Talent is a Myth. Learning & Development Really Matters
Talent is a word applied in business, especially in recruitment and HR, in a way that perpetuates the myth of a magical gift bestowed upon a given individual. The dictionary definition supports this notion with: Natural aptitude or skill. Reality is actually far from this, a world of relentless and remorseless purposeful practice, one of the many reasons why Learning & Development is a critical strategic business component.
Let’s explore this now.
Strategy
The model below is based on a matrix by Professor Tim Knoster, who discovered the correlation between the components of strategy and human fallout, which ultimately determine the level of success or failure in any endeavour. I’ve modified it considerably for a business context, however this is a valid model for any individual, team or organisation in pursuit of a specific outcome. This can be anything from delivering a career defining presentation to a large enterprise pivoting in the market. In the context of this article we are only interested in the column labelled Capabilities & Skills.
In the context of this article, what this model demonstrates is confidence correlates with required skill development. The opposite is also true, anxiety correlates with a lack of skill. If you want to learn more about the correlation between confidence, anxiety and competence then please do read: High Performance: Confidence vs Anxiety.
Scarlet Johansson had her acting debut at age 8. Tiger Woods first picked up a golf club at 6 months. Gregg Minnaar took to mountain biking at 15, Bill Gates started coding at 13 and Arnold Schwarzenegger started lifting weights at 15. All these people have actually crafted their skill over many years from a young age, so by the time they became adults they had already achieved a level of mastery, thus creating the illusion of a natural gift. In fact, anyone in any field that demonstrates a seemingly “natural talent” has honed their skill in the same way, with purposeful practice.
Let me give you a personal example:
I’ve been studying human behaviour since at least the age of 8. My first conscious memory is sitting at the breakfast table watching my mum’s facial expressions change in relation to, which I shortly discovered was, her thinking process.
My mums brow was furrowed along with pinched eyebrows and pursed lips. Watching this display I asked “ Are you angry?” She looked up in surprise and said “ No, I’m just thinking”. She was writing a shopping list. In that moment I learned this was an expression of concentration and focus. I have no memory of why I was curious, only that I was.
Purposeful Practice
Below is my version of a learning curve demonstrated by merging the Dunning Kruger Effect with Noel Burch’s four stages of competence. In any given moment each of us is somewhere on this curve, and it changes from one moment to the next in any given endeavour.
We now know that confidence correlates with knowledge. What this model shows us is Knowledge also correlates with competence, and competence comes in four stages:
Unconscious Incompetence: Unaware you lack a required skill.
Conscious Incompetence: Aware you lack a required skill.
Conscious Competence: You are learning a required skill.
Unconscious Competence: Unaware you have a highly developed skill.
Purposeful practice, a term I first heard used by olympian and author Matthew Syed, is the pursuit of excellence. An endless cycling of this model with the goal of attaining continuous incremental skill improvement required to support an endeavour. Seeking improvement in the absence of purposeful practice is just mindless repetition, hence the cliché: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result”, a saying usually attributed to Albert Einstein though I’m not sure it’s something he ever actually said.
To continue with my example: I’m now 49 and can easily demonstrate over 40 years of continuous skill development in my field. It’s the thread that runs through everything I have ever done, professionally and personally, and this trend shows no signs of slowing down or changing as I’m currently reading research papers on the relationship between psychology and performance outcomes in the context of Rugby Union.
If you want to learn more about the consequences of the absence of purposeful practice in a business context then do read: Learning & Development: What’s your ROI?.
Performance
Below is a representation of an ideal development scenario using a simplified version of Prof. Mihály Csikszentmihályi Flow model, which he originally discovered in 1975 after identifying the components of high performance. I have updated this for use in a business context to demonstrate the relationship between Strategy, Operations and High Performance, which can be applied to an individual or an entire organisation.
These four states correlate with specific behaviours that can be measured in any individual, team or organisation.
Anxiety: Missed deadlines, avoidance of interaction, negatively impacts employee sickness absence.
Apathy: Absence of enthusiasm or presence of indifference, negatively impacts employee retention.
Comfort: Lack of activity and accountability, negatively impacts employee productivity.
Flow: Pro-active, self-directed, emphasis on personal responsibility, positively impacts all of the above.
Without purposeful practice: “Under pressure you don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your training. Thats why we train so hard.”, a quote I first heard from a Navy Seal. It’s an adaptation of the original quote by Archilochus, a Greek Philosopher from around 650 BC: “We don't rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.” This is unequivocally the case and organisations pay the price when they fall asleep at the wheel.
I witnessed a 100+ year old Scottish manufacturing company suffer, immersed in the anxiety quadrant, because their board believed if we just work harder everything will be ok, we’ve been through worse (Remember Einstein’s quote from earlier?). They were completely blind to the fact their product was becoming irrelevant in the market, especially with competition from China. They didn’t invest in skill development or new ideas leaving them unable to pivot, even though options were a plenty. Learning was demonstrably not part of their culture. I had many painful conversations with their immensely frustrated marketing director. The company no longer exists.
To learn more about this phenomenon in the context of leadership then do read: Leadership: The Side No-One Talks About.
Conclusion
When done well Learning & Development is unquestionably a necessary strategic business component for staying relevant and competitive in the market, never mind just getting someone to perform well in their role. A culture of learning leads to innveration and innervation leads to innovation. It keeps everyone on the front foot.
If you want to learn more about the impact of learning & development on incompetence and business outcomes then do read: Learning & Development: The Cost of Incompetence.
If you would benefit from support to set your leadership development program up for success, or overhaul your existing program, to ensure you take a strategic approach, then please do schedule a call with me by putting a 60mins in my diary at a time that suits you. We can discuss your situation and options over an eCoffee.
Best Wishes
Kenny
