Talent identification and its impact on culture

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Talent identification and its impact on culture. In this episode Judith Germain speaks to Kristin Lytle about talent identification and its impact on organisational culture.

Key Takeaways

  • Self-awareness and self-regulation are critical skills for leaders to have. Leaders who can recognise when they are discombobulated and take a moment to re-center themselves before interacting with others have a huge impact.
  • Succession planning is still valuable but needs to focus more on developing talent pools rather than detailed individual plans, due to the speed of change today.
  • Trust is built when employees feel they can predict what an organisation will do – keeping commitments to develop and grow employees builds trust.
  • Catch people doing things right and help them see their own talents, don’t just focus on the gaps.

Topics:

Self-Awareness and Self-Regulation

Kristin shared the metaphor of the “recombobulation zone” at the Milwaukee airport – a place to regain your balance after the stress of airport security. They compared this to the need for leaders to recognises when they are discombobulated and take time to recenter before interacting with others, so as not to spread their frustration. Self-awareness and self-regulation are critical for leaders to minimise the variability of their moods and build trust.

Succession Planning

Judith questioned whether detailed long-term succession planning still makes sense given the speed of change today. Kristin suggested focusing on developing talent pools rather than detailed plans – giving the organisation options without over-committing to specifics. Some development, like training for required credentials, are “no fail” investments since those skills will be needed.

Building Trust

Kristin shared that her husband defined trust as being able to predict what someone will do. Employees trust leaders and organisations that keep their commitments to develop and grow people. When trust is low, employees take actions like having multiple jobs to self-insure.

Developing Talent

It’s important to catch people doing things right and help them see their own talents, rather than just focusing on gaps. Leaders often paint themselves positively and forget they had help along the way.

In this conversation Kristin explains that identifying talent is just the first step – leaders must support and invest in identified talent, even through mistakes, otherwise potential goes wasted. Judith agreed large companies often narrowly define roles instead of developing diverse potential.

They agree that an organisation’s culture reflects the behaviours it rewards – if problematic actions are tolerated, that sets the standard. Predictability and trust come from following through on commitments.

Kristin Lytle is the CEO of Leaders Edge. She is on a mission to help companies and individuals unlock the full potential of their talent.


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How Influential Are you? Take the scorecard at amplifyyourinfluence.scoreapp.com and see. 

Kristin Lytle can be found on LinkedIn here. Her website is here.

You can listen to Episode 409 on any of the popular podcast platforms or apps (including Spotify, and Audible). If you prefer to listen to your browser you can do that below. Enjoy!

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Editor
Maverick Paradox Media is for the pathologically curious who seek to learn from lateral thinkers, including how to execute maverick thinking. We provide a Maverick perspective on the world arounds us. ๐Ÿ’ข I am the leading authority on ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ and Founder of Maverick Paradox Media. It is because I am passionate about demonstrating that Maverick Leadership exists everywhere and understand that we can all learn from diverse and differing voices that I founded Maverick Paradox Media. Maverick Paradox reaches thousands of leaders and business owners, empowering and inspiring them to think differently, challenge often and increase their leadership capability. ๐Ÿ’ข Maverick Paradox Media consists of: โœ… The Maverick Paradox Podcast (on all popular podcast platforms/apps โ€“ available episodes here: https://www.maverickparadox.co.uk/maverick-paradox-podcast-available-episodes/) โœ… The Maverick Paradox Magazine I also write for The Maverick Paradox Magazine and you can find those articles under my name Judith Germain.