Helping Line Managers become successful Talent Managers...

It’s unfortunate that sometimes the things we’re good at are not always the things we most enjoy. When we run our Talent Manager programmes, one of the most common strengths many people tell us that they are good at, but find drains them is that of nurturing – taking time to patiently support people, to listen and to show others appreciation and to develop them.

It’s common as a manager to have people in your team who are completely clueless when it comes to thinking about their careers. And most career conversations fail because people want advice – but they don’t know where they are going.

Really the title says it all – do you really need us to blog on this?! The problem with lots of development is that it’s too general. Think about how you feel when you’re given woolly feedback. If you aren’t really clear about what you need to do, how can you action it?

This is a theme we’ll turn to again in this blog, but what is the point of thinking about talent if it’s not to nurture and develop that talent? The first priority is to create a fertile learning environment in your team.

There is a whole cottage industry around helping managers to have “difficult conversations”. Lots of people, and lots of L&D managers in particular, end up pre-occupied with helping managers get better at holding difficult conversations – but not many stop to consider why they’re difficult in the first place.