BY BUILDING ON THE NATURAL TALENTS OF YOUR TEAM

Millions have been spent by companies on training and developing their employees to increase skill levels, improve effectiveness and encourage innovation.  In order to achieve the very best return on the money and time invested in training, leaders must firstly, be clear on what the natural talents of their employees are… that is, they must know the strengths each team member brings to their role in the organisation.

And then consider… how to best build on those natural talents to further enhance the business performance?

Lifting an ability to perform a task from low to medium will increase productivity, but lifting an ability to perform a task from naturally good to great will have a far greater impact.  This is how the successful businesses go about maximising their return on investment in training and development.

Team performance assessments generally identify and highlight weaknesses and then the training and development programs are focused on those weaknesses.  Yes, the skills and abilities of team members may improve incrementally, however, not everyone will excel at a particular task, regardless of the training and effort invested.  Those people who achieve high levels of excellence in a given task do so because they are naturally inclined to perform the task at a high standard in the first place.

Businesses that want to boost productivity and innovation must help their employees apply their natural abilities on a day to day basis.

Leaders who have developed organisational cultures which support a strength-based approach to employee development have reaped the rewards.

How well are you leveraging off the strengths of your team…

• Do you have the systems in place to identify the attributes exhibited by your best performers – those talents or strengths which have contributed to their success?
• Does your system enable you integrate this knowledge into your HR plan, career development and recruitment process so that you have the right people with the right talents in the right roles in your organisation.
• Can you readily identify which employee has the requisite talent to excel at a particular task?
• Do the tasks in the job description match the strengths of the incumbent in the role?
• Are you providing your star employees with the opportunities and tools to grow in their roles – to go from good to great?

Training and developing the right people for the right roles is far more productive than training the wrong people for the wrong job.

And what’s more… the passion index is so much higher when people are using their natural talents – they are more engaged and committed.  Very different to struggling daily with a task which they find difficult and unrewarding.

Change the focus – identify your individual team members’ natural strengths and build on those.  It is a different mindset which creates a more positive culture – a culture that celebrates natural talents rather than focusing on apparent weaknesses.

At Opening Gates, our TEAM COLLABORATIVE and PRODUCTIVITY by DESIGN workshops provide the training tools and concepts required to increase productivity and profitability by leveraging off the talent you already have in your team.