What is talent?
Featured in the Talent Management training manual
By Adelaide Shone
Category: Management
Credit price: 3 download credits (Single user)
We come across the word ‘talent’ in many contexts. Sometimes in the world of sport we hear about a talented footballer or a talented athlete. In the film world we may hear about a talented actor or a talented director. This training activity starts participants thinking about why the word ‘talented’ is applied to some people. They also consider the context or ‘the world’ defining the talent. The music world, say, may discover a talented musician, but that musician may not necessarily make a talented footballer. The aim of the activity is to look critically at the words ‘talent’ and ‘talented’. Although it is useful to understand that talent can be used in different ways, it is also important to identify any common skills, capabilities and aptitudes in talented individuals. Anyone can pick up a dictionary and look up the words, but it is more challenging to apply the words in practice. Sometimes it is even difficult to identify what makes a person talented; it can be indefinable – ‘that certain extra something’.
In the first exercise in the training activity, participants look to the worlds of sport and the performing arts to assess what is actually meant by the word ‘talented’. They focus on assessing why a footballer, specifically a striker, or an actor can be considered to be ‘talented’. The aim is to clarify what skills, abilities or aptitudes the footballer or actor may possess – in reality compiling a person specification. The exercise closes with you challenging the participants to find any common skills or patterns between the two ‘talented’ examples and to try to define ‘that certain extra something’. Having assessed in the first exercise what ‘talent’ and ‘talented’ can mean in two different contexts, in the second part of the training activity, participants are paired up and asked to think about how and where they would find such talented individuals. This exercise focuses on the role of the talent scout. It shows participants how important this role is and how it can be one of the many roles a manager must take on board. The pairing reflects the division of the whole group as in the first exercise of the training activity. One of the pair will have worked on an example from the sport’s world and one will have worked on an example from the world of the performing arts.
Who is it for: This training resource is intended for use by trainers to help participants look at the worlds of sport and performing arts to assess what is meant by the word ‘talent’. Is it definable or is there ‘that certain something’ which words cannot define?
- Themes:
- Leadership,
- Management Skills,
- Talent management,
- Team Building,
| Resource Type: | Activity |
| Min Group Size: | 4 |
| Max Group Size: | 20 |
| Typical Duration: | 02:55:00 |
| No of Pages: | 17 |
Resources: View standard resources for Fenman training activities
Additional resources: Cuttings from newspaper or magazine articles (optional).
Purpose: This training resource is intended for use by trainers to encourage participants think about talent in the world at large. It is a training activity that can be useful for all abilities and experiences. It engages a more critical assessment of the words we often use. In a non-threatening and light-hearted way, the critical skills are introduced, skills that are also used in later activities. It can also be used in training programmes on leadership, management skills and team building.
Download the training activity, What is talent? as featured in the Fenman training manual; Talent Management