Many organizations in Vietnam are starting to see that they need to try to keep their good employees on board. The ones that make a difference, the ones that inspire others, the ones that make customers come back for more, the ones you can put in any new situation and they would nail it.  In the HR world, these people are called Talents. 

In light of the attrition rates in Vietnam (22.1% in 2022 according to TalentNet) it makes sense that Vietnamese organizations are starting to care a bit more about their staff members, so we should encourage this….

But, what happens when you start addressing these people as Talents, and get a special program for them in place (“Talent Development Program”) to “prepare them for the future”?

1. Unless you make it very clear how these people were selected, it creates immediate  discontent in the people that were not selected. “Why is Nguyen part of the talent group? She didn’t even meet her target last month! Probably a niece of the director….” Gossip will be rampant, and the talents run a risk of being ostracized. 
2. It encourages a fixed mindset in the “talents” (“people think I am a talent, so it’s better if I don’t make mistakes anymore and reduce risk taking, or I will lose that status”) and they might start to behave differently, opposite to what made them stand out to begin with!

So, with all your good intentions, you now have an (even more) discouraged workforce and top talents that stopped being top talents!

Possible solutions: 

1. Make the process of Talent Identification very transparent. If being marked as a Talent is clearly defined, people can aspire to it, which already helps them in their development. And if they have done any team sports at all, they have experience that not everyone can be Messi!
2. Create a culture where managers are always challenging their staff to go out of their comfort zone.  That way, everyone is developing at their own level, and therefore also the “Talents”. No need to make that distinction then!
3. Go from exclusive talent management to inclusive talent management, and assume that all employees have special talents, but they are not yet discovered by the organization, and sometimes not even by themselves. Developing those talents will become the “talent development” that will make the organization better as a whole!

Of course, you can also have a blend of these approaches. No-nonsense.management can tell you all about it! 

Let’s bring back the “Development” in Talent Development!