Current reality is the situation a company finds themselves in: where are they now and what are the challenges they face at this moment?

This often includes crises situations. A crisis can be a catalyst that places scrutiny on how things are managed within the company and this motivates management to review the future by looking at organisational patterns.

At times it takes a crisis for companies to re-think or start thinking of where they are and how they are going to do things to respond to their reality.

External factors such as the economic climate definitely have an influence on productivity and organisational turnover, because in every moment of a crisis there is a definite change.

This change could be positive or negative in relation to the circumstances. Companies should review the circumstance and realise the factors motivating the change for them to truly understand it.

It is about how they manage and focus their energy/productivity despite the reality and circumstances during a crisis that really counts.

Companies should focus their energy on shifting leadership to a different mindset which develops a technique to assess the circumstance from every angle.

They need to shift their approach and recognise the opportunities that exist within a crisis to maximise on the opportunity as a result getting more return from the experience.

It can be challenging as individuals act out in companies: every action of these individuals has a reaction and it will have an impact on the organisation. It is management's responsibility to take control of the energy within a company and seize the opportunities in every situation - what is down.must go up, so they can turn it around.

2. Coaching assists managers with a 360 degree leadership model

Managers are becoming more aware of the benefits of the power of emotional intelligence and how they can use it as a management tool, while incorporating coaching techniques into their management style.

Coaching offers managers an in-side out 360 degree leadership approach which allows them to focus on a four way leadership model, which includes the elements of self-management, managing successfully within the team, managing up as well as relating and building relationships with peers.

Managers should be looking closely at the patterns of individuals which could be productive or unproductive. The way to create positive change is to re-pattern unproductive patterns that lead to unproductive behaviours.

Making the change to re-pattern unproductive behaviours requires an analysis of the causes of these patterns. Looking at what increases productive patterns requires self awareness, self-confidence and sensitivity to external factors and/or reactions. This is the essence of EQ (emotional intelligence).

Emotional intelligence is made up key elements that affect productive talent pattern development: self awareness and relationship: the relationship being with external people as well as with oneself.

Looking at individual's thinking patterns, focusing on their self awareness, their relationship with themselves and with others, are all ways for managers to identify these patterns.

External elements also come in to play as the individuals' relationships start changing internally and they start developing and thinking positively and productively.

Current leadership perspectives need to shift to make way for coaching tools to identify productive and unproductive patterns that will create a far more inclusive leadership approach on all management levels.

3. Talent pattern development the answer for human capital challenges?

The development of human capital remains a complex challenge for most companies. Have traditional methods really helped with developing talent (human capital) and has it increased productivity at all levels?

Without a doubt credit must be given to formal education and corporate learning, which is proven to form the foundation of many successful companies.

The traditional approach to developing talent to increase productivity levels has mostly been through creating a competency profile (skills, knowledge, attitudes) against business role requirements. This means the company will train the talent to fit these specific role requirements.

However, companies have to take it to another level if they want to achieve the best results and increase productivity of their talent.

A proven approach is the move towards identifying productive and unproductive patterns within a business environment. Patterns are related to a consistent application of behaviour resulting in ongoing positive or negative outputs.

Changing the approach requires identifying talent patterns as a base before focusing on developing productivity.

Thinking and focusing beyond productivity is how organisations can leverage talent. Making people fit a 'profile' is not the answer, as it can create more unproductive patterns and often results in people leaving.

Developing talent is about identifying productive talent patterns. Human capital traditionally focused on employee strengths and what they needed to develop by matching their incompetence to their profile for their job.

However, one needs to identify both the productive and unproductive patterns. By doing so companies must ask how to leverage productive patterns to increase productivity and place their energy on increasing talent rather than developing weaknesses, all the while still creating the tools that will manage unproductive talent patterns.