Talent Focused Management (TFM) is our foundation management workshop. Managers are charged with taking a team of people and getting everything to work together in a way that delivers performance. But outstanding corporate performance is simply the sum total of outstanding individual performances. In Talent Focused Management, managers learn what it takes to have outstanding individual performances. Talent Focused Management starts with Talent—literally! Without talent, no sales department can produce spectacular results. And without a talent-focused approach to management, even the most talented salespeople will fail to achieve to their full potential. It is this management philosophy that is at the heart of CSS’ Talent Focused Management (TFM) system and is brought to life in the Management Sphere of Influence.

Are great salespeople—or musicians or athletes or cabinetmakers—born or made? Too much time has been invested in this age-old debate. The answer is both. First, they are born (naturally endowed with talent and potential for the particular career), and then they are made (by a manager, mentor, teacher, or coach). Rare is the outstanding performer who was not both born and made.

“Born and made” explains why the CSS Management Sphere of Influence has a Nature side and a Nurture side. On the Nature side is the one big “given” a manager must deal with: human talent. No manager can change people, but great managers make smart decisions about talent: They “fit the talent to the task” by matching the right person with the right job assignment. So the four key functions on the Nature side of the Sphere are Recruitment, Selection, Retention, and Promotion—determining who comes, who stays, who goes, who moves up, who moves over. Few managers invest enough time at this, “the front end” of performance management.

On the Nurture side of the Sphere are the areas in which the manager has the opportunity—indeed, has the responsibility—to influence the development and the productivity of the talent he or she has chosen to have on staff, by investing in the individual. The four key “investment” functions on this side are Relationship, Expectation, Feedback, and Compensation. It is here that the manager’s actions determine whether each individual will make a meager contribution or the maximum contribution to corporate productivity. The foundation for these four Nurture functions is the first one—Relationship—and since relationships are, of necessity, highly individualized, every activity on the Nurture side is most effective when individualized.

The best managers play chess—understanding how each piece moves and performs—not checkers—expecting every piece to move and achieve in exactly the same fashion. They don’t manage their “staff.” They manage one person at a time, maximizing each. Our Individualized Management Questionnaire (IMQ) and Individualized Management Plan (IMP) are fundamental tools to help managers do this.

Talent Focused Management Topics

2008 Schedule

January TFM 
Tuesday 15 January 2008 thru Thursday 17 January 2008 in Tampa

April TFM
Tuesday 22 April 2008 thru Thursday 24 April 2008 in Tampa

July TFM
Tuesday 15 July 2008 thru Thursday 17 July 2008 in Dallas

October TFM
Tuesday 21 October 2008 thru Thursday 23 October 2008 in Tampa


2009 Schedule

January TFM 
Tuesday 13 January 2009 thru Thursday 15 January 2009 in Tampa

April TFM
Tuesday 14 April 2009 thru Thursday 16 April 2009 in Dallas

July TFM
Tuesday 14 July 2009 thru Thursday 16 July 2009 in Tampa

October TFM
Tuesday 20 October 2009 thru Thursday 22 October 2009 in Tampa



For more information or to register for an upcoming Talent-Focused Management workshop, contact Dolly Heims at 813-679-1520 or dollyheims@csscenter.com.