--- title: The Talent Development / Time Management Conundrum description: How much time should leaders be devoting to talent development? It is a challenge that can impact short- and long-term business performance. Learn more. image: https://www.advantexe.com/hubfs/Blogs/talent-development-challenges.jpg --- [![logo-advantexe-150.png](https://www.advantexe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/logo-advantexe-150.png?width=150&height=123&name=logo-advantexe-150.png "logo-advantexe-150.png")](https://www.advantexe.com) ![blog-banner-2022](https://www.advantexe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-banner-2022.png?width=973&name=blog-banner-2022.png "blog-banner-2022") ### The Advantexe Advisor Blog - providing a deep and applicable understanding of the system of business. # The Talent Development / Time Management Conundrum By Robert Brodo | Nov 17, 2016 8:27:33 AM | [![Share on Facebook](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/facebook-24x24.png)](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-talent-development-%2F-time-management-conundrum%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dfacebook) [![Share on LinkedIn](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/linkedin-24x24.png)](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-talent-development-%2F-time-management-conundrum%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dlinkedin) [![Share on Twitter](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/twitter-24x24.png)](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-talent-development-%2F-time-management-conundrum%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-talent-development-%2F-time-management-conundrum%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dtwitter&source=tweetbutton&text=The%20Talent%20Development%20%2F%20Time%20Management%20Conundrum) [![Share on Pinterest](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/pinterest-24x24.png)](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-talent-development-%2F-time-management-conundrum%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Dpinterest&media=) [![Share on Email](https://static.hubspot.com/final/img/common/icons/social/email-24x24.png)](mailto:?subject=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-talent-development-%2F-time-management-conundrum%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail%20&body=Check%20out%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.advantexe.com%2Fblog%2Fthe-talent-development-%2F-time-management-conundrum%3Futm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_source%3Demail) In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous business world where there are not enough ![talent-development-challenges.jpg](https://www.advantexe.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blogs/talent-development-challenges.jpg?width=320&height=240&name=talent-development-challenges.jpg)hours in the day to even come close to accomplishing our goals and objectives, the question of how much time leaders should devote to [talent development](https://www.advantexe.com/advantexe-talent-development-solutions) is a continuous challenge that is impacting short and long term business performance. As part of my work with one of our largest global clients, this week I am conducting the final [Business Leadership program](https://www.advantexe.com/business-leadership-development-programs) of the year for their emerging middle-level leaders.  Each of the previous seven sessions has presented participants with new skills in the areas of Change Leadership, Personality Styles, Leading Execution, Creating a Culture of Accountability, Leading Innovation, and Performance Management, and is topped off with a [Business Simulation](https://www.advantexe.com/the-power-of-practice-business-simulations) called Fundamentals of Business Leadership. Inevitably, there is a moment during the three-day session when a participant asks a few key questions related to development best practices such as, “With all of the volatility and changes going on around us, what is the formula for how much time we should spend leading our teams to achieve our business goals versus developing people?  And once we determine that; how do we divide our time between high potentials, high performers, core performers, and low performers?” Simple questions but difficult to answer. According to some compelling data presented in the book, The Strike Zone: Evaluating Individual and Corporate Performance, a typical US leader spends about 34 days a year trying to develop poor performers.  Is that good or bad? If there are 200 business days in a year, that is almost **17% of the year completely wasted in my opinion!** In order to determine some answers, expertise, and best practices, I sought to ask a small group of experienced executives I work with on a regular basis to assess their thoughts on this topic and understand their recommendations in terms of sharing advice with other leaders. Here’s a summary of what they shared: **Dedicate at least 20% of your overall time to developing others** The executives I spoke with acknowledge this is a significant amount of time and that the only way for organizations to grow is to grow the future leaders.  The overwhelming majority of the executives I spoke with shared that talent development is like breathing; you don’t think about it, you just do it naturally. **Trust your top performers and give them encouragement and investments only** The executives I spoke with suggested that you shouldn’t invest a lot of time with the top performers as it is a waste of effort that should go to other places.  They recommended giving top performers verbal and emotional encouragement, sending them to great training programs, and telling them you expect them to perform without a lot of your precious time.  “There is no need to coach or spend much time with the top performers; they are self-motivated and do it themselves naturally” one Executive shared. **Move the middle slightly to the right** Of all the dialogue and conversation around the issue of where and how to spend leadership development time, this one was the most controversial and provocative.  Several of the more vocal leaders said the idea here is to spend a significant amount of development time with core, middle-level performers trying to move them “slightly to the right” to become more productive.  “Even the slightest shift of a 5% performance improvement from my core performers can increase profitability by at least 10%.  It is the most significant investment of time I make.  Most employees need to understand the business better and they need to lead better.  I can make an impact on both competencies and provide them with training to make a difference simply by spending good quality time with them.” **Give the poor performers one year to get better** The next most surprising dialogue was about what to do with the poor performers.  Several of the Executives mentioned that the investment to hire and onboard new people is very high and the organization needs to do everything possible to make new hires work.  “Giving a new or existing poor performer a one-year development plan is the best thing I can do for my team and company.  If they don’t make it in a year, then it is time to move on.”  This is in contrast to the feeling of most leaders that as soon as you think someone is an underperformer you terminate them. **Additional reading on that may interest you:** - [Is Netflix Impacting Talent Development?](https://www.advantexe.com/blog/is-netflix-impacting-talent-development) - [Talent Development is the Only Way to Ride the Disruption Wave](https://www.advantexe.com/blog/talent-development-is-the-only-way-to-ride-the-disruption-wave) - [How Simulation-Centric Learning Teaches Leaders Talent Development Skills](https://www.advantexe.com/simulations-help-teach-talent-development-skills) [![Why Business Acumen Matters ](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/1153922/ef562d5a-acb6-45df-86ae-098c09e7fcc0.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/1153922/ef562d5a-acb6-45df-86ae-098c09e7fcc0) ![Robert Brodo](https://www.advantexe.com/hubfs/Blogs/rob-brodo-author.png) **About The Author** Robert Brodo is co-founder of Advantexe. 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