Talent development rather then recruitment should be the priority within organisations, keynote speaker Rosabeth Moss Kanter told delegates at the CIPD Conference.

Moss Kanter said that HR professionals should concentrate on providing the right environment for staff to flourish, rather than focussing on recruiting new talent.

The Harvard Business School professor, recently named as “one of the 50 most influential business thinkers in the world”, said that it is important for staff to feel successful.

“Sometimes we undervalue giving people the experience of success,” she said. “When people have a success experience they want to communicate more and share with the rest of the team. Winning produces more energy,” she said.

Drawing on research for her most recent book Confidence: How Winning Streaks and Losing Streaks Begin and End, Moss Kanter said that professionalism was the key to successful organisations.

“(Success) is often not a policy or strategy. It’s about steady professionalism and getting the job done.”

Referring to winning sports teams, she said: “People just got up every day, practised really hard and won games. I see the same thing in great companies, they have a steady professionalism.”

Moss Kanter went on to speak about companies that had achieved significant turnarounds, from losing to winning. She emphasised the importance of leaders setting a professional example, and the importance of allowing staff the opportunities to develop their skills and experience success.