What Is Talent Density And Why Should You Worry About It?

When it comes to the people that make up your organisation and define your success, how much of a difference could a high concentration of talent make? 

Highly successful companies such as Netflix have built ‘Talent Density’ into their organisational culture based on one simple belief: 

Rock-star performers make all the difference.

Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, gives an example: 

“In all creative roles, the best is easily ten times better than average. The best publicity expert can dream up a stunt that attracts millions more customers than the average one.”

He’s got a point. 

You’ve probably experienced working with average performers who get the job done and with rock-star performers who act as a catalyst for change and innovation. 

Now ask yourself:

What would the results be if you had even 10% more of those people - the ones with the creativity to deliver 10x better performance?

And combined with that, imagine if you had 10% fewer of your average performers. 

Even small changes to team performance have a big impact, but why?

Because performance - both good and bad - is contagious.

It’s true.

A study by Profession Will Felps of the University of New South Wales showed that, even when other team members were exceptionally talented and intelligent, one individual’s bad behaviour brought down the effectiveness of the entire team. 

If your talent density is high, you have a higher proportion of superstar talent within your teams, and you’ve brought up the average talent density by limiting the amount of poor to average performers.

High talent density is the key to organisational success

It might sound cutthroat, but it’s this sort of selective hiring and performance management that builds the best teams and organisations around the world. 

So if your hiring strategy could make such a huge difference - either positively or negatively - to your overall business success, it’s well worth asking yourself:

“Am I doing enough to ensure my hiring and performance management process delivers high talent density to my business?”

And if the answer to that is ‘no’...

...Your first step should be to consider if your talent acquisition strategy is up to scratch. 

Attracting, engaging and retaining rock-star performers doesn’t happen by accident: you need a dedicated, purposeful talent acquisition strategy. 

Download our “12 Key Pillars to Talent Acquisition” and start learning all of the different components required to build a talent acquisition strategy that helps you maximise your talent density and achieve your business goals.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses have an opportunity to start afresh and redesign their organisational culture and teams. How effectively they do this could have a significant impact on their future success. 

Register for our webinar ‘Build Back Better: Smarter Hiring For the New Normal’ to learn more.