Summary
This article looks at talent development through five talent development principles, which we
will discuss more extensively in this article:
1. A crystal clear talent policy requires careful deliberation on the scope of talent
development. Research shows that clearly targeted TD approaches (on high potentials or
out-performers) work best for the short term (2-5 years). TD approaches that regard the
entire organisation as the existing talent pool reap the highest business benefits in the
longer run.
2. The strongest talent development programs are the result of a coherent organisational
talent management effort: from strategic resource planning, to recruitment and
assessment, pipelining, career planning, career development, engagement, mentoring
and coaching and (last but not least) learning and development.
3. The range of corporate challenges that could potentially underpin talent development
may be highly diverse. Strong TD efforts are not only aware of the corporate challenges,
but build their TD programs around them: if only because talents demand this foresight.
4. Mentoring is one way for talent to develop, benefiting from a one-on-one relationship with
a more experienced leader or professional outside their chain of command. The ultimate
goal being to enhance the talent’s organisational ‘‘know-how’’ and business insight and to
accelerate their development.
5. Talents often feel under-utilised in their tasks and assignments, primarily due to the fact
that their daily activities claim all available time, effort and energy. Talents may offer their
companies a huge and largely untapped cognitive surplus (Shirky, 2010) that could aid
organisational development.