Ing. Matthijs H.M. Hammer M.Sc.Senior lecturer EntrepreneurshipSchool of Business, Building & TechnologyResearch Center For Innovation & EntrepreneurshipSaxion University of Applied Sciences

PhD ResearcherFaculty of Industrial Design EngineeringDepartment of Product Innovation ManagementDelft University of Technology

Use the prototype approach to enable your potential

Talent Identification;

… Why this is a dog …

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• Introduction• Theoretical framework• Research design• Findings• Conclusions & Impications

Exercise 1A

Please work for yourself. Do NOT Co-operate with your neighbours.

Task:• Write down what your talents are.

Please use the hand-out (Form 1) provided.After completion, transfer the answers to Form 2.Do NOT write down your name.

Introduction

• What talent does a student have?• What does he need to meet the 20th Century

competences and survive the ever changing future?

• It is experienced as difficult to know where the talents are; no USB- or RFT-port available,

• What alternatives we have to seek for help?• How about the innovative approach?

WHAT IS A TALENT?•Give examples!

WHAT IS A TALENT?

Theoretical background

Some definitions of talent: Old Greek: a weight or sum of money of

that weight. Later the disposition or ´gift of God´. (van Dale, 2009)

Best & Brightest. (Knegtmans, 2009) Exceptional disposition (Wikipedia, 2010). Spending hours of time deeply engaged in

an activity (Feldhusen 2001b, p65) Relative. Talent (Dutch, English, French, African, Catalonian,

Russian, German, Romanian, Icelandic, Czech, Danish, Norwegian)

Hu: tehetség, Fi: lahjakkuus

Facts

• Training has more effect than Genetic factors.

• Top talent = (talent * mentality) / ego (T. van het Hek, 2000)

• Talent is gained by internal motivation and long, effective and focused training.

• Be willing to is more important than be able to. (Knegtmans, 2009)

From a scientific point of view

• Talent is not precise described.• Studied in predominant the fields of:

1. Sports2. Management3. Education

• Synonyms used for talented human beings:– Gifted– Excellence– Capacitated

Psychological determinants of excellence

CommitmentQuality Practice

Goal SettingImagery

Planning at all levelsDistraction control

strategiesPerceptions of pressurePerformance evaluation

(Abbott et al, 2002, p.23)

Development of talent detection

From 1920’s: Physiological and Anthropometric Correlates of Success.

After WWII: Fundamental Movement Skills.

Last decades: Psychological Determinants of Excellence.

Mid-nineties: Shift in paradigm started, talent is no longer was the domain of the gifted children and adults (Treffinger and Feldhusen, 1996)

Physiological and Anthropometric measurements

Fundamental Movement Skills

Fundamental Movement Skills

Psychological Determinants of Excellence

But …

• Still selecting cherries,• Making use of scales and checklists,• Identify them on young age,• (parents) Giving massive support, if

wanted or not,• One has to enjoy an activity before

entering the deliberate practice; a forced development of skills rarely turns into a world class performance.

Broad agreement on talented en giftedness:

• involves more than just a high IQ;• have both, non-cognitive (e.g. motivationally

driven) components and cognitive components;

• environment is crucial in terms of whether potentials will perform;

• are not a single thing: there are multiple forms and therefore one-size–fits-all assessments or programmes are likely to be too narrow;

• measures for identifying or evaluating these individuals need to be proposed to operationalise theories and then they need to be evaluated rather than merely being assumed to be valid (Sternberg, 2004).

What do you see?

Prototyping

+ +

Prototyping

Prototyping

• Object or pattern recognition (Matlin, 2002)• Feature-analysis model and recognition-by-

components model (Biederman, 1995)• Combination of attributes associated with

an object or pattern (Solso, 1999)• Methodology of cognitive psychology for

talent identification (Solse, 1999, Bartel & Wiesenfeld, 2013)

Findings

Identified cognitive psychological prototype of a talent:

• Vastly joyful when applying

• Applying without discernable effort

• Better than others, acknowledged by peers (Hammer, 2015)

What to develop?

• Your talents!

But: 1. what are talents?2. How to distinguish them (your talents)?

What are talents?

Knowledge

Application

Behaviour

Talent

Source: N. Vloon, 2002

Structure

Context

Why are talents important?

Entrepreneurial dynamics; Effectuation

Position of human capital

Human capital / talents

What suites You?

• What do You like?• What distinguishes You?• What is appreciated?

• Problem: • You don´t know for yourself.

Identify Your talents

Use tools as:– 360° Feedback– Personal SWOT– Explicit Your context (write down at

exercise 1b)

Exercise 25 minutes each

•You: tell Your Neighbour about your job (or sports).•Neighbour: write down where he is positive, explores fun, smiles, is exciting, etc. Ask for examples, achieved goals, feedback from colleagues. •At the end, ask for his perceived personal strong points and weak points (about 3 aspects each).

Exercise 1 b and 2, are determining your relevant talents.

Difficulties in SME’s

SME-issues:– No HRM-department

• job coach• assessment centres

– No broad scope of specialists– Limited places to work (fte)

• job rotation • spare time for development • exemplary roles

Development in SME´s

• Training in the same context, maintain the talent.

• Training in a different (future orientated) context, increase the talent, makes it more valuable. Exercise 3

Exercise A

Please write down your talents as you see them now

Summery

1. Determine what your motivation is; what make you have fun.

2. Determine your relevant talents.3. Determine what is your goal.4. Create training activities in another

professional context.5. Do it! (with motivation and drive)

Please hand-in form 1

Thank you for your attention

Questions &

Discussion