Talents: When Changes Make You Go "Huh?"

It's a win for everyone when you find the kind of organization in which your talents can flourish.

But we live in a working-world filled with changes:

1. A CEO may decide it's more profitable to become a manufacturing-focused company than a sales & marketing-driven organization.

2. Mergers and acquisitions create new cultures. New cultures lead to new values and priorities.

3. Customers change their technology, causing your company to change it's tech service response.

4. Downsizing. Fewer people, more responsibilities for those remaining.

What Happened to the Talent?

I've watched each of the above grow into a crisis of confidence for employees and employers:

• Mysteriously, you don't feel as talented and capable as before.

• At the same time, the organization is wondering where it's talented people went.

Fact: no one suddenly got stupid!

Second fact: Something else will now need to change.

You or Them?

When you were hired it was a good fit because of how business was conducted. Now it doesn't seem that way. Here are some considerations when companies and employees find themselves in a talent mismatch as a result of changes:

1. Companies: Take time to assess the breadth of talent that exists in your employee base. You may not have been using the range of talents that individuals possess because you (naturally) hired on a given set of criteria.

Real-life example: In the past few years I've had the opportunity to assess three executives who were on the "We've changed, their role isn't needed, I guess they have to go even though they've been really effective" list. In two of the three cases a broader assessment showed that they were gifted in areas that hadn't been tapped before. Those two remain with their organizations in new roles and are contributing meaningfully and productively.

2. Individuals. Maybe it isn't such a good fit.The faster you figure out the reality of the situation the faster you can make a decision to stay or look elsewhere.

Bonus tip: The longer you hang out in a mismatch the more you will question your adequacy. So, knock it off! You are talented and you've been performing in a talented way. The situation changed, not you. Get yourself into another winning situation before you conclude that the problem is you.

A Final Thought

Our educational and career counseling entities need to become very deliberate in painting an accurate picture  of "careers."

My take is that the approach is still, "What will you do when you grow up?", the assumption being that one will "become something" and "do it at a company" for a lifetime. The reality is that a person needs to find out their range of talents and prepare for a series of long-term projects in multiple places vs. lifetime employment.

Building awareness of talents, project orientation, and transitions would go a long way in offering genuine help in accurately preparing young people for the future.

What do you think?

Comments

[Robyn McIntyre]

Steve, I found your recommendation about careers to be a good reminder to myself. My way of working didn't fit into what was considered typical, so I figured I must be doing it wrong. It wasn't until this year that I realized I might never have a steady job description like "lawyer" or "accountant", but I would always be true to finding work that allowed me to use my talents and interests without compromising my values. There's no short description for what I do, which makes marketing myself difficult, but except for short periods of temporary work, I've never held a job that didn't matter to me.

[Val]

Steve,

You make an excellent point. 14 years ago when I entered college, I took a test that supposedly woudl tell me what jobs I was best suited to do, and it said that my interests and skills were "least suited" to be an architect. Yet here I am now, a successful healthcare architect (I design hospitals and healthcare facilities). Evidently, that test had a pretty narrow idea of what an architect "is" or "does" or "likes to do." I also have noticed in the years since school that the skills that made me merely functional in college are extremely useful in my present position. For example, I wasn't the most fanciful designer (which often got rewarded with an A), but I was able to complete a wide range of drawings and models to describe my projects, and I was skilled at making all the required spaces fit into an attractive floor plan while meeting building and accessibility codes, which are two very useful skills for making hospitals useable and buildable. While we need to be realistic with the young folks entering the workforce about what their job and career generally entails, we also need to help them see how they can use the skills they have to work in their chosen field(s).

[Lisa Gates]

In mid-career I used to berate myself and lament that I never had a consistent job title. The closest I ever came was at the way beginning with the moniker "journalist." I think that when change happens before we're ready (and I've endured a passel of mergers, coups and downsizes), we're often emotionally identified with the title or our label. When we pedal back and gain some perspective (time heals all wounds) we are better able to see our multifaceted selves as valuable again.

The dilemma you so aptly present, Steve, is do we have the patience and maybe humility to adapt?

[Dan McCarthy]

Steve -
There’s so much being written out there on talent management, but it usually speaks from the organization’s perspective. I’ve really enjoyed the way you’ve addressed the issue from the individual’s eyes. Good advice for any stage of one’s career. Thanks.

[Steve Roesler]

Lisa,

Perhaps to really appreciate the dynamic were discussing, one must have lived and worked for a certain length of time:-)

Your addition of "patience and humility" will no doubt show up here again. Those two attributes are foundational to a peaceful life and serve one especially well in these situations.

BTW: I'm trying to figure out some kind of special recognition for the use of the word "passel."

[Steve Roesler]

Hello, Dan,

I appreciate you taking time to notice the different twist on the subject. Interestingly, it has actually emerged as a result of so much recent consulting inside of large organizations who are dealing with talent management, fewer managers, and the need to stay competitive at the same time.

When a company realizes that there may be "hidden" talent already there--and it's less expensive to find it than to automatically go outside--we get a chance to sit down and do some very thorough work with the individuals involved. This gives both the individual and the organization the depth of personal insight to make the right kind of move, whatever that may be.

[Steve Roesler]

Val,

That's one of the clearest and most vivid examples I've seen of the dynamics surrounding talent. I thank you for it and will move it from the comment section into a post shortly. It deserves to me a real-life model for those who are seeking healthier and more useful ways to look at the issue.