Five ways to nurture talent

Value people: When people feel included, motivated and empowered, and know their contributions are valued, we see passion and commitment in their work. Have good internal communication and feedback processes. Make decision-making participative and create opportunities for people to grow.  

Full potential: Allowing people to take up challenging assignments shows faith in their abilities and gives them the opportunity to stretch themselves. Employees should be encouraged to work on cross-functional assignments, allowing them to build diverse skill sets. By exploring more avenues, people find new areas of interest and bring fresh perspectives and energy to the business.  For instance, an overseas secondment exposes them to new cultures, working styles and gives global exposure. 

Engage and empower: Successful people are a sign of successful organisations. Provide your employees with the best possible working environment — be it technology tools, a good team, mentors, training programmes or simply the freedom to come up with creative solutions and implement them. Guide them, so they learn from their mistakes. This will equip them to take on bigger challenges in the long run and deliver beyond expectations. 

Nurture talent: Understand who your key talent is at various levels, and the level of engagement. Ensure that the right steps are being taken to retain and nurture them to keep the talent pipeline flowing. The challenge is to ensure the right people are in the right place so they are motivated. Have a performance, coaching and development programme for each individual. Also, acknowledging and rewarding those who mentor and coach others sets in motion a culture for this to continue. 

Develop future leaders: Identify young, dynamic individuals who are self-driven and willing to shoulder more responsibilities. Also, help them hone their leadership skills and build the emotional intelligence that makes a ‘good leader’. Have platforms where these employees get the opportunity to give their recommendations on live issues. These suggestions should be considered by the leadership team and communicated back to give an insight into why the leadership took the decisions it did. This should take them a step or two higher in their transition towards ‘hard’ leadership skills.