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Nurturing Talent in a Forbidding Economy

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Thu Oct 22 2009

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In these bleak times, companies are depending on their star performers as never before. Organizations need their top talent to be in peak form-firing on all cylinders-so they can succeed in a market that is the toughest in living memory. How are employers handling this challenge? In a word, badly.

To start with, leaders are seriously distracted. Caught between clamoring clients and vaporizing value, a CEO understandably might find it hard to focus on talent. People issues tend to translate into layoff strategies: How many should you let go? How should the cuts be distributed? Should you act surgically and strike deep or should you dribble out the reductions over time?

When it comes to talent management, CEOs are also hamstrung by outmoded thinking. In times like these-marked by massive losses and rising unemployment-it's tempting to imagine that there's no need to worry about motivating talent. People are so grateful to have a job, the conventional thinking goes, that they can be relied on to contribute 110%. Right? Wrong.

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About the Author
ATD Staff

The Association for Talent Development (ATD) is a professional membership organization supporting those who develop the knowledge and skills of employees in organizations around the world. The ATD Staff, along with a worldwide network of volunteers work to empower professionals to develop talent in the workplace.