Sue Brooks, managing director of Ochre House, told the audience at the company’s recent Annual HR Directors’ Symposium that talent was “the most crucial variable dividing winners and losers”.

Brooks outlined the key attributes of a talent-centric organisation:

• looks for a more diverse talent pool as talent becomes more scarce;
• communicates with staff and understand what they want;
• talent management is a way of life. It permeates the whole organisation. GE is a great example of this, said Brooks;
• takes a holistic view of talent as being important from the top to the bottom of the organisation.

Chris Roebuck, visiting professor of transformational leadership at Cass Business School said managers had a vital role in developing talent.

“A good line manager can increase the likelihood of someone staying in an organisation by 87%,” he said.