience opportunites, offer projects, run competitions.....search out that future talent.
- Use online networking - see who people are talking about, look for ways to reach and connect to the talent.
- Everywhere you go! I found a superb credit controller whilst I was shopping in a market!! She had brilliant negotiation skills - I offered her a job there and then. I found a team leader through playing sport - he was a superb captain, one who could motivate people, one who could sense how the game was going, one who could set tactics and strategy....he knew nothing about our industry but he came in, turned round a team that was disillusioned and improved performance by 37%.
I don't believe there really is a talent shortage - I think the talent is there, all around us. I think we just need to open our eyes and seek it out. I think we need to be more adaptive in our style of finding talent in the strangest places! Talent does exist, remember every day you are the leader of the Treasure Hunt for Talent and just see how much you spot.....you will be surprised.
