Last week, we introduced or reintroduced you to the variety show plate spinner. It may have struck a chord as you evaluate your daily routine of juggling priorities and challenges to run your business. It is not easy to view yourself in that situation, but if you are ruthlessly honest with your operating style, you might just have to admit you too have lots of plates spinning, some of which are wobbling out of control.
One specific area where we introduced this concept to some of our business owner clients was talent planning, recruiting, development, and, yes, proper alignment. Recalling the demand on the plate spinner, having to constantly put energy back into each spinning plate to keep it spinning. The more plates in the air, the greater the dispersion of focus becomes. This is the variety-show level of talent investment in some organizations. They move from one person to the next, trying to keep them busy and only diverting attention from the best talent in the business.
Ask any leader, and their number one challenge is attracting, keeping, and getting talent to contribute to the success of the business. A few leaders have even gone so far as to say that investment in talent recruitment exceeds investment in attracting new customers. Notably, these organizations already have significant advantages. They have an outstanding culture, strong team synergy, and many of the other attributes employees value. Even in top-tier best-practice businesses, talent can sometimes be the organization’s Achilles’ heel.
When leaders pause and look at their talent team, they can begin mentally spinning plates. They see a need to invest in this or that person, so they start the spinning process. The challenge is that they start spinning, while the person receiving the investment is not equally involved in the effort. The organization provides energy, time, and resources, yet the individual makes little to no contribution to keeping the plate spinning. It is left to the organization to spin the plate. Ownership of growth and development must be shared by both the organization and the talent being invested in.
An organization has a key responsibility to identify, invest in, and develop talent to enable them to contribute at their best level. Members of the talent team have an equal obligation to respond by investing their energy and contribution back into the business. Neither the organization nor the team can ultimately succeed if plate-spinning is not a shared, appreciated responsibility.
This week, it is time to stop being a plate spinner of projects, challenges, or talent growth. Be strategic about the priorities you invest energy in. Problems and challenges will always exist, but if you grow your talent team and allow them to have ownership of their development, you will either help them keep their own plates spinning in control, or they will self-select themselves off the team.
Have a need to identify your best investments for talent development? Reach out to a Promise Guide at JKL Associates for a conversation – FL (407) 984-7246 or MI (313) 527-7945
Journey On!
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