At HUCAMA we say: Building an organization that creates and uses meta-talent is even better!

You hear it all the time: recruiting is difficult, it takes time, it is costly, but the right recruiting strategy is an important necessity in modern organizations.

Companies that want to succeed need great people and obviously, recruiting is important but maybe employers and organizations focus too much on recruiting the right talented people. Hiring and retaining talent is great; building an organization that creates and uses talent is even better.

 

Why growth mindset?

In our first and second pieces about meta-talent, we stated that mindset is something we hold above our personality. People with all levels of ability can have either growth or fixed mindset but research shows that over time those with the growth mindset begin to outperform peers with a fixed one.

We also stated that surroundings play a huge role in how we develop mindset. As an employer, you can use all strategies possible to find the best talent for a position but hiring the best talent is not everything. It is a mathematical fact is that only 10 percent of people are going to be in the top 10 percent.

 

How to unleash the value of the workforce

Instead of focusing too much on hiring the best talent, organizations should ask themselves: how do we get the best out of everyone in the workforce every day?”

We believe that organizations need to create a growth mindset culture where great people can actually use their talent and even better, organizations need to create a management practices that produce extraordinary results from almost everybody.

It is not about out recruiting from other companies – it is about leaving the competition in the dust by being better at unleashing the energy and talent of the people you have.

As O’Reilly III and Preffer describes in their book “Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Result with Ordinary People” companies can keep chasing the same supposed talent or they can do something even more useful but much more difficult to copy – build an organization that helps make it possible for regular folks to perform as if they were in the top 10 percent.

 

A set of values

An organization in this mindset does not only focus on attracting the most talented people. In fact, it focuses more on how to create an organization that knows how to unleash the value of people who thrive on challenge and who identify failures as a springboard for growth and for stretching existing abilities.

Growth mindset organizations know that the real value is not the right business strategy and not hiring people to fit the organization. The real value is to create conditions for and build knowledge around a talent meta level and believe that talent is not a person but a mindset.

Instead of beginning with a business strategy, aligning the organization with this strategy and hiring people to fit the organization, growth mindset organizations are clear about their belief in meta-talent and how this belief will define their organization and determine how they run.

 

Mindset in Microsoft

In June 2015, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella launched an updated mission and strategy. It contains a new official mission statement for the company:

“Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more”.

Nadella states that everyone in the organization needs to be willing to lean into uncertainty, take risks and move quickly when mistakes are made, recognizing that failure happens along the way to mastery. Everyone needs to be open to the ideas of others where the success of others does not diminish our own.

The culture in Microsoft is founded in a growth mindset and the belief that everyone can grow and develop, that potential is nurtured, not predetermined and that anyone can change their mindset.

Along with other organizations, Microsoft’s belief that a great, modern organization should be based on a set of meta-talent values that energize their people and unleash the intellectual capital potentially available in all organizations.

 

6 key characteristics of growth mindset organizations

So what are the key characteristics of organizations that benefit from people with a growth mindset? How do they create and use meta-talent?

  • First, they emphasize a clear set of values above everything else, including profits. They concentrate on getting their structures and practices aligned with these values. Senior managers focus on making these values alive and real to the employees.
  • Secondly, they carefully screen and hire for cultural fit not just for job skills.
  • Thirdly, they invest a great deal in their people’s training and growth.
  • Fourthly, they are characterized by widespread information sharing.
  • Fifthly, they rely heavily on team-based systems.
  • Sixthly, they develop rewards and recognition systems that constantly reinforce their values.

It’s time to build your talent; have you booked your workshop yet? Get in touch and learn more!

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