5 Basic Rules to Identify Next Level Talent
Knowing what to look for, leaders should find it easier to detect real talent. Discovering talented individuals and engaging them in your mission is the most important decision you will make for your business to be successful.
The signs of talent are there for anyone to see. All it takes is openness to see, objectivity, willingness to engage, and motivation to succeed. Hiring managers should listen carefully when interviewing candidates, looking out and being open to the nuances of what potential hires demonstrate, and their reasons for wanting to contribute to your business mission. Once such talent is on board, leaders should take care of and guide these individuals, ensuring that they remain retainable team players.
True talent, aligned with leadership, is the only key to move your business forward on the path to long-term success. This is the most important business rule of all.
Real talent is universal because it is observable and undeniable. Since there is a demand for real talent, it also has a price. Real talent is inventive and never stops learning in order to command that price.
But what makes real talent what it is, what it can do, and why it is so desirable? The answer lies in the following five fundamental qualities that real talent brings to the table.
- Real talent is observable. For first and foremost true talent is observable by everyone. Such individuals exhibit consistent reliability upon which their audience depend on. Everyone who interacts with talented individuals, is a witness to the same great performance. Real talent assumes responsibilities and delivers what it is promised every time and all the time. The outcome is predictable: stellar performance, timely completion, and removal of all barriers.
- Real talent has a demand. These people are in high demand because they are extremely competent in a variety of abilities and skills. They seek opportunities for rapid growth, both laterally and upward. They do not shirk responsibility and will even welcome more challenges by which to enhance their skills to garner more accountability.
- Real talent has a price. The cost for real talent is reflected in premium rewards. But the price also involves leadership awareness of their performance and their demands, a responsive leadership culture, and a willingness to listen to continuous improvements.
- Real talent is creative. Genuine talent relentlessly looks for creative ways to refresh and revitalize itself. Such talent seeks to develop and offer solutions to address any challenging situation.
- Real talent does not stop learning. Knowing one’s skills and abilities is not a dead end. In fact, talented people are always eager to learn new things, new ways of being and doing. As many such individuals gain multiple skills, they seek self-awareness, knowledge, development, competence, and experience in various domains — thereby exposing themselves to a diverse and challenging pool problems and solutions.
The Bottom Line
The right people will be in place because they are the only ones with the ability to perform the best job, thanks to their unquestionable capabilities, deep knowledge, broad experience, willingness to adapt, and flexibility to change course if there is a need. They will work willingly, because they want do, not because they are required to do. Businesses that are able to identify, attract, care, develop, and retain this new breed of talent — the “right” individuals — will successfully evolve, grow, and thrive in many years to come.
