Finding New Talent in Your Current Employees

When an employee is hired to fill a specific role, it’s common for them to utilize the same set of skills each day while completing their responsibilities. However, they likely possess additional talents that aren’t applied in the current scope of their daily routine. By investing time and resources effectively, you can unlock new capabilities within your existing team and allow them to further develop their professional skills. Here are four ways to find new talent in your current employees:

1. Inquire about previous education and experience. It’s entirely possible that the only person in your organization who knows the full extent of an employee’s previous work experience and education is the person who interviewed and hired them when they first started. Take the time to sit down and chat with your current employees about their professional and academic history. What did they study in school? What certifications do they have? What types of projects did they work on in their previous roles? You might be surprised to discover knowledge and skills they already possess that aren’t being put to use in their current role.

2. Encourage cross-departmental collaboration. Your most important resource is your people, and they should be able to collaborate with and learn from each other. Especially within large companies, individual departments sometimes operate in a vacuum without contact with other teams. This can lead to a lack of comprehensive organizational understanding and may create knowledge gaps. Encourage cross-departmental discussions or pair up employees from different teams so they can communicate and learn about each other’s day-to-day work. By simply opening up communication channels and encouraging employees to learn from others within the company, you can substantially increase the knowledge and talent within your current staff.

3. Invest in training courses. If your current team members express interest in learning new skills or attaining updated certifications in their area of expertise, do some research and find suitable options for them. In many cases, online courses and certifications are completely free or available as part of a free trial. If you find paid courses of interest, analyze the cost versus the benefit to determine if the course will ultimately provide greater value to the organization. Oftentimes, the initial investment in a training course will be outweighed by the talent and knowledge gained by your current employees over time.

4. Empower your team to take on new types of projects and responsibilities. Once the previous three steps have been implemented, the final piece is to translate this newly discovered or acquired talent into meaningful opportunities for your current team. When possible, offer new projects and open positions to your current employees rather than turning to outside hires. This not only allows your employees to develop their careers and receive promotions, it also benefits the organization since you can save the time and money that would have been spent training an outside hire.

To innovate, thrive, and grow, it’s important for your company and its employees to continue learning, developing new capabilities, and pursuing new ventures while maintaining existing skill sets. Avoid stagnation by providing the proper tools, training programs, and opportunities to put existing and new skills to use. You’d be surprised by the amount of untapped talent you can discover within your current team!