FUTURE TALENT November - January 2019/2020 | Page 23

FRONT OF HOUSE
TALENT
LIBERATOR
YOUR
ROLE AS
A
Talent liberation is all about underused resources,
according to consultant and author Dr Maggi Evans.
| Clare Grist Taylor
W
hat is talent? And what
do we really mean by
talent management?
These are the questions
that have been exercising Maggi
Evans. As a business consultant and
author, she feels frustrated that
we’re framing the talent debate too
narrowly, looking in the wrong
places and focusing on process
rather than purpose.
“My thinking has led me to
re-frame the way we look at talent,
starting from two key questions,”
she says. “Is talent as scarce as we
think it is? And, to what extent can
talent be developed?”
For Evans, talent liberation is all
about underused resources: talent
is not as scarce as we are led to
believe. We just need to look in
the right places and provide the
opportunities and encouragement
to give overlooked ‘raw material’
the chance to shine.
There’s a strong overlap with the
diversity agenda here. Evans quotes
the example of women doctors:
Elizabeth Garret Anderson was the
first woman in Britain to qualify as a
doctor in the 1860s, yet, by 1911, only
500 more women had joined her.
Today, more than 50% of doctors
are women. “It’s all to do with
opportunity,” she argues.
Two other talent-management
shibboleths are also challenged by
Evans’ thinking. First, the cult of
high-per forming individuals.
High-fliers cannot, alone, create
competitive advantage. A
comprehensive talent strategy
must look to the power of
teams and culture as well as
strong individuals. Traditional
approaches focus on the top right
of the quadrant below, while Evans
puts an emphasis on the top left.
Second, the dominance of
formal process: “When I talk to
people about what has made a
difference to their careers, no one
mentions ‘that really great appraisal
system’; it’s about being inspired by
a leader or mentor, or given the right
balance of opportunity, challenge
and support,” says Evans.
“Edward Lawler’s work on how
HR teams spend their time suggests
they’re still too bogged down with
admin and process. That’s the polar
TALENT CAN BE DEVELOPED
Personal best
Inclusive, everyone
has scope to
develop and
improve
High potential
Exclusive,
better than
others. Able
to develop
TALENT IS RARE
EVERYONE HAS TALENT
Personal strengths
Inclusive, the best
you can be.
Everyone has some
natural strength
Gifted
Exclusive, better
than others, stable.
Largely born
with it
TALENT IS STABLE
F
opposite of what CEOs want.
HR teams should be disruptors and
challengers, driving organisational
culture and looking to the future.”
Having identified the problem,
what does Evans see as the
solution? First , learning and
development should be
embedded into the everyday life
of organisations. “People want
learning opportunities every day,”
she says. “They like feedback; they
want to be asked for their input; to
be stretched. Learning, growing
and making a contribution are all
crucial in releasing the energy and
enthusiasm organisations need.”
So, all leaders need to take a
hard look at the role they can play
on the front line of talent liberation,
taking account of the potential of
freelancers, contractors and
others. To help, Evans has distilled
from her research the five habits
of great liberators:
1
2
3
4
5
 now your team members:
K
their strengths, weakness
and, crucially, their potential.
Act as a catalyst for growth,
always looking for ways
to develop and stretch
your people.
Give regular feedback
and ‘feedforward’.
 ook to the future, set
L
direction and help people to
see how they can contribute.
 ork in partnership, finding
W
the overlap between what
the organisation needs and
what people want.
T h e ke y w o rd h e re i s
partnership. Individuals must also
act as their own talent liberators.
“Creating the right talent climate
is like good delegation,” says
Evans. “Talent liberation is about
building agility, engagement and
capability. This can only be done
through a partnership between an
organisation and its people.”
Dr Maggi Evans is a consultant,
author and speaker. Her book,
From Talent Management to Talent
Liberation, will be published by
R o u t l e d g e i n D e c e m b e r.
talentliberation.com
November – January 2019 // 23