On the trail of line managers as talent spotters

ABSTRACT

The deliberate identification of talent is a critical process in most organizations. Performance ratings and senior management recommendations are its main sources, revealing the importance of line managers in the process. Nevertheless, some managers do have a talent for talent spotting and little is known about their behaviours as effective talent spotters. We explore, through social cognition, as part of the social psychology framework, the practices required to execute the talent identification process (TIP). An exploratory and qualitative method was adopted for this study; 21 line managers of an Argentine holding describe their experiences as talent spotters through semi-structured interviews. Findings show that the identification process is a complex and iterative one, in which several behaviours come into play, interrelated among each other. This interaction involves talent identification and talent development behaviours, deployed in a synergetic way. The relationship building behaviours set the foundations for the identification process to bear fruit. Distinct skills are necessary at different stages of the identification process for line managers to fulfil the talent spotter role. Finally, a model of the TIP is proposed.

KEYWORDS:

• Talent identification process
• line managers
• effective talent spotters

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.