The best thing that happened to me at GSK aka the Powderpuff girls Cherie Though, Eileen Ng, Cynthia Lim, Meng Zhao, Jeen Sim, Wei Wei Tan. I have had the pleasure of working with them over the years and making them my life-long friends. As I have gotten to know them and watch them grow into outstanding individuals and professionals, I realize a few things around managing top talent. It has helped me re-calibrate my own understanding of top talent and how to help maximize their potential.
What particularly stands out for this entire group is not only that they are smart as hell, they are all hardworking, consistently focus and over deliver on their commitment, like to push the agenda, maintain high level of professionalism while being equally humble. Every one of them.
While companies talk about the “What” and ”How”, in reality “How” usually takes a back seat in many companies. For me this group balances the drive with empathy.
You must engage the best talent with the best jobs. Align interests and motivation, give challenging assignments with autonomy and assume they already know what needs to be done. Ultimately, the skills and capability also need to deliver above solid performance. You cannot expect to make a top talent happy by giving them an average job and expect them to then deliver outstanding results. Top talent craves challenge and they want to push the agenda. The faster you align the job with the skill, the faster you will see the result.
You are known by the last thing you delivered. No point talking about importance of top talent if you don’t have a framework that supports this. Most companies I have spoken with DOES NOT have a proper top talent management program. Similarly, if you think you are top talent, then your results (both what and how) must reflect.
It does not matter how talented you or which university you graduated from. Ok, maybe at the start of the career but as you progress, ultimately you are known by the work you deliver and the impact you have on people. You want to stand out, you have to deliver day in and day out. The “What” is the immediate and visible but it’s through the “How” you leave behind a lasting impression.
Some of the best leaders I have worked with are constantly delivering on both these aspects and in my view that is what stands them apart and I see this with this group that i work with.
What is your view on managing top talent?
