How can you be a good talent spotter? Some people have a remarkable ability to identify talent; others find it more difficult. Many organisations have programmes on talent management, for example, but this must be more than a ‘process’. The first step is obviously to spot a person’s potential. How to make this happen? One approach is to focus on the person’s strengths, style and area of greatest potential success. Let’s explore these three steps.

1) You can focus on the person’s strengths.

Great coaches identify a person’s strengths - what they do best. Spotting talent calls for having ‘positive eyes’ - looking for when a person ‘comes alive’ - and being able to see their latent potential. Look for those ‘golden moments’ when somebody snaps into another dimension. Suddenly the person’s whole being changes. They ‘flow’, focus and finish. Concentrating on the task in hand, they become creative and deliver concrete results. Great coaches see this happen. They then encourage, equip and enable the person to achieve ongoing success. So how can you spot a person’s gifts? The key is to watch them in action - or see the fruits of their work - and ask the classic questions:

“What are the activities in which they deliver As, rather than Bs or Cs? When do they feel at ease, yet excel? When are they calm, creative and deliver concrete results? Where do they quickly see patterns? When do they go ‘A, B…then leap to Z’ - they quickly see the potential picture of perfection? Where do they have ‘personal radar’ - they seem to know what is going to happen before it happens? When do they follow their passion, translate this into a clear purpose and achieve peak performance? What are the activities in which they have a good track record of finishing?”

There are many different approaches to identifying what a person does best. So try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to focus on a person’s strengths are:

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2) You can focus on a person’s style.

Great coaches also identify a person’s successful style - how they work best. How to make this happen? One way is to help a person to find and follow their preferred way of working. You can do this by watching them in action - but then, if possible, taking them through the following steps. Ask them:

“Looking back on your life, describe two or three satisfying ‘projects’. Use the word ‘project’ in its widest sense. For example, finishing a piece of writing, painting a picture, fixing a motor bike, managing a rock band, completing a degree, launching a product, leading a team or whatever.

“Looking at each project in turn, describe what made it satisfying. Bearing these things in mind, can you see any patterns? For example, it may be on a certain kind of ‘project’, with certain people, in a certain ‘place’ -culture and environment. You may, of course, have two patterns: one when you work alone, another when you work with other people. So let’s identify how you work best.”

There are many different approaches to identifying how a person works best. So try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to focus on a person’s successful style are:

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3) You can focus on a person’s potential future success.

Great coaches identify a person’s strengths and style - then move onto the next step. They clarify the activities in which the person may stand the greatest chance of achieving success. Sometimes this calls for being extremely creative - rather than following traditional ‘competency grids’ or job descriptions. You can often find solutions by asking the following questions.

“What are the person’s strengths - what they do best? What is their successful style - how they work best? Bearing these factors in mind, what are the activities in which they have the greatest potential chance of success? If they want to earn money doing these things, what are the concrete results they could deliver for a potential sponsor? What would be the benefits to the sponsor? Looking at the activity in which the person might do their best work, how can they find or create such an opportunity? What steps can they - or I - take to help to make this happen? How can we get an early success?”

Great talent spotters start from the person - their strengths and style. They then use their imagination to help the person to find - or create - their perfect niche. Frequently this calls for being creative, because many future jobs have not yet been invented. If the person wants to earn money using their talent, they must learn how to satisfy a present or future need. So it is important to educate and enable them to take this step. The person will then create ‘win-wins’, both for themselves and a potential sponsor. Great talent spotters have a track record of helping people to make this happen. Try completing the following sentence.

The specific things I can do to focus on
helping a person to achieve success are:

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