Talent Pipelines – developing leaders who can make change happen

  Given our counsil is to concentrate on the critical few who determine the direction and future of the business, then it seems unusual to also talk about a talent pipeline. But it’s a stream of talent that organizations need, not just a small pool at the top. We believe that talent is connected with leadership in most organizational definitions, and in ours, but that leadership does not miraculously appear just when the time is right. Talent needs to be grown in your organization, so the seeds need to be found and planted, nurtured, transplanted and fertilized at the right times in order to be strong examples  when its time to harvest.  

If you segment the  your talent pool in your organization , your developing leadership stream, then you can apply the right tactic at the right time, and thin out, transplant more in, add nutrients, or prune, as necessary to ensure healthy growth. This is not easy if all your efforts are applied at the senior level or just on the mid level high potentials.  In organizations we have worked with there seems to be at least four levels to consider. Entry level, usually graduate level talent, some form of high potentials, usually early management career post, executive successors, usually already high performance and experienced and ready for a big role, and then the ones most forget about the incumbents in the executive suite. You have not stopped being talent or stopped needing development or coaching just because you’ve reached the top of the hill. Think about your organization, does it have levels of talent, or just one definition? Does it think about developing leaders from entry or leave it to chance and serendipity?  Segmenting is not a magic wand, but it does focus you on the pipeline and not just the tap!! 

 The next tick in the box is to have some consistent processes, or approaches to all of the talent pools or segments, in this case, ( click on the picture to see it larger) you can see the three parallel processes are assessment, performance management and some form of coaching. In this way you can build a pipeline for the leadership of the buisness. No drips, just full flow leadership.