Every team member brings value to the table. Some team members are more tech savvy than others. Some are better at handling conflict than others. Some are better at problem solving. Some have a wide range of experiences, and on and on. Different talents cut across the generational spectrum. For example, while I’m no “whiz kid” when it comes to technology, I’ve met many far younger who are not as tech savvy as I am. Some younger people may have more experience at customer service than someone older. So let’s clear the table about what generation is better at one thing or the other.
What team members should have are shared values and commitment to the goal and to one another. What this article addresses are the specific, useable talents that can be put to use to enhance the bottom line, increase employee engagement, and help your employees have meaningful work. Let’s look at a few examples.
Let’s say you want to build a team or special task force to seek out future trends. You want them to do research, collect the data, and present it to the executive team or even the Board. What talents and attributes will these team members require for this type of task? Here are a few ideas of the type of people to select…
- Forward looking and future oriented people
- People who want to be part of meetings on future planning
- People who want to be part of a team exploring future investments for the organization
- Team members who have a good score on futuristic thinking, if giving assessments to find these talents.
- Those who can see the big picture
Or, let’s say you have a project you want to conduct research for a project that requires a high degree of accuracy and follows strict protocols. You will need talent who…
- Ensure that all data is accurate and compliant with external and internal standards in order to protect the organization
- Make accurate decisions
- Use a precise, analytical approach to work tasks
- Follow policies and procedures
- Are orderly and systematic
- Comply to high standards
- Who have a high sense of ROI
Or, maybe you lead a non-profit that relies on donations and want to connect more with the business community for support and volunteers. Maybe you’re the CEO of an organization that is trying to promote its unique brand or a new product. You want to get the word out and one of the best ways to do that is through public speaking. To leverage the audiences you reach you can create an in-house speakers bureau. So find the people in your organization who…
- Will positively promote the image of the organization
- Have good presentation skills
- Are persuasive
If finding these team members seems like a tall order, here are some tips to make the job easier.
If you use hiring assessments, then it is a simple matter to extract data from them and create a database of talents skills, attributes, and interests. Other places to obtain this information is at review time, simply having a weekly conversations with team members, or through surveys.
This type of data is easily managed and it can come in useful for many important organizational business goals such as change management. Tapping into the talent of your teams allow you to build a plan around their capabilities to enhance the bottom line, improve employee engagement, increase productivity, and improve customer satisfaction.
Thank you for reading this blog. If you would like ideas on how to tap into the talent of your teams, email diane@performstrat.com, call 404-320-7834, or visit www.perforstrat.com.
