Talent Management Brief: See Through Talent from Different Angles Dec. 2015

The “Future of CIO” Blog has reached 1.1+million page views with about #2300+ blog posting in 59+ different categories of leadership, management, strategy, digitalization, change/talent, etc. blog posting. The content richness is not for its own sake, but to convey the vision and share the wisdom, to inspire critical thinking and spur healthy debates.

People are always the most invaluable asset in businesses. “Hiring the right person to the right position at the right time,” is the mantra of many forward-thinking organizations. The question is how would you define the right people? How do you define wrong, average, mediocre, good, great or extraordinary person? Or put simply, for what should they be right? Traditional Performance Management focusing on measuring what an employee does (mainly being told to do) in a quantitative way is not sufficient to identify high performance or high potential, should we see through talent from different angles?

See Through Talent from Different Angles (Part II)Three Questions to Assess a Person’s Profundity. At today’s “VUCA” digital dynamic, businesses become over-complex and hyper-competitive, the leadership bar has been raised, and employee professionalism is part of your business brand. So it is crucial to encourage deep thinking and it is also strategic imperative to bring wisdom in the workplace. The maturity of both individuals and an organization as a whole depends on how thoughtful they are - to make effective decisions or sound judgment; and how deep they can go - to gain the insight or cure the root cause of complex problems.Indeed, profundity is one of the crucial traits to differentiate average, mediocre, good, great or extraordinary person. But how to assess a person’s profundity via questioning.
Three Questions to Evaluate an Employee’s Potential.  Modern talent management is both the art and science. However, most of HR organizations still use static mechanisms to measure talent performance, mainly based on quantitative delivery, with ignorance of qualitative perspective, talent potential assessment, intangible culture effect, and lack of tailored solutions to reach the next level of HR maturity. So from talent management perspective, which questions should you ask to assess an employee’s potential?  And how to encourage employees to compete for uniqueness, instead of everything? From individual talent development perspective, how to discover who you are, and who you would like to be, hone your skill set and manage your career path more proactively? How to manage your energy and time more effectively? Improving your weakness vs. growing your strength, which one should you focus on?
Three Questions to Assess an Employee’s Dedication. People are always the most invaluable asset in businesses. “Hiring the right person to the right position at the right time,” is the mantra of many forward-thinking organizations. The question is how would you define the right people? How do you define wrong, average, mediocre, good, great or extraordinary person? Or put simply, for what should they be right? Dedication is one of the professional qualities often being ignored because we live in such a “disruptive” digital age full of signals and noises, accelerated changes and distractions, opportunities and temptations. Dedication is the quality of being dedicated or committed to a task or purpose. But how do you assess an employee’s dedication?
Three Questions to Evaluate a Person’s Confidence. People are always the most invaluable asset in organizations, talent managers are always hunting for the best and brightest, but often the best or the brightness need to be assessed via the qualitative lenses, rather than quantitative measurement. Confidence is such an attribute to make one look brighter than others, but where does confidence come from, and how do you present confident, not arrogant?
Three Questions to Assess a Person’s Influence.  Every human being will make influences on the surrounding via his/her aura which is the distinctive atmosphere or quality that seems to surround and be generated by a person, thing, or place. Influence is not only a critical leadership capability but also a quality every digital professional need to build because digital is the age of people, every person has a better opportunity to be a leader in his/her own domain. Here are the three questions to assess a person’s influence.Blogging is not about writing, but about thinking and innovating the new ideas; it’s not just about WHAT to say, but about WHY to say, and HOW to say it. It reflects the color and shade of your thought patterns, and it indicates the peaks and curves of your thinking waves. Unlike pure entertainment, quality and professional content takes time for digesting, contemplation and engaging, and therefore, it takes the time to attract the "hungry minds" and the "deep souls." It’s the journey to amplify diverse voices and deepen digital footprints, and it's the way to harness your innovative spirit.See Through Talent from Different Angle (Part I)Follow us at: @Pearl_Zhu