The Essential Guide to Managing Talent January 03, 2008 How Top Companies Recruit, Train, and Retain the Best Employees (By Kaye Thorne and Andy Pellant, Kogan, Page, 191 pages, $35)
By Melissa F. Thompson
Overall Rating: 3 Stars
"Real talent development is about playing to everyone's strength."
Talented people are highly recruited by organizations but often are difficult to engage or retain. Organizations have convinced themselves that talent management is achieved by creating a system that defines the steps required or outlines a process. However, research shows that talent development and retention only happens when an organization's culture is created based on shared values and beliefs of both the individual and the organization, resulting in emotional engagement of the employee and leadership demonstration of its commitment.
In their latest book, "The Essential Guide to Managing Talent," authors Thorne and Pellant identify issues surrounding talent development and provide case studies and models that offer examples of how to develop and apply a talent development process that emphasizes playing to everyone's strengths, championing diversity, and encouraging creativity and innovation. The authors state that while talented people are different, they are not necessarily difficult to manage, and that organizations can, with the application of these commonsense strategies, make significant changes that will fulfill the achievements and ambitions of not only the individual but also of the organization.
The book is well written and presented in a logical sequence; however, the authors recognize that talented people can be unconventional and have designed the book to be used to suit personal style of learning and can be read from any point. So go ahead, read, and learn how to create an environment where talent isn’t the exception to the rule, but the norm.
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