Guest comment: How to get your talent managed

Cindy Mahoney is head of talent management at outplacement and consulting firm Fairplace. She offers her advice on how to get picked for a talent management programme.

Talent management programmes are on the increase as firms seek to retain their high performers and propel them to even greater heights. Adopting a high performer mentality by following these steps will ensure you stand out from your colleagues.

First of all, do you know how they will be identifying "talent"? Some organisations have leadership frameworks, others use psychometric testing and assessment centres, others merely rely on your historic performance. If you know what the company are looking for you can develop and hone your talents accordingly. There are however 3 factors that will improve your chances in every company. They are:

1. Be seen to be good

What is almost guaranteed is that there will be an element of nomination or evaluation whereby you get voted for by your peers and line managers. You therefore need to manage your impact upwards and network well across your company. Observe those who are successful, and see what works in your business. Volunteer for projects, and be seen as someone who is prepared to go that extra mile. This has to be genuine though as someone who is seen to be working for their own agenda is neither respected or well regarded.

2. Work with talent

Work alongside people who are going places. Watch them, learn from them and enlist their support in your development

3. Exhibit top talent behaviours

Fairplace recently conducted a joint research initiative with Cass Business School to identify the key characteristics of managers who are perceived to be effective in senior positions. You need to show you have the following:

Integrity - respected, trusted, un-selfish, loyal, fair & a team player

Personal Impact - inspirational, charismatic, good communicator

Participatory Management style- delegates & empowers, consults, builds a team, challenges others, has faith in the ability of others, manages down as well as up

Strategic thinker - big picture, has vision, business /market focus

Gets things done - high energy, passion, drive, completer / finisher, proactive

Social rapport - socially skilled, personable, a people person

Open minded - open to new ideas, listens

Courageous - takes tough decisions, challenges the status quo, improvises and innovates, calculated risk taker

Proven business experience & track record - excellent all round business knowledge, proven track record

Confident & resilient - self confident & secure, stable

Clearly some of these factors are more driven by personality and personal preferences, others such as business performance are more skills related. I firmly believe, however that all of them can be developed and honed. So I would encourage you to:

· Get some feedback from your colleagues and manager as to how you rate against these factors

· Set yourself a development plan based on what the feedback tells you are your strengths and development needs

· Commit to doing three development activities a month such as

a. Improve your business knowledge by reading trade press

b. Ask a colleague to coach you on your personal impact

c. Take one calculated risk and evaluate its impact