Lessons for business from the NFL: developing new talent
As the National Football League season kicks into full gear on Sunday, several high profile rookie quarterbacks will be put under pressure to perform for their new teams. Coaches will need to determine the best way to develop their talent to set him up for success.
History has shown us there are two primary ways teams have used to develop a rookie quarterback.
The first is to throw him in the deep end from day one so he can learn by doing. This style of development will be tested this upcoming season by Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers. We call this approach "Immediate Testing," where you position the player for a major role on the team right away and he learns by doing.
The second is to let him learn from a mentor quarterback and not lead the team right away in order to develop. One of the best examples of this is Aaron Rodgers, who upon being drafted by the Green Bay Packers shadowed Brett Favre for several seasons before becoming the starting quarterback. We have called this approach "Learning to Win" and it allows the player to develop more strategically and achieve success in small steps along the way.
Both approaches have had their success and failure stories in recent years so it is best to be strategic and find the right fit for the player and for the team.
These same development decisions and principles can be applied in the business world to developing high potential talent. Like a young quarterback, certain business "rookies" or more experienced business people looking to move into a new role will have the potential to make an immediate contribution and become leaders within their organization.
As a manager, you will need to be strategic about how best to develop this type of talent. Do you immediately position them to lead high profile projects? This has the immediate effect of giving your talent a great deal of attention, but also has the risk of failure under the bright lights, which could result in a loss of self-confidence for the talent and a hit to reputations from which they may not recover...
-Article by Karl Moore and Devin Bigoness
Read full article: , September 11, 2011
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