Everyone Deserves a Right Place in The Squad
It’s been a year since I employed myself in a small-private-company, help producing working codes. Well, I’m not a developer (right now). Rather most of the time, I hire and (try to) manage them, as well as other jobs: designers, salespersons, even the CFO or other executives.
The term “Human Resource & Development” may be suited well, but you know, I don’t like anything usual. I’d like to say “Talent Management”, much better, a bit fancy, but not too much.
Just as it is labeled, I deal with talents, with different kinds of specialities. Still, we aren’t a big company (yet) but yes I do have to manage them, even in a small number.
The Talents
The talents— which I rather say “working partners” rather than “employees” — are not merely a tool for the company, instead they are the greatest assets. Thus it’s critical of how we managed to obtain and maintain them.
The problem is, dealing with talents is never easy, especially if you have very limited resources to offer, surely there won’t be many options.
Let’s Meet The Potentialist
From my experiences, it is not that hard to see potential in someone. Just by screening at their CV/resume for example, or their performance — and personality — during their first or two months on board, you can sense them as a potentialist, already.
Suppose that we have a working partner. Given him a-week-long task, he nails it in 3 hours. Now we spot a potentialist, in terms of how expert he is in his domain or may be how productive he is.
Or, we have one that is willing to communicate often about what things can be improved, and what things we should stop doing, if we — as a company — want to catch up even more opportunities, to grow or to achieve more goals.
For me, she is also a potentialist, in terms of her very-openness to any evaluations, opportunities and ideas.
Else, that kind of person who brings so much joy and the excitement for the team, making the working environment as fun as a playing ground.
We like this one, no doubt.
So here we have different kinds of potentialist, or maybe just a bunch of their examples.
Indeed they are great additions for the company, which is a good thing. But wait, it’s usually not a freebie.
Good work ain’t cheap, cheap work ain’t good.
Well not always, but nearly true, right?
Every Potentialist Has Their Own Needs
Most of the time, to retain is harder than to obtain. And in this case, how we deal with every potentialist we already have is a real-work to do.
As we already know, there are many kinds of potentialist out there, and each of them is different.
Let’s say the “expert” one. In my experience, that kind of person usually prefer challenges to exploit most of his potentials. If we fail to give him the suitable challenge, then most likely we will waste their expertise.
While the “open” people usually prefer stronger engagement since she needs to speak up her ideas or take feedback frequently from their peers or mentors. Fail to create an adequate level of engagement will kill her potential.
Another example, that “so-so” person which is not too productive or not too open about something, just typically an average guy. Wait, what is prospective about that mediocre person?
As I see it, an average guy generally doesn’t do much things, however, he doesn’t demand too much. And at Talent Management perspective, that is also a potentialist.
Well, in the end, it is all about balance. It really doesn’t make sense if every single people in the company is eventually a CEO potentialist. I just can’t imagine.
Hence if we take a closer look, everyone is actually a potentialist. The question: Are you put your winger on the right side?
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
You Will Get What You Deserve
The more you give, the more you will receive. And if you have options to offer — more salary, engagements, flexibility, benefits, stock ownership or equity, etc — then you will possibly increase the chance to obtain and retain a greater potentialist.
Eventually, everyone will get what they deserve. So there will come a time that someone scouts their talents and willing to offer them better, sometimes regarding their needs.
And when the time has come, you have two options left: compensate what they deserve, or just say goodbye.
