May the Best Team Win

In sports and business, the teams with the best talent win. The evidence of this is all around us. Quarterback Tom Brady left the New England Patriots and joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. For the first time in 18 years, the Buccaneers went to the big game and won. Why? Talent.

We spend a great deal of time recruiting talent, and certainly hiring better talent can improve the team's overall performance. At the same time, are we spending an equal amount of time developing our current team? Study after study shows that a comprehensive development plan in place makes recruiting easier, improves culture and makes current employees feel valued.

The problem is that most companies do not have a sophisticated, long-term approach to talent development, according to Paycor. They suggest that a modern approach to talent development will give your company five competitive advantages:

1. Building capacity for long-term planning

2. Defending you against disruption

3. Setting you up for success in a post-pandemic work world

4. Helping you build an unbeatable talent pipeline

5. Driving engagement

In social media marketing and digital advertising, the goal is engagement. The same is true for employees. Do you want your employees just showing up, or operating at peak performance? In 2020, a Gallup poll showed that organizations with engaged teams are, on average, 18% more productive than their less-engaged competitors.

Nothing drives employee engagement more than a comprehensive focus on talent development. Investing in your talent and helping them #GetBetter shows your commitment to them and increases their commitment to you.

Do you have a regular and consistent plan in place? This does not require a huge investment. Conducting weekly training meetings, using outside resources, online, self-paced course work or training events can all be achieved with minimal investment in a virtual world. For instance, RAB’s one-day Sales Essentials course is just $99 to attend. It’s a day filled with the essential information and talent development to help your team operate at maximum efficiency. Our next Sales Essentials class is May 18.

There is an often-used exchange between the company CFO and the CEO:

CFO: What if we train our people and they leave?

CEO: What happens if we don’t train them and they stay?

Train people well enough so they can leave, but treat them well enough so they don’t want to.

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@RAB.com. You can also connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.