the programme provides a fresh approach to learning that is designed to meet the development needs of the individual, make a practical difference to the business and benefit the local community

Director of The Talent Pool Lisa Smale designed the programme with Managing Director Ian Styles in order to foster innovative ideas and encourage a grow your own approach to talent within this successful family run business.

For more information, refer to Talented staff aspire to future management roles in the Western Morning News.

The Talent Pool held its third Annual Symposium for clients and guests this summer. We were joined by a variety of specialist speakers, including Karren Brady from the BBC’s Apprentice. Her keynote speech and the theme for the day was “My Kinda Leadership”.

The day gave delegates time to think about their own personal leadership style and their organisations methods. Delegates were able to question Karren about how her career success as well as informally chatting with her over lunch. Sally Rixon, Talent Pool’s Director of Collaborative Learning said, “We are delighted that Karren agreed to join us and share her fascinating career with us.”

She was a great keynote speaker for our delegates, has a wealth of experience and has achieved much despite many challenges thrown her way. Karren talked about her career in football which started at a young age; there wasn’t a person in the room that couldn’t be impressed by her achievements. She explained to delegates that her determination had been pivotal to her success.

Of course, as fanatical Apprentice viewers, it was great to be able to talk to her first hand about this year’s contestants and find out how tough the competition is.

What delegates had to say…

“Since enrolling I have dramatically changed the way I view myself, those around me and the work that I do. It has had a profoundly positive impact on my working life.”

“I found the day fascinating and it certainly got me thinking out of the box.”

“It was really good I have been buzzing all day, and can’t stop talking about it.”

“I really did enjoy the whole day and all the interaction, discussion, the delegates and the speakers — all were superb in different ways.”

“I thought the day was excellent, one of the best of this type of event. I liked the variety, quality of speaker and efficiency of organisation. A really valuable opportunity for people to meet, discuss, listen, think, reflect.”

“We were positively buzzing on the way home in the car, discussing the richness of the day and considering all the possibilities.”

A brilliant day — thank you so much for all your efforts and time. I found the speakers all very engaging and very useful

Colonel Richard Maybery, QGM shared his thoughts on leadership in his session ‘Serve to Lead’. He had us captivated by his down-to-earth and humane approach to leadership and how he managed to get the best out of people in extreme situations.

The event was brilliant, I have got so much out of it and will help me to where I want to be

Karren Brady then delivered her session, “My Kinda Leadership”, and joined attendees for an informal lunch. Delegates then selected one of three development workshops suited to their personal development needs. This ranged from helping them with tough conversations, transform relationships and thinking like a leader.

I found the day very useful and was great context for me given some of the changes going on around me

Dr Phil Richardson, an expert in biomimetics, introduced his session “Crabs in the Boardroom”. This gave delegates an insight into how to think differently and pushed peoples’ boundaries, especially when thinking about change. One of the delegates commented “I had a detailed go at Phil’s biomimetic self-evaluation when I returned last night. I found it useful in the forward-planning elements of my thinking”.

Member Tesimonial

“Finding the time for personal development can be a case of priority, convenience and being inspired. I have found the Talent Pool’s approach to be completely different to any kind of personal development programmes I have been involved in. It is truly motivating, engaging and, as a result, I have naturally made my own development a higher priority.”

The session “My Kinda Leadership” explores the different approaches that must be adopted to get the best results. Delegates will enjoy an action-packed day of learning where they will gain new skills, listen to industry experts, and network with other members.

Although Karren has recently hit the spotlight replacing Margaret Mountford as Lord Sugar’s advisor she is no stranger to the media and has already packed a lifetime into her short career.

She began her career with LBC at the age of eighteen. She moved swiftly to Saatchi & Saatchi as Account Handler, joining David Sullivan’s Sports Newspapers in 1988 where she became a Director within twelve months at the tender age of 22. This meteoric rise prepared her for new role as ‘the first woman of football’ when David added Birmingham City to his business empire and put Karren in charge. When the club floated on the AIM in 1997, Karren Brady became the youngest MD of any UK PLC.

As the highest-placed woman in football, she attracted much media attention and was the subject of an hour-long BBC 1 documentary entitled ‘Inside Story – The Real Life Manageress’. She has also hosted her own TV show — ‘The Brady Bunch’ — and written four books: ‘Brady Plays the Blues’, ‘United’, ‘Trophy Wives’ and Playing to Win — 10 Steps To Achieving Your Goals.

Karren Brady made constructive changes at Birmingham City. Her community projects such as the Kids a Quid scheme, Family Stand and Community Classroom have been emulated and copied elsewhere. She is married to Fulham FC footballer and Canada World Cup striker Paul Peschisolido and has two children.

