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Linchpin Talent: Your Competitive Advantage

Written by: Sandy Blaha

Article Overview: you should be able to provide an answer to these important questions ... • What is the success profile of leaders that excel in your company? Will the future be different? How should that success profile change? • What are the styles and strengths of your key individuals? Do they know where they fit into the future of your company? • Have you identified the leadership roles that will be vacated in the next five to ten years? • Do you know what gaps exist in the capabilities of your staff? • Do you have enough people in your future top talent pool? • Do your leaders possess the foresight, flexibility and adaptability to lead when the market changes?

Linchpin Talent: Your Competitive Advantage

In today’s business environment, you need to quickly cull and grow your high performers. Your competitive advantage depends on it.

To retain your high performers you must also create a high performance business environment.

You need your retiring high performers to mentor their successors and relinquish authority for some tasks as your up and comers learn the ropes.

And you most likely have so much to do that while you know talent development probably provides a high return on investment this activity may never make it to the top of your list.

You can’t afford to avoid this issue any longer.
 There is increased pressure to perform as globalization and cheaper overseas labor trims profit margins.
 Through the year 2015 there will be 30% less people in the 35-44 year old age group.
 The foundation of your company’s competitive advantage is your high performer leadership pipeline .
 The number of students entering the A/E profession is on the decline.
 A workplace brand differentiates you in the marketplace. To attract and retain great talent your workplace brand must be aligned with your business strategy.

Identify your linchpin talent positions and your high performance individuals. Then begin a development process with each individual that spans 3-12 months during which you:
 Define linchpin positions and develop the success profile and competencies for those positions
 Identify you’re A Players
 Develop individual
o Professional development plans and performance goals that align with targeted linchpin opportunities and success competencies
o Leader-manager style assessment
o Emotional intelligence survey, coaching and development plan
o Best fit role analysis: business leaders, entrepreneurs, visionaries, project managers, mentors, sales leaders
o Training and coaching plan to address weaknesses such as communication, conflict, business skills and empowerment-accountability-authority transfer
o 360 reviews (as needed)
o Assign action learning assignments
o Leadership Mindset™ training
 Make recommendations for coordination of development plans and resource allocation with company strategy, human resource policy and succession need
 Review and recommend performance compensation programs
 Interface with supervisors and teams, follow on evaluation, support and action learning assignments

By using a linchpin talent development approach your high potentials will advance quickly and vigorously, owning their own opportunities as they see how they fit into your firm’s future and have a clear achievement pathway. You will discover a lot about which of your high potentials deserve your immediate investment and will provide the highest return. You will also learn a lot more about promotion and hiring for competitive advantage.

Don’t let these career derailers keep your key personnel from helping your firm grow and succeed:
• Does not build or leverage peer relationships, not a team player
• Cannot execute through others, does not develop other leaders
• Stops growing, not open to feedback and lacks introspection
• Ego gets in the way, being right and going it alone
Research from the Center for Creative Leadership

There is documented evidence of high return on investment from using just one of the processes I’ve listed above. The EQi, emotional intelligence survey and development plan has produced these powerful results:
• The US Air Force saves three million annually by using the EQi. It has increased their ability to predict successful recruiters three fold.
• A multi-national consulting firm targeted the success profile of their high achievers and found that their high achievers delivered $1.2 million more profit from their accounts than their average performing counterparts.
• An analysis of three hundred top level executives from fifteen global companies showed that six emotional competencies distinguished stars from the average performers: influence, team leadership, organizational awareness, self confidence, achievement drive and leadership.
• Optimism is an emotional competence that leads to increased productivity.
• For 515 senior executives in a research study, emotional intelligence was a better predictor of success than either relevant previous experience or high IQ.

To find out more, contact us for talent assessments that will help you identify your top performers. Contact us at 260-6480 or sb@sandyblahaperformanceconsulting.com, or on the Web at www.sandyblahaperformanceconsulting.com.

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  Competitive Advantage vs. Your Business Model
  Enough Leadership Already!
  Most of the Time Talent's Not Enough
  What Are You Waiting For? The Time is Now: Claim Your Talent Advantage

Article Tags: best fit, business environment, business leaders, business skills, business strategy, comers, competencies, competitive advantage, emotional intelligence, intelligence survey, performance business, performance goals, performance individuals, professional development plans, profit margins, project managers, return on investment, style assessment, success profile, visionaries



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