Become a Talent Talker!

Great people developers take an interest in others, they recognize that they didn’t get to where they are on their own, and they want to “pay forward” the time that others have invested in them. Helping others unlock their talent and potential is an enormously rewarding activity, and it doesn’t take very much time, just the right attitude. If you look back on your own career and recognize a talent talker in your past, you owe it to them to become one yourself. If you don’t see a talent talker in your past, you need to look harder, because no one can make it on their own.

Getting managers to have development conversations is one of the most important drivers of unlocking talent and potential in your organisation. This book, and the TalentTalker.com application, makes it easy for any manager to sit down and have a development conversation.

Those conversations can be about improving performance, managing a career, developing leadership skills or formulating and executing new business strategies. Talking connects people, people who feel connected are more engaged, engaged people deliver exceptional results.

Yolanda Lacoma, holds a Master’s degrees in Psychology and European Studies and a postgraduate course in Education. Prior to starting her consulting practice Yolanda was a professor at the University of Aberdeen, Scotland where she developed and delivered a variety of executive development programs. After moving to the United States in 1997, she founded PeopleTree Group and is currently the CEO.

Martin Sutherland is the Global Director of PeopleTree Talent Analytics International. He is a founder member of the company, launched in 1998. He has 23 years of professional consulting experience in the ICT, Energy and Power, Financial Services & Banking, Transport, Retail and Manufacturing sectors.

Development advice for the adaptive leader: Successful leaders find ways to adapt to any challenge, no matter how they are built. They do this by applying the R2 principle: Rethink, then React. Human beings have amazing adaptive capabilities, most of the constraints we face are self-imposed by the way we think or feel. There are common patterns of thinking and feeling that stop us from doing what is effective. By identifying these patterns and getting an opportunity to re-think (feel) them, we can see the world differently. By changing that perspective, we can then re-act differently, more effectively. You can find out which of these attributes are your strengths at www.youlabonline.com.