Talent Management – The Rise of the Roberts

Why cloning talented people isn’t the answer to great talent strategy

‘Just give me more Bobs’

What if you really could could clone your best people? If you could just find your best person and create ten more like them?

It’s what every manager secretly wishes they could do; a heartfelt response to the bewildering array of talent ‘interventions’ and performance management initiatives that try to address what seems to be a remarkably straightforward problem.

But the fact is, cloning your staff (either biologically or by managerial means) is never a good idea. In fact, if you try to clone success, you might find you kill off diversity, flexibility and innovation in your workforce – the very ingredients on which success relies.

So what should you do instead?

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