How to identify talent?

Talent is still an elusive concept and is a question of competitive advantage to organisations. Our understanding of talent is still fairly limited. It is not so common in the corporate world to see amazing talent. What then constitutes talent and how does one even attempt to spot it, knowing full well how this is something most of us find difficult to do with any reliable consistency. Here are a few steps (by no means complete):

The first step is to realise our limitations: Firstly, we need to stop trusting most of our reflexes as experience has shown them to be unreliable judges of talent. This is the toughest step as this will feel like an enormous ego basher. If one has survived the humbling experience of realising the limits of our so-called "skills", perhaps then one may be ready for the next step.

The second step is to be rigorous in our approach and use data as much as possible. What is one trying to find out when considering a candidate? We need to be careful when examining the information that we have and ensure that we do not selectively absorb/ignore data which fits/does not fit within any initial perception that we have built. The initial perception is incredibly hard to shake off - if you ask yourself how often it has been that you started interviewing a candidate and actually changed your perception from your initial perception. For most of us, the answer will be: no change. Once our minds have an initial view, it is almost in locked down mode which means our brains start looking at facts to fit the story we have already scripted in our subconscious. If we are able to look at the full set of facts rigourously, then we have a better chance of seeing the true picture.

The third step is to try to reduce the information asymetry that exists. For example, perhaps putting people through a series of realistic work contexts and challenges may tell you a lot more than a traditional interview may reveal.