After working more than two decades in the talent acquisition space, I can tell you that the single greatest barrier to getting great talent out of organizations, is peeling them away from professional development plans.
Marcus Buckingham coined the phrase “people leave managers not companies.” (His book is a must-read: First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently.) Getting talent to leave a manager that has invested in their development, has given them visibility on key projects and initiatives, and has articulated how they fit into the team, the organization and the succession plan, is excruciatingly difficult.
What does this mean for your leadership challenges and the headache you may find yourself with, in attracting talent?
Many non-profits and charities (as well as start-ups and small companies) struggle to be attractive to talent that may believe in the cause of the organization but just may not be attracted to the size or the compensation and benefits package. So, how do you compete?
Developing your bench strength has never been more critical
Yes, the talent shortage is a huge challenge. Yes, there are over 1 million open roles in Canada alone. And yes, inflation has caused even happy employees to rethink their roles in order to afford their rising expenses.
But recruiters look for what I call, “corporate hurt.”
Broken promises.
An inflexible manager.
Lack of communication and direction.
Lack of clarity around how said employee fits into the organization over the long term.
A lack of interest in investing, developing, engaging, retaining and promoting staff.
A recruiter can rip the scab off those feelings of insecurity or lack of trust and bring your employees a plethora of roles that can appease their feelings of neglect. We can get them their next external promotion, and that, quite frankly, can be intoxicating to employees who don’t feel seen or heard.
Further, just moving from one organization to the next results in a modest 10% increase for workers. Which means when you have to replace them, you may need to pay at least 10% more than that former employee’s salary to get someone in the door who may not even be as competent or as knowledgeable as the employee who just left.
Where to start
Weekly one-on-one’s with employees is critically important and more so now than ever before. Having conversations around current deliverables and providing feedback but also asking where their career interest lies and what you can do to provide more exposure.
Having honest, transparent discussions around an individual’s ability to move up in the organization is imperative. While you may think that an individual would make a great leader or successor, if you haven’t had that conversation, you may be surprised to know that they may not even want the role. Or maybe they’re exploring opportunities with other organizations because you haven’t provided the tools, resources, development or opportunity to discuss what that career development may look like.
The good news is it’s not too late to start those conversations and to have your own leaders do the same. Protect yourself and the organization by understanding what the wants and needs of your employees are and how you can develop them for the future. You may never know how close you came to losing that potential successor by having that discussion today.
Samantha Bateman founded Integria with the vision to redefine talent acquisition by advocating for a positive candidate experience. Samantha is equally dedicated to accelerating client businesses by helping organizations build and strengthen their teams. She is President of the Board of YES Montreal and a frequent speaker on the topics of positive recruitment practices and job market integration. sbateman@integriaconsulting.com
