Are you a talent scout?

Before the days of rock musicians and video stars, a talent was known as a unit of monetary value. Before the birth of Christ, the Hebrew silver talent was valued at 3,000 silver shekels in Jerusalem. Its value in Athens was slightly less. A silver talent was seldom seen because it weighed about

Over time, "talent" has come to imply the native ability of an individual to create specific results or achieve a unique blend of individuals. Talent is an innate ability that can be cultivated and improved. Recognizing talent today is a skill that varies dependent on who you are, what you need and where you look to find it.

Today, talent implies that we are talking about an entertainer or a sports celebrity. While in the public eye, they get paid a lot of money. Society values them -- for a time. The people who look for these emerging public figures are called scouts. They too can earn big bucks. There have been a number of famous talent scouts. Major Bowes, Arthur Godfrey, Ted Mack, Ed Sullivan and Ed McMahon on Star Search come quickly to mind when we think of the talent scouts who have historically introduced us to big name entertainers.

Professional sports teams also have a network of scouts. Their job is to locate and grade men and women who they feel have the potential to become stars. Once they identify a required talent, they attempt to get them under contract. Once signed, the talent is provided the best available teachers and coaches. Time for practice and learning is scheduled. The development of the talent's potential is carefully monitored. Winning teams field the best talent, that is talent that has learned to cooperatively apply its skills in a competitive team environment.

This type of talent scout is usually very clear about what they are seeking. It may be a great natural voice, grace and precision in performance, strength, reflexes or an "understanding of the game." But the rules of the game, tastes of the public, financial backers, competition, keep changing. This means that the job of talent scouts is in a constant state of flux.

But one aspect of talent scouting hasn't changed. It continues to be difficult, demanding work that requires the application of considerable good judgment. As managers, when we look for the talent we need to get our job done, are we very specific about our needs? Do we unconsciously make our talent hunt more difficult because our habits and bias cloud our judgment? Or do we keep our eyes open for likely talent wherever it may be?

What are the things that can get in the way when we try to find the best talent to do our work? Here are a few:

Standard 9 to 5 work hours

Five day workweek

Lack of on-site child care facility

Requirement for a college degree

Inadequate transportation to remote work sites

Inflexible work rules

Supervisory attitudes and behaviors

Experience requirements

Reward system that only recognizes sales and profits

Unfocused training programs

Unwillingness to consider people over 40

Discomfort with diversity.

Improvements and changes are coming, but they seem to be dreadfully slow to arrive. The four day week, job rotation, job sharing, flexible work hours, resident baby-sitter services, employee assistance programs, company car pools, conflict management courses, performance review processes and equal opportunity have been in the works for nearly 20 years. How do you rate your organization on the implementation of these, and other, efforts to find, develop and retain the talent you must have in today's competitive global economy? How do you rate yourself?

Recognize that you must deal with these limitations. To be successful in finding talent, you must create an action plan to investigate high potential sources of talent that exist in your community. There are three primary sources of talented people. The first source is educational institutions. Coaches and scouts attend high school sporting events. Do you attend debates, math contests and other competitive activities that showcase intellectual talent? How much time do you spend visiting with students, talking with teachers, presenting to assemblies?

Work study programs at high schools and colleges give employers a chance to hire part-time student help so they can evaluate student abilities as a potential source of talent. Vocational-technical schools also provide high-energy people that are already preparing themselves to meet your job needs. How much time are you spending today scouting these sources of talent?

Other unique programs exist at the college level. Many schools today offer courses that allow students to form study teams to get involved in solving industry problems --by working at a local employer for a quarter or semester. This classwork is industry defined. It works like this. Volunteer firms in the community submit problems to the school. Problems that are accepted are posted for student consideration. Teams of up to four students each volunteer to work a selected problem. They work at the firm gathering data and generating quantitative solutions. Their answers are presented to their class to provide a joint learning experience, and to the management of the firm where they worked. Their reward is a grade, and a chance to practice in the real world what they've learned in the classroom. The employers reward is free help to solve a problem. Can you sponsor any programs like this for your organization?

The second source of talent is the pool of more experienced workers, the people who have lost their job due to the "downsizing" that has occurred over the past few years. This source also gives you the chance to find out if your equal opportunity program is really working. Locating talent isn't all done at time of hire. The third source of talent is the people already living within your organization. They must be regularly scouted, too. Perhaps this source should be examined first. Scouting and developing in-house talent is critical to establishing effective employment practices.

Observe them in action

One way to find talented people in your organization is to observe them in action. How do they react to problems, crisis, co-workers? Recall when that bearded tough walked up to Ms. Smith at the cash register. He twitched nervously as he announced, "This is a stickup. Give me all your money. If you don't make it snappy, I'll shoot."

How did Smith react? If she responded, "Stand still stupid. They're taking your picture," is this the type of person you need to take a high risk job?

A second way to locate resident talent is a policy that requires internal advertising of current job openings. When given high visibility and management support, it will encourage people already employed to apply for different jobs.

Many firms now require that all openings be posted for at least one week before outside candidates are interviewed. Called "Your Advancement Opportunity," or "Internal Placement," this type of talent search often requires that every applicant be interviewed. When interview decisions are fed back, the losers become winners because they find out what they need to do to win next time. The benefit from applying is getting coaching on the skills needed to become successful in the future. Freedom to apply and transfer also help make this process work.

You can take a more active role, too. An east coast manufacturer put a "Management Mobility Plan" into effect when it realized that women were inadequately represented in production management. It has effectively moved talented women into supervisory positions in production areas. Result: Women can set up a career path in more than just administrative jobs -- an enrichment that benefits the entire organization. The improvements in productivity implemented due to their sensitive approach to worker concerns has been an unexpected side effect.

When a west coast division of an electronics developer was faced with a shortage of talent in its supervisory ranks, it tried a different approach. Its talent scouts recognized that professional, administrative and clerical personnel were a veritable pipeline, full of potential managers. Their talent search zeroed in on two key criteria, an employee inventory of skills and supervisory involvement to help them identify latent talent.

They requested their employees to list information about themselves on a specially created data collection form. Space was provided for education (location, school, grade reached, etc.), group memberships (and offices held), professional experience (job titles and duration), communication skills (written and oral), military experience (including special training), patents, foreign languages (and fluency), awards earned (cost savings, letters, suggestions, etc.) special interests (hobbies), other talents and any personally owned business management experience. The employee was also asked to self-evaluate personal performance on their current job, indicating both pluses and minuses, needs for further training and suggestions for improvements.

Supervisors are involved because they are required to complete a similar form. They then collect the forms from their subordinates, trading one of theirs for one from the employee. As a result, department and individual strengths, weaknesses, training requirements, talents and skills were captured and evaluated. Departmental plans were coordinated with staffing requirements as they related to hiring efforts, promotions, development of training courses, etc. Benefit: People that desire advancement are given a chance to match their needs to supervisory requirements.

Everyone recognizes the capabilities of the Harvard Business School graduate and the Rhodes scholar. But they aren't needed to fill all jobs. All our hiring decisions aren't that easy.

Disguised talent

The talent we need to operate our organization often comes in disguise. To maximize your chances for uncovering hidden talent for your department, you need to become a talent scout. As you develop new scouting tools, share them with your colleagues. Concentrate on finding and developing the treasure of individual potential. Get to the heart of effective personnel management. By seeking talent in a positive manner, then regularly coaching it to its potential, you will build a strong, loyal, productive, winning team. If that isn't enough for you, note that as an added benefit, you'll find little trouble satisfying OEO, EEO, OFCC and EIEIO requirements. Start your talent search today. The results may amaze you.