TURNING TALENTS INTO PERFORMANCE DEMAND THAT EMPLOYEES MUST BE CAST IN THE RIGHT ROLES THAT RESONATE TO THEIR TALENTS. IN ESSENCE, THE MANAGER GETS THEM TO DO WHAT THEY ARE MENTALLY AND EMOTIONALLY WIRED TO DO.
A great manager’s attention is trained on the strengths of her people, while she manages around their weaknesses. To start turning talents into performance, she helps her people to cultivate their talents rather than trying to fix their weaknesses, and she accomplishes this by casting them in roles that complement their talents. This leaning is based on a key insight that each person is tuned to a unique set of talents, a unique recurring pattern of thinking, of behaviour, of passions, that can be harnessed productively, and that this distinct pattern of talents is enduring and resistant to change.
It is routine for great managers to be up to date with a detailed description of the unique talents of each of their people – what motivates them, their unique thought processes and their style of building relationships. This is in a bid to help them maximise performance on their uniqueness. They are deliberate in finding something to like about their people. That something could be a sense of humour, patience, strong family orientation or a high quotient of self-management, being calm and constructive under pressure. Highlighting the strengths of their people is a way of showing respect to them and helping them to achieve their goals. Turning talents into performance demand that employees must be cast in the right roles that resonate to their talents. In essence, the manager gets them to do what they are mentally and emotionally wired to do. The risk of letting in mediocre performance arises if employees talents are not put at the top of the casting checklist. Thus, the aggressive ego-driven salesperson should be steered towards an area in need of the fire of enthusiasm and drive, while the relationship-building salesperson is good for a territory that needs careful nurturing.
Each employee will demand and expect different things from her manager because people have their individual, unique way of perceiving and interpreting the world around them. Some crave public praise while others prefer a private word of thanks. There are also those who want to be checked upon daily as against those who want to be left alone. Many may also be motivated to compete with themselves instead of competing with others. The effective manager codifies the varied psychological dimensions of her employees and leans on them to treat them, each according to his or her needs, within a framework of clear standards of behaviour and rules. To get needed information, they do not hesitate to ask their employees about their personal goals and other pertinent inclinations like how they learn and build relationships, how they desire help or support, praise, recognition and motivation.
