Leveraging organisational opportunities
The software company e-point specialises in IT projects for the finance industry. It aimed to leverage its teams’ talents for the organisation’s overall success through a number of strategies [2]. By first identifying and focusing on their team members’ strengths, it was able to fully explore the talent within the organisation.
The organisation always chooses to work with team members’ strengths rather than discuss any weaknesses. e-point launched a new talent mapping process, which is seen below:
In this approach, team members are first asked to take a talent test to identify their key strengths. Then, they conduct a one-to-one session with a manager where they discuss their five key strengths during their session, working with managers who provide materials and tools to help them work well as a team. A talent workshop is the final step, where a team is built for each project and selected based on those skills and talents. People who know their talents and are focused on strengths are six times more likely to be engaged and 12% more productive: this was also the finding of e-point during this process. They strive to find a great match between the employees’ strengths and the project needs.
Below we can see e-point’s focus on strengths during the stages of their talent development [2]:
| Surveys | Making the Gallup test available to all employees; identifying each employee’s five key talents |
| Individual work | 223 individual employee sessions run by the Strengths Trainer; 60 individual talent sessions with managers |
| Team workshop | Six synergy workshops with selected teams, during which the team talent map was discussed; teams’ talent weaknesses and strengths identified |
| Tools for managers | Talent script and personalised reports, ie instructions for dealing with individual persons |
| Promoting the idea in the company | Sharing success stories and Q&A sessions with Managers Meetup; appointing a Talent Management unit in the HR team; ongoing presence of the Strengths Trainer at e-point |
When asked how this approach is successful, e-point states that:
“Talents have become a vital element of daily work at e-point. A great majority of employees (over 70%) know and can discuss their strengths. Thanks to this, everyone is aware of where they excel and where they should ask for help from others. This allows teams to use individual talents daily and to enhance communication, task delegation, feedback, and planning.” [2]
Share your thoughts
What are the positives of e-point’s approach to energising and empowering teams? Identify two elements of good practice from the case study, and then share them in the comments.
Reference
2. Żuchowicz, L. Win-win: How to leverage employees’ talents for organizational success [Internet]. Warsaw: e-point. 2019 [cited 3 January 2023]. Available from: https://www.e-point.com/blog/win-win-how-to-leverage-employees-talents-for-organizational-success
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