Karren is a non-executive director of Channel 4, Mothercare Plc, Sport England, and Chairman of Kerrang!

In October 2007, Karren was named Midland’s Business Woman of the Year and, 2 year’s later, was appointed to the England 2018 World Cup bid board as a non-executive director. Karren also took over from Margaret Mountford as an adviser to Lord Sugar on “The Apprentice”. In 2010, Karren was appointed Vice-Chairman of West Ham FC.

The group were keen to understand how Talent Management can help to sustain business performance through the development of Organisational Agility. Quite an ambitious target to be set for us, but a great topic to bring to life and to share our experiences of. We were joined by Jonathan Noall from the National Trust who shared a case study which explained how the well known charity had developed their internal consulting capability by utilising the skills and attributes of a talented group of employees.

It’s not difficult to imagine why organisations need the power to move quickly and easily and the ability to think and draw rapid conclusions. In reality, it is quite difficult if you haven’t got the momentum of the business behind you. We spent a lot of time thinking about the case and how to influence key decision makers so that the business benefits and return on investment were easily identified and not just a short lived project.

We know that organisational agility is a core differentiator in today’s rapidly changing business environment and that nearly 90% of executives in a recent survey by the ‘Economist Intelligence Unit’ believe that organisational agility is critical to business success. It also notes that half of CEO’s agree that rapid decision making and execution are critical to a business’s success and that agile companies grow revenue 37% faster and generate 30% higher profits than non-agile companies.

It is therefore alarming to read that over a quarter (27%) of organisations surveyed say that their organisation has a competitive disadvantage because they are not agile enough. It found that the main obstacles to business responsiveness were slow decision making, conflicting departmental goals and priorities, risk adverse cultures and silo based cultures.

So what is the key to developing organisational agility? At the Talent Pool we believe that businesses can put themselves in better shape by developing their organisational and leadership capability. Talent Management programmes should ensure that they are integrated into the business strategy. This will help to generate greater compulsion to willingly embrace it due to the strong business rationale. In turn, this will accelerate the rate and spread of behaviour change needed to keep the organisation flexible and to develop individuals that are agile enough able to keep up with the degree of complexity and challenge, both today and tomorrow.

The authors of the book, Ram Charan and Bill Conaty, are both masters in their field. Ram Charan is a highly sought after business advisor and speaker, famous among senior executives for his uncanny ability to solve their toughest business problems. Bill Conaty is long recognised as a world leader in his field. Bill recently retired as senior vice president of human resources at General Electric, where the company consistently ranked for developing world-class leaders.

I have to profess that I like these guys and in some respect feel envious that they have grasped the phrase “Talent Masters”. At the Talent Pool we talk about “Talent Scouts”, ensuring that your organisation teaches and supports managers in finding and developing its best talent. However, with the launch of Talent Masters I have to say that I am left feeling a little Enid Blyton against their J.K. Rowling. Bring on the Talent Masters, that’s what I say!

The articles speak of 8 key principles that organisations who are Talent Masters follow in their talent management and talent development strategies:

1. A leadership team that “gets it” — beginning with the CEO
2. Explicitly defined and articulated values
3. A culture of trust and candour
4. A goals and results orientation
5. An understanding that differentiation breeds meritocracy and sameness breeds mediocrity
6. A rigorous approach to talent management
7. A business partnership with HR
8. Continuous learning and improvement

I look forward to reading the book, picking up my lightsabar and developing The Talent Masters of the future. So many organisations desperately need to influence their key stakeholders that this is the way forward if they are to remain agile and responsive to the daily challenges that are thrown their way.

I have received 2 text messages from friends reminding me that it’s a ‘must see’ and my husband has already been warned that if he wishes to see it he needs to be sat down quietly by 8.55pm without a rustling newspaper. The suspense is mounting as we await the new series.

As always there is the pressure prompted last few minutes, finalising domestic chores but we make it into the lounge with seconds to spare, sitting down as the Dance of the Knights by Sergei Prokofiev begins.

As Dan Harris rises to the challenge and starts to bully — I mean lead his team — I receive 3 texts messages from friends who describe him in 6 letters. They use two different words but the meaning is very clear and I deduce that they really don’t like him. I text back in support of their feelings, excited that already we have a pretty good idea who the identity of the candidate will be that Nick Hewer and Karren Brady help Lord Sugar to guide to the exit door.

