We talk a lot about talent.

But in any situation, on any day, I’d rather have a hard-working, committed but good team member, than an exceptional, but erratic and slightly lazy one.

Of course, I realise that the reality is seldom binary but the point remains the same.

We’re obsessed by “talent” we seek the “exceptional”, but in the process are we overlooking the essential? Are we missing the most exciting opportunities because we’re always looking for something more?

My instinct is this, if we were to focus a little bit more on developing and growing the people who already work beside us, if we were to be more ambitious about our colleague’s potential, then we’d discover more success than failure.

I would struggle to think of any individual who (when they were being balanced and thoughtful) didn’t think they had more to give, more to offer, more to contribute. And yet the amount of time we spend focusing on helping them to deliver on this, is marginal at best.

Sometimes, we overlook the opportunities that we have right before us. If we’re serious about talent management, we’d start at the closer point to home.