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We are about to welcome 15 new talents here in IFS. 15 Young Professionals ready to conquer the world!

Our Junior Consultants start on 21 August and we have invested quite some time and resources in creating a program that will provide our new colleagues with the best possible platform before being allocated to customer projects. Of course we are convinced that this investment will be worthwhile as talent has become a competitive advantage that customers increasingly demand and money can’t buy.

My Perspective

Before I joined IFS, I always thought of IFS as an ERP company. I remember telling my friends about my new job and more than one of them said “who would have thought that YOU would end up in the IT business”… But after talking to a lot of colleagues recently in my quest to get under the skin of my new organization, my understanding has somewhat changed; in my opinion, IFS is as much a people company as anything else!

And in a time where employees, patent and knowledge account for more than 70% of the value in companies noted on the US Stock Exchange (can you believe that the equivalent number was only 20% in 1980?), we need to focus on managing and developing our company’s primary asset: our talent mass. But what is the best way to do that?

I have met with a lot of talented people across our Scandinavian organization throughout the last two months. With a past in HR Consulting, I have watched many companies launch big talent management programs for their top performers. And to some extent, I believe that this makes a lot of sense; to put the most focus on the people who contribute the most.

But there are also other, and equally important, ways of looking at talent that are sometimes forgotten: That each individual possesses a unique set of talents that we, as leaders, are responsible to help find, manage and grow. To mention a few it could be a talent for being creative, a talent for leading others or a talent for details – imagine how we could boost performance, teamwork and motivation, if all employees knew and applied their talents in their work?

In connection with the launch of the Consultant Role, the majority of our consultants in Norway and Sweden have participated in our “Forankringsworkshops” in Asker and Ørestad. The purpose of the workshops was to give each consultant the best possible conditions for succeeding in the role by getting to know their personal needs and talents. Newer brain science clearly shows that getting your needs fulfilled and using your talents is by far the most efficient motivation factor.

And there is no doubt that if we want to achieve our strategic goals here in IFS, the commitment and motivation of our employees is very important. (If any of you are interested in learning more about motivation or the theory behind our workshops, you should take a look here www.motivationfactor.com).

Performance & Motivation

I recently read an interesting article about talent. When a large number of officially appointed talents described what they thought was most important to them in order to perform well and stay motivated, 3 things were mentioned:

  1. Personal development possibilities
  2. Job responsibility
  3. Feedback on a regularly basis

If we transfer this knowledge to our Junior Consultants that are about to start, it becomes clear that no matter how fantastic our training and introduction program is, the real opportunities (and challenges) lie when the program is done.

Of course our leaders will play an important role in showing our Junior Consultants the way. But you as colleagues can also make a huge difference in showing patience and support, taking your time to guide them and provide them with feedback so they can learn and grow from their successes as well as from their mistakes. Our goal is that our Junior Consultants already from Q4 contribute to creating value for our customers. I am sure we can achieve this goal together!

As mentioned on my last blog, I have promised to share my reflections as a newcomer as well as my ideas on where to focus with our Scandinavian Management Team on our next SMT meeting from 20-21 August. Managing talent will for sure be on the agenda!

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