Talent Management: How to Build Successful Relationships

In this series of blog posts, I have introduced you to the general concepts of evidence-based processes and their application within the arenas of both employee recruitment and management development. Through the deployment of this approach, we have learned that one of the most important ways that employee retention can be improved is by building effective interdependent relationships between managers and their subordinates.

Building an effective interdependent relationship with anyone requires that you develop a proper understanding of what makes them tick. By following my blog, you can learn how to recognize personality types, motivations, and thinking styles in every individual with whom you interact. You will also learn how to separate these from the relationship you have with others and how to use this insight to improve you own performance both as an individual and as an employee. By encouraging other employees to read these blogs also, you will be able to improve talent management and retention throughout the organization within which you work.

The data generated through the use of the Talent Chaser Performance Appraisal module reveals that all too often the ineffective relationship between managers and their subordinates creates a barrier between them.

A study of real-life performance evaluation examples reveals what happens when this barrier is broken down:

• Managers are much more likely to hold their staff fully accountable
• Employee performance ratings improve
• Employee turnover rates reduce

Learning how to break through the relationship barrier is however not easy. To help you, I am introducing several cartoon characters designed to complement the subject matter of my blog posts.

These cartoon characters inhabit the imaginary planet Talanta. On Talanta, the nurturing of talent is given top priority. Everyone on Talanta has a personal mentor called a Talent Chaser whose job it is to ensure that each person makes the most of their talents and helps everyone they meet to also develop their talents. In this way, the entire Talanta population is focused on talent development and, not surprisingly, Talanta is, by far the most successful planet in the galaxy. Its inhabitants enjoy an exceptionally high standard of living and are the envy of those living on other planets.

Over the eons, this has resulted in a rather unusual genetic mutation in which the talents of each inhabitant are much more apparent than is the case here on Earth. All inhabitants clearly display their key traits in exaggerated facial structures.

Using this approach, I will not only introduce an element of humor (a concept I highly recommend when it comes to building relationships) but will also add clarity to the concepts that I will be covering.

I hope you like Talanta and, as you read my blogs, I would be grateful for all comments (positive and negative) and any suggestions you might have for future blog posts.

To get things started, I’d like to introduce you to the two types of inhabitants most predominant on Talanta:

Meet the Intrinsic Thinker

This is the type of individual who talks more than they listen and who has the capacity to come up with highly original ideas. Managed properly, employees with this style of thinking are the organization’s innovators. Because of his poor listening skills, this type of thinker frequently comes up with solutions to problems before they have all of the relevant facts.

As we will see, resolving this problem is fundamental not only to effective problem solving but also to the improvement of both operational performance and the introduction of effective employee retention programs.

Meet the Extrinsic Thinker

This type of individual listens more than they talk and who has the capacity to bring out the best in Intrinsic Thinkers. Integrated properly into the organizational structure, employees with this style of thinking become the organization’s collaborators. Because such thinkers are often change resistant however, care has to be taken with their management.

The proper integration and management of these two types of thinkers radically improves operational performance and employee turnover rates.

Much of what will be written in the blogs that follow will involve these two thinkers. Expect to see much, much more of both of them!

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Would you like to find out what type of Thinker you are? If so, click the button below for your free Performance Profile Test and Verbal Feedback Session!