The people at the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) do a lot of research on topics related to talent development. Two of their executive directors, Jean Martin and Conrad Schmidt, just published an article in the Harvard Business Review titled: “How to Keep Your Top Talent.” You can download a copy of the article from their site.
I thought that many of the findings were fascinating. They note that 40 percent of the internal assignments of those high potentials end in failure, for example. Among those high potentials, a third admit to not giving all their effort on the job. A quarter expect to be working for another employer a year from now.
Wow. I know loyalty is dead, but that raises alarm bells for me. Those bells rang louder when I read the following.
“So when the organization is struggling–as most are these days—your star players are the first to be disappointed. Meanwhile, they are much more confident than their rank-and-file peers about their ability to find new jobs and much less passive about researching other opportunities. As a result, when organizations cut back and ask employees to ‘tough it out,’ the stars say, ‘No, thanks, I’d rather find an employer who appreciates the high level of contribution I’m making.'”
No one in business seems to use “high potential” as a term to describe anyone except those with leadership potential. We never talk about high potential when it means scientists or market analysts or even salespeople.
So the people we’re talking about are the ones you imagine leading the company some day. And you want to hang on to people who put their needs first and run when things are tough. I say, let them go and hang on to leaders with, perhaps, a little less “potential” and a little more character.
