Nervous laughter rippled across the Waldorf Hilton, London, as those unfamiliar with Osney Media’s round table format realised they were about to get the immediate chance to chat with their peers. We were only minutes into Osney Media’s June Talent Challenge, but already the standard was set. And it quickly became clear from the intense conversations that sparked up around the room that the issue of talent management dwarfs even the elegant classical pillars that lined the Waldorf’s walls.

Over the two day event, these round table discussions, broken up by presentations by expert practitioners, would reveal what was making talent tick. Conversation shifted from how to deal with mavericks all the way to how to recruit both globally and locally. There were concerns as to how to hold onto your talent when you are in the grip of a redundancy process, and a general consensus that culture will always triumph over strategy meaning culture needs to be addressed first. There were enough high quality quotes to fill the entire magazine, but TMR have picked their favourites:

How important is the CEO to installing sound talent values?

Phil Holder: “The CEO needs to live and breathe his values. It’s detrimental to do that and maintain that culture. He needs to see himself more as a custodian whose job it is to eventually hand the company over in good condition.”

Sarah Lane: “what I’ve always admired about good leaders is their humility. To know who they are without shouting.”

Does success breed culture or culture breed success?

Andy Cross (Virgin): BA are more successful then us but we have a more ideal culture. Without that culture we would struggle to survive the dips and troughs we have.”

How broad should you go to offer diversity?

John Parker (IPB Authority) : “I don’t believe this common conception that talent equates to young and thrusting. I think that we underestimate the experience the older generation offers and a younger manager sometimes struggles to tell an older person what to do.

How can you mend splits between managers and staff?

Richard Mosely: “Re-find common goals and build on those.”

The conference closed with a successful evening of networking and wine before the Talent Challenge doors were locked up again till next June. A similar experience is promised by Osney’s upcoming Employee Engagement event, running the 11^th and 12^th of September. For more information please contact Laetitia Semmel at laetitia.semmel@osneymedia.com.

words by Rob Drake