Measuring talent in order to identify potentially strong leaders in companies is a growing trend. It is focused primarily on such factors as personality types, strengths and individual behavioural preferences. But there is a catch in it: all measurements are useless if employees are only divided into certain categories with possibilities for their further development left undefined.
Alan Watkins, an internationally recognised expert in the field of neuroscience, leadership and performance, writes about this in an interesting article on the HR Zone website. In addition to the long-term coaching of business leaders, he also coaches the British Olympic rowing team. "In fact these kinds of measurements imply that there is one set of strengths, or type of person, that makes a good leader, which simply isn’t true; each leader leads in their own way," Watkins explains. People are much more complex and, moreover, have a strong potential further to develop and change.
The problem of many measuring methods focused on talent for managing people is that they divide employees into certain groups based on current skills and behaviour, assuming they can't develop in another direction. If you really want to develop talents, you should choose a more development focused approach. The measuring tools you select should meet the following four conditions.
1. Business-related benefits
Employee development can be measured in various ways. The method you choose, however, must first and foremost be relevant to your organisation (in terms of physical, cognitive, emotional, value and other aspects of development).
2. Scientific evidence
Many methods of measuring talent and employee development are not based on expert evidence but only on excellent marketing. Objective measurement should be based on solid scientific research.
3. Differentiation in measurement
Beware of methods that measure different aspects of employee development simultaneously in an effort to simplify the process and save time. Each measurement should always be focused on just one clearly defined aspect so that you clearly know what is being measured.
4. Further development
The purpose of measuring in the field of talent and employee development is not only to measure but also further develop employees. Good methods assess current abilities of individuals and also define how the further development of their abilities should look.
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