Dalton’s win should awaken us
his class on the world stage and in so doing placed Jamaica in the world’s spotlight in a positive way. Every time one of our citizens does so, my prophetic mind senses and sees the potential benefits and the lessons to be learned from the God-given moment in time. What are some of these benefits and lessons you ask? Here are a few considerations.
DEVELOP, DON’T DESTROY POTENTIAL
Never has one nation had so much talent yet done so little in a deliberate way with what they have. There is an objective we used to have when I was serving with the National Transformation Programme (NTP) — every citizen a producer, nation-builder and valued contributor. This is a programme to which I am still committed. Isn’t it time we had a Government (both sides of the house) that genuinely views its citizens in that regard? Isn’t it time we had communities who view residents that way? Isn’t it time we have families who view their children like that?
It has been reported by Dalton, and carried by this newspaper and other media houses, that Dalton endured horrible emotional and physical abuse growing up. I wonder if his mother knew the heights to which her son would ascend would she have treated him better in his early years? Would she have protected him more?
It’s time we began to more deliberately target for development individuals and products with evidence of high potential. I know that our Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) has been doing tremendous work developing talent in our schools, so we already have a model. I also know we develop talent through agencies such as Social Development Commission (SDC) and HEART; however, these agencies target underachievers and offer second chances.
I suggest that we have an agency that deliberately searches for and identifies super talent in all areas — sports, the arts, the sciences — then we deliberately channel them in programmes to guide and accelerate their talent to its highest potential. This will always be good investment of the public purse. This is the kind of effort a new-era prime minister and those of the future could embrace in their ‘Jamaica first’ portfolio.
This is not a new concept. In the private sector it’s called talent management. It is often overlooked or thought of as unnecessary, but check the super successful companies and you will find that talent management is a common practice.
WHAT IS TALENT MANAGEMENT?
Andreas von der Heydt, head, Kindle content at Amazon, Germany, writing for The World Economic Forum, defines talent management as follows:
“The science of using strategic human resource planning to improve business value and to make it possible for companies and organisations to reach their goals. Everything done to recruit, retain, develop, reward, and make people perform forms a part of talent management as well as strategic workforce planning.”
Andreas observed that “... stakeholders...often tend to forget what’s at the very heart of lasting business success: Identifying exceptionally talented people, developing them, and retaining them. In one sentence: Talent management matters more than ever!”
Sadly, this business concept that should fairly easily be translated to the development of its super-talented citizens as a human resource investment is often overlooked — with maybe the exception of sports. It’s time to deliberately plan to prosper and not to harm our talented ones, especially those who are from the lower strata of our island nation.
WHY DO WE HAVE TO UNLEASH A FARIN?
Why do most Jamaicans have to migrate to become phenomenal or achieve good success? Why can’t we develop the systems and structures here in Jamaica for us to uncover and develop our super talents and unleash them to the world? Yes, we have to some extent done so with sports, and to a lesser extent music, but I am particularly proposing that we up the ante.
Let’s pause to celebrate the