Every so often, along comes a superstar. Michael Phelps, Usain Bolt, Simone Biles to mention a few. They capture the heart of the nation, and the world, as they dazzle us with their speed and skill. Eventually they fade out when they get old – about 35 – and we sit around waiting for the next one.
But that’s the problem with superstars, they’re unpredictable. We can’t plan for them, nor can we retain them. They work to their own timetable. Retention planning is useless.
Twenty years ago, Team GB relied on superstars to represent Britain in the Olympics. It wasn’t a great strategy. At the Atlanta games in 1996, Britain won just a solitary gold. The superstars were taking a long break, it seems.
Talent Management
But that humiliating experience taught Team GB the importance of a sustainable talent management process. They knew the talent was there, they just weren’t managing it correctly. So they developed a plan for talent. They built a process that recognized the star in everyone and gave them what they needed to shine. It was so successful they can now feed new talent into the process with predictable results.
- Superstars are unpredictable.
- A talent management process delivers success that’s entirely predictable.
And Team GB proved they were right by winning more medals in Rio in 2016 than they won in their home town of London in 2012!
Most Valuable Work is Done by Teams, not Individuals
Most business teams are built without a proven process. Managers hire talented individuals and toss them into their new team and then cross their fingers. They hope for incredible employee engagement, but without any sort of plan. They’re like gamblers who continue to believe in Lady Luck long after she’s left them shirtless at the gaming table. But teams made of individuals who don’t combine effectively will always fail.
Human Capital Management Has a New Science That Makes Success Predictable
But there are new methodologies in town that remove luck from the equation. Team success can be entirely predictable when you use a proven process. That’s what 1st-placed business teams are doing. They leave intuition for the 4th-placed and after.
Team GB learnt the hard way that team success won’t come when you wait for superstars. If you want predictable success across your business teams, get yourself a proven employee engagement methodology. Find out about Method Teaming. And start getting used to coming 1st.
