Invest in your talent

So, we’ve been having a few discussions recently about the kind of work we do… Someone called us “trainers” the other day, which is interesting, because we don’t see ourselves in that way at all. We actually see ourselves as experts in performance and that got us thinking. It’s pretty clear to us that most of the people we come into contact with through our work are already very good at what they do.

Their track records show us that and their continued existence within their chosen areas of work pay testament to the fact that they know the proverbial from their elbow. Bringing in “trainers” for these kind of expert performers suggests that there’s some fundamental things that they don’t know about… and the evidence just doesn’t support that. Now, we’re all for making sure that fundamentals are constantly worked upon, but that’s a mindset thing and is diamond polishing, rather than mining for the things in the first place.

We know people have invested huge amounts of time, effort and money getting the right talent into their business, so rather than training, their challenge is to actually get maximum return on the performance of that talent. By investing in your talent in such tough economic times, the maximisation of talent is even more critical… so therefore as experts in performance we’d recommend right now to cut all of your “training” budgets;it’s absolutely the right thing to do.

Instead, your investment should be in performing and ensuring that you have the knowledge and mindset to consistently get the most out of the talent that is already present within your business. Helping people realise their talent, so that they can realise their talent in the current environment should be everyone’s key concern. How well equipped are you to help your people realise their talent for the challenges in front of them.

Stop training, start performing and make sure you invest in the right things when your return on that investment is more important than ever.