“I’m not looking for the best players; I’m looking for the right ones.”
How much value is being lost owing to the lack of talent management?
Many Family businesses over overlook a basic economic issue, scarcity of human talent – they don’t recognize until it’s too late.
“Scarcity is the fundamental economic problem of having seemingly unlimited human wants and needs in a world of limited resources. It states that society has insufficient productive resources to fulfill all human wants and needs.
Alternatively, scarcity implies that not all of society’s goals can be pursued at the same time; trade-offs are made of one good against others. In an influential 1932 essay, Lionel Robbins defined economics as “the science which studies human behavior as a relationship between ends and scarce means which have alternative uses.”
Talent management refers to the anticipation of required human capital for an organization and the planning to meet those needs. The field increased in popularity after McKinsey’s 1997 research and the 2001 book The War for Talent Talent management in this context does not refer to the management of entertainers.
Talent management is the science of using strategic HR to improve business value and to make it possible for companies and organizations to reach their goals. Everything done to recruit, retain, develop, reward and make people perform forms a part of talent management as well as strategic workforce planning. A talent-management strategy needs to link to business strategy to make sense.”
A few recent articles the Harvard Business Review discussed Talent. These included some of the following themes, “Making Star Teams out of Star players”, “What A Players Bring” and Managing Breakthrough Performance. One of the articles spoke of the power of star players. Chief Justice John Roberts was a star achiever. Prior to being appointed he argued and won an unprecedented 25 of 39 cases before the Supreme Court.
Andrew Carnegie said, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward common vision. Teamwork is the ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.”
What “A” Players Bring to the Table
Some people argue that talent is overrated. But our estimates, based on evidence from a variety of industries, suggest that star employees outperform others by a country mile:
The best developer at Apple is at least nine times as productive as the average software engineer at other technology companies.
The best blackjack dealer at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas keeps his table playing at least five times as long as the average dealer on the Strip.
The best sales associate at Nordstrom sells at least eight times as much as the average sales associate at other department stores.
The best transplant surgeon at a top-notch medical clinic has a success rate at least six times that of the average transplant surgeon.
Source: HBR
Essentially, when the right team member is in the right place, everyone benefits. To be able to put people in their proper places and fully utilize their talents and maximize potential, you need to know your players and the team situation. Evaluate each person’s skills, discipline, strengths, emotions, and potential.”
A basic economic problem arises because people have unlimited wants but resources are limited. Because of scarcity, various economic decisions must be made to allocate resources efficiently. When we talk of scarcity within an economic context, it refers to limited resources, not a lack of riches. These resources are the inputs of production: land, labor and capital. People must make choices between different items because the resources necessary to fulfill their wants are limited. These decisions are made by giving up (trading off) one want to satisfy another.
Talent management uses training and development. Talent management looks to identify and retain talent. Family businesses need to manage the talent they have and install simple robust systems to link performance management, objective metrics, and strategic alignment.
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