According to Marc Lammers, the coach who led our women's hockey team to Olympic gold, it's important to focus on what employees are good at. His motto is, "It's better to turn an 8 into a 10 than a 4 into a 6." But what makes Marc Lammers so special? What techniques do successful football coaches like Guus Hiddink and Louis van Gaal use to perform optimally? Inspired by these questions, I analyzed evidence-based techniques that top sports coaches use (Baars, 2016) and investigated which of these techniques are applied by successful leaders. Based on these analyses, I developed a practical model that leaders can immediately use in the workplace. In the "Leading Talent Development" training, leaders learn how to apply these levers in their workplace. The TMA is an indispensable factor in this!
Leading Talent Development consists of the following five components:
1. Insight into Talent
As a leader, it's important to know what talents are represented in your team. Before the training, you'll complete a TMA Questionnaire. You'll also receive an assignment to find a personal symbol that represents your talents. During the training, you'll learn how to apply these methods in the workplace to determine your employees' talents.
2. Activating Talent
It's great to know the talents of the people in your team, but it's even better to know how to activate these talents. During the training, you'll learn how to conduct a good talent conversation. We'll practice the conversation skills you need to activate your employees' ownership. After all, employees must feel responsible for their own development and take action themselves.
3. Creating a Strong Team
Top sports coaches know how to ensure that a team becomes cohesive, leading to Olympic medals. In the training, we highlight the techniques used by top sports coaches. We'll also practice ways in which, as a leader, you can gain insight into the diversity of talents in your team in a playful manner. And how team members can recognize and utilize each other's strengths and weaknesses.
4. Continuously Gaining 2% Improvement
Marc Lammers introduced ice baths when he took his hockey team to the Beijing Olympics, where it was over 40 degrees Celsius. By implementing this innovation, his team won Olympic gold. Marc Lammers believes that as a leader, you should "continuously gain 2% improvement by constantly innovating." During the training, we'll discuss ways in which you, as a leader, can shape innovations and how you can optimize this innovative power.
5. Being a Powerful Learner Role Model
The strength of a coach like Marc Lammers is that he's constantly learning himself. He reflects on his actions by keeping logs and is inspired by other top athletes, such as Anky van Grunsven. By being a powerful learner, Marc Lammers inspires his players to actively learn. During the training, we'll explore ways in which you can serve as a powerful learner role model within your team.
Dr. Mirjam Baars MBA
Mirjam Baars, who holds a PhD in talent development in organizations, is a business psychologist, educationalist, and business administrator. She wrote the book "Leading Talent Development" when she was a leader at Tilburg University and conducted research on talent development in organizations. She conducts the National Talent Development Research annually and teaches part-time in a Business Administration program at Fontys University of Applied Sciences.
