Managing talent to compete in tough economy

The buzzword in HR circles is about how to manage change and talent more effectively. Is this is a post recession syndrome?

Change management has always been there and various methodologies have come and gone over time. Kurt Lewin’s model of change talked about “unfreeze – change – freeze” which is useful in thinking about the need to break down rigid ways of thinking. However it wrongly suggests that leaders can make people change.

In my experience unless you figure out, together, how people should behave at work, and create the kind of language and systems you need to reinforce that behaviour, you never get there. The most successful companies I know understand that the most important business decisions they make are not what new products they launch or what new markets they enter. What really matters is who they hire — and how they create an environment in which everyone in the organisation can share ideas, solve problems, and develop a psychological and emotional stake in the business.

Take for example, the extremely creative and rigorous methodology Cirque du Soleil has developed for recruiting and evaluating new talent.  Lyn Heward President of the Creative Division of Cirque du Soleil describes their process as follows:

There are no stars here. The show is the star. That's why our evaluation goes deeper than a talent evaluation. We need to learn about the person behind the artist. How many somersaults you can do is not as important as open-mindedness to our process, the tough-mindedness to get through the job, and what we call a 'fire to perform.' That's what we're looking for.

The behaviours Lyn looks for can be identified utilising advanced profiling techniques such as the LAB Profile. And this can be done in normal conversation as part of the interview process not putting your candidate behind a computer screen filling out a psychometric test!

If you would like more information on how to predict how suitable a potential employee is for a job role as well as assess their job performance on an ongoing basis, contact Katherine Wiid of Recrion, a LAB Profile Practioner and Talent Management Specialist on +44 1780 484910 or www.recrion.co.uk.