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Is talent an essential prerequisite of success? Can talent be taught?
Traditionally, organizations have held onto the belief that talent can be trained into employees or that employee talent isn’t a necessary component of success. According to Marcus Buckingham, the author of, First, Break All the Rules, both of these beliefs are inaccurate.
Here is why you should vet your employees for talent instead of trying to create it.
Can Talent Be Taught?
Every job lends itself to a unique set of talents and, therefore, requires a person with those talents to fill the role. For example, great lawyers have a talent for debating. Great accountants have a talent for organizing. Great caregivers have a talent for empathy.
Talents create a filter through which you see the world. They guide the thought processes that create habits and proficiencies. For instance, if you’re a talented socializer, your brain likely keeps you open and comfortable by filtering out many of the insecurities that are often associated with new relationships.
With regards to employee talent, there are two popular misconceptions:
- Talent can be taught. While you can give someone the tools to grow their talents, you can’t teach talents like empathy or confidence. You need to hire people who already possess the necessary talents for the position.
- Talent drives performance. Talent gives insight into an employee’s thought process. For example, if someone is a talented negotiator, it likely means that they’re naturally constantly thinking about counter-offers and price points. If you hire someone who lacks this talent, you can teach them your process, but you can’t change the way that their brain works.
There are three basic categories of talents: striving, thinking, and relating.
- Striving talents inform your motivations. They include talents such as ambition, altruism, competitiveness, and mastery. They reveal why you do what you do. For example, if you’re competitive, your desire to improve likely comes from an internal need to best your competitors, and you may excel in a position such as an attorney or salesperson.
- Thinking talents inform your thought and decision-making processes. They include talents such as discipline, flexibility, focus, and logic. They reveal how you come to conclusions and decisions. For example, if you’re organized, your decision-making process likely reflects your need for everything to be in its place, and you may excel in a position such as an assistant or accountant.
- Relating talents inform your relationships. They include talents such as socializing, empathy, trust, and confrontation. They reveal how you create relationships and why you make them with the people that you do. For example, if you’re empathetic, your ability to understand the emotions of others will inform the way that you interact with them, and you may excel in a position such as a teacher or a nurse.
How Much Can a Person Change?
As discussed, talents can’t be taught. If you can’t train your employees to have talents they don’t possess, how much of a person can you actually change?
The Brain
Talents are developed at a young age through neural pathways, which develop based upon your experiences. For instance, if you handled confrontation constantly as a child, you likely built a strong neural pathway that allows your brain to quickly process aggressive situations. That pathway may translate into a talent for debating or handling difficult conversations.
Once you reach your teenage years, you no longer possess the ability to develop new connections. While you can improve upon the connections that already exist to a certain extent, you won’t be able to develop significant talents or abilities if they don’t already exist.
Skills vs. Knowledge vs. Talent
While talent is fixed at a young age, skills and knowledge come through experience and education. They can be taught at any age and provide employees with the tools and information they need to use their talents.
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- Why only 13% of the world’s workforce is actively engaged at work
- How to find strong employees and keep them
- The 12 questions to ask your employees that help you determine the strength of your organization