We watch, laugh and squirm as the 16 budding fledglings explain to Lord Sugar why he would benefit from employing them into his £100,000 a year role when they have done such a brilliant job and managed to make about £37.50 each for a night’s production and day’s sale of sausages. Their hourly rate is probably equal to no more than about £2.20 for their efforts. Just as well they are the countries best as they too like the rest of the UK may have hit a financial deficit had they not worked so well together. It seems that all of them are experts, with experience and marvellous track records. They truly are legends … in their own minds!

Surely an apprentice is an amateur, someone who works with others to learn a trade not an expert who is already nearly as brilliant as the humble and not to be messed with Lord Sugar. It’s amazing that he manages to keep his cool with his new budding pupils.

So why is it that we, the audience, can see the short-coming’s of these people when they are so clear that they have so much to give? Why is it that we wince at the words they say whilst they commend themselves for their disastrous performance? Some people say that The Apprentice makes for good TV but is not like the real world of business. I’d like to disagree: what we see on our TV screens on a Wednesday is typical workplace behaviour. Granted some of it may be exaggerated or embellished for the TV but it is typical of many future leaders who lack the guidance and mentoring support that the need. The DDI reports that 37% of leaders are currently failing in their roles as they don’t have the basic skills to fulfil their role requirements. This means that UK business is throwing away thousands of pounds (or even millions) by appointing the wrong people into leadership positions, or by not developing them to be effective leaders (Engaging leadership study, CIPD). How many Dan Harris’s are there really out there? I’m sure many of us can think of one.

Hopefully watching BBC1′s The Apprentice gives businesses an appreciation of the urgent need to develop future leaders. Developing leadership skills is vital to the overall capacity of any organisation, whatever the size or sector.

Lord Sugar’s right-hand woman Karren Brady will be joining Talent Pool delegates as the Key-note speaker at the 2011 Annual Symposium.

“Fantastic day. I usually get 5-10% benefit from a day like this but this one I walked away with 75% of the day giving me a benefit. I have already used some of the messages in my recruitment activity – employing for attitude. Very motivational day, enjoyed the whole day. The location was fantastic and the time flew by, usually I watch the clock –- no clock watching at this event.”
Liam Talbot, Thatchers Cider

“I thought that the day was excellent — so refreshing to get away from the daily business and tasks and focus on wider issues and meet people from other industries”
Kate McClennan, Ladbrokes

“Fantastic –- I have been raving about the day”
Kirsty Pettitt, Thorntons

“The 2 speakers were both very good in very different ways. I could have listened to Rene for another hour! The networking opportunities at coffee and lunch were great. I spoke to loads of people I would probably have never met.”
Hilary Nithsdale, Wilkinson

It wasn’t until I researched further into learning in the workplace that I actually realised that other generations learn and work completely differently. Perhaps this was ignorant of me, but I also think that each generation thinks in the same way. To them, the way they know is THE way. Each person believes themselves to be the norm. With the majority having an attitude similar to mine, many generations working within one workplace becomes much more difficult.

From what I have learnt, there are 4 generation groups; Baby Boomers (post-war), Generation X (1964-1982), Generation Y (1980s) and Generation Z (1995 & onwards). Having been born between Y and Z, I can see that I have characteristics of both groups, I could work with both groups of people. However, I would find it very hard to adapt to the working style of that Baby Boomers and the Generation Xers. My work would not be to the best of my abilities and I certainly wouldn’t enjoy my job.

Personally, I don’t know how to fix the gaps. But something has to be done to make the workplace an efficient happy place to be in. That’s where The Talent Pool comes in. How can they help? The Talent Pool can take away the complexity for employers who find that this is a problem by offering a development programme that meets the needs of all generations in the way they develop talented employees and much more. Making the workplace and the workers within it better equipped than other businesses.

Article by Amy Pattison, age 17, 6th Form Student, Wellington School

Richard Smith, Managing Director of Lloyds Pharmacy shared his thoughts on ‘Engaging for Success’, explaining that in his experience engaged employees achieve better results. Richard brought to life how good Leadership can influence performance and left people to think about how they were developing their own leadership style and if they were actually walking the talk.

Finding the time for Personal development can be a case of priority, convenience and being inspired. I have found the Talent Pool’s approach to be completely different to any kind of Personal Development programs I have been involved in — it really is truly motivating, engaging and a result I have naturally made my own development a higher priority.

Delegates then selected one of three development workshops suited to their personal development needs this ranged from helping them to manage change more effectively, helping them to develop their influencing skills and understanding and developing their communication skills.

In the final session delegates looked at the Leadership skills required of a new England football team manager — a topical issue, which many of us may also have some views about — before placing their bid as to why ‘they’ personally should be selected for the job. Throughout the day key learning points were captured so that everyone could go back to work and do something differently, making a practical difference to what they do and how they do it.