True talent is the one who makes himself and others grow

HR - or at any rate those who work in HR - can interpret this role in different ways. As far as I am concerned, I consider development and the impact that I, as HR, can have on the future of the company. For me, therefore, it is normal to deal with culture, organisation and talent at the same time.

But what is culture? If we want to define it, it means to create, through our behaviour, a company that is exactly what we want to work in, for example that is based on inclusiveness, that makes diversity of thought, gender, competence, a founding basis. Creating the corporate culture means creating the healthy DNA of a company, so what kind of leaders should I look for, what kind of people should I develop, what kind of behaviour should I want them to have?

Corporate culture therefore does not only go in the direction of personal process, but of making the company a very strong ecosystem. And this happens if what I imagine becomes real thanks to the people who have values that are reflected in the company's values. Indeed, we must remember that an organisation can undoubtedly evolve, but not change its basic DNA, just as a person's DNA does.

In light of this, I think the role of HR today is particularly important because it has the ability to culturally shape an environment so that everything imagined can become concrete. It is not so much what is defined by the company that matters, but how we, as HR, contribute to it. We must therefore create a favourable environment for talent to germinate and at the same time for feedback to be received in the right way. Such feedback helps people develop constructively and reminds them that they can play a leading role in building their own development. It is people who, first and foremost, must invest in themselves.

My role as HR is to ensure that there are concrete actions so that they can proceed on their personal development path in which they must believe in the first place. Let us not forget that everyone, even in the company, must have individual and personal ownership. One cannot expect everyone to change at the same time.

A company changes if we all want to bring about that change and go in the same direction together. Talent does not develop on its own, it develops together, but must start from an individual spring. All this is supported by technology and a structure that can be leadership or HR through a whole series of tools that serve both reflection and action creation.

Among them, we have a system in the company that allows people to create anindividual development plan, i.e. to write down what they would like to become, to indicate what is the 'pole star' that will guide their path within the company. This allows people to make explicit what they want for their career and for us, as a company, to indicate what they need from a professional point of view to get where they would like to be, not only in terms of competences, skills, etc., but also in terms of behaviours to be developed.

In Baker Hughes we start with the concept of performance development when, on the other hand, we usually prefer to talk about performance management, which is, instead, something static that involves, precisely, moments of comparison once-twice a year in which performance is analysed. If, on the other hand, one thinks of performance development, this is a continuous, repeated process in which constant feedback counts. This ensures that people are not assessed as 'doing well or doing badly', but as continuing to consider that they can do things differently.

If it is observed, for example, that a person did not actively intervene during a meeting, it can be suggested that he or she consider, for the next time, exposing themselves more and also letting them know why. In this way, people are continuously taken into account and immediate feedback can be given on a situation they have just experienced.

In this way, the feedback is transformed into a formative moment, which would not happen if that moment were recalled after six months when there is a so-called 'formal' meeting. In this way, the person receiving it can improve his or her behaviour right from the start: it is therefore feedback that is future-oriented and not past-oriented, moreover circumstantial and concrete. On the other hand, feedback has to be seen as a relationship space that creates dialogue and development.

In all this, company coaching plays a very important role. Coaching that, when linked to the talent in the company and what it is used for, i.e. to secure its future, certainly becomes an investment. Every entrepreneur has two ways of evaluating an action: it is either a cost or an investment. The cost is using money that is of no use, but I have to do it; the investment, on the other hand, brings me an economic outlay today, but I suppose it will pay off tomorrow.

If I have a leader who has to do a business review and I realise that he is not very good at communicating, what can I do with coaching? Look for a coach to help him, for a short period of time, to be able to transfer his concepts precisely, punctually, without getting lost. A coaching course aimed at that goal helps the person to make the change he or she would not have made on his or her own. Of course, this is just one of many examples that can be given about coaching, but it serves to show its concrete aspects. And it also applies to online coaching that can more easily meet people's needs.

In our company, coaching is provided at two different times: one when the person enters a development, leadership or talent path, and the other when we decide within the organisation to invest in people who, according to their personal development plan, can grow through targeted coaching. This is a chance that we offer them, a recognition that can help them achieve what they have declared they want to become.

*Executive Head of Human Resource Baker Hughes