Alison Tansey on talent development
Our Head Of Training , Andrew Finlay, talked with Alison Tansey, Former Leadership Development Specialist , Co-Founder Simply Brilliance, HR and L&D providers.
INVESTING IN TALENT DEVELOPMENT
The need to have the best people on board is absolutely imperative. Our talent deliver a disproportionate amount of value so we need to be sure that we look after them and give them everything that they need on an ongoing basis, keep them forward thinking, and keep them future facing. It’s an absolute no-brainer that we keep our best people.
TALENT STRATEGY
Every individual within our top talent has a talent coach that they’re paired with. They then have really deep conversations about what type of development and what development journey would really work for that individual.
So rather than being a quick let’s get a load of development and learning thrown to this individual, some of which may stick let’s understand what great looks like, let’s understand where you want to go, let’s understand your starting point,.
COHORT APPROACH TO TALENT DEVELOPMENT
What we did do to create a little bit more of a cohort feel for individuals is we introduced a couple of what we called ‘Go Large’ events.
We went out and brought in some amazing thinkers. We approached authors or professors from business schools or whoever was actually doing the best stuff at that time around those topics. We would then bring them in and we would put on a kind of mini conference for those in the talent pools. It also gave the opportunity for everyone to meet each other and network over lunch.
MEASURES FOR SUCCESS
We don’t necessarily look at the retention figures per se. But what we do tend to do is check in with the talent coaches and the individuals for that qualitative feedback.
About 80% of these individuals are in action learning groups – we have a window into their world every eight weeks how they’re getting on, what’s working for them, what are their biggest challenges.
PARTNERING WITH THE METHOD
I personally really like the message. It’s a really fresh way of approaching behavioural development.
Really simple but the impact is really, really strong and really powerful.
When I was looking at solutions that are out there, I was really looking for something a little bit different because I personally didn’t believe that sitting in the classroom for eight hours learning theoretically was actually going to deliver the value that it needed. You actually need to get up and have a go.
Knowing that participants are going to get a good, solid, high quality experience where they’re on their feet and they’re putting themselves out of their comfort zone and they’re seeing results before they leave is really important.
FEEDBACK
Our participants have really enjoyed The Method sessions. They’ve done what they’ve learned. Because it is so simple, you can remember it very easily. And because you’ve had a go, it’s there, it’s in your muscle memory, so you do use it.
So yes, our people have been using it, they thought it was great because it just works.
