Kapil Saxena
Whether it’s a high-profile tech
company like Yahoo!, or a more established conglomerate like GE or Home Depot,
large companies have a hard time keeping their best and brightest in house.
Yet, Yahoo!, GE,
Home Depot, and other large established companies have a tremendous advantage
in retaining their top talent and don’t. I’ve seen the good and the bad things
that large companies do in relation to talent management. Here’s my Top Ten list of what large companies do to
lose their top talent:
1. Big Company Bureaucracy. This is probably the #1 reason we hear after
the fact from disenchanted employees. However, it’s usually a reason that masks
the real reason. No one likes rules that make no sense. But, when top talent is
complaining along these lines, it’s usually a sign that they didn’t feel as if
they had a say in these rules. They were simply told to follow along and get
with the program. No voice in the process and really talented people say “check
please.”
2. Failing to Find a Project for the Talent
that Ignites Their Passion. Big companies have many moving parts — by
definition. Therefore, they usually don’t have people going around to their
best and brightest asking them if they’re enjoying their current projects or if
they want to work on something new that they’re really interested in which
would help the company. HR people are usually too busy keeping up with other
things to get into this. The bosses are also usually tapped out on time and
this becomes a “nice to have” rather than “must have” conversation. However,
unless you see it as a “must have,” say adios to some of your best people. Top
talent isn’t driven by money and power, but by the opportunity to be a part of
something huge, that will change the world, and for which they are really
passionate. Big companies usually never spend the time to figure this out with
those people.
3. Poor Annual Performance Reviews. You would be amazed at how many
companies do not do a very effective job at annual performance reviews. Or, if
they have them, they are rushed through, with a form quickly filled out and
sent off to HR, and back to real work. The impression this leaves with the
employee is that my boss — and, therefore, the company — isn’t really
interested in my long-term future here. If you’re talented enough, why stay?
This one leads into #4….
4. No Discussion around Career Development. Here’s a secret for most bosses: most
employees don’t know what they’ll be doing in 5 years. In our experience, about
less than 5% of people could tell you if you asked. However, everyone wants
to have a discussion with you about their future. Most bosses never engage with
their employees about where they want to go in their careers — even the top
talent. This represents a huge opportunity for you and your organization if
you do bring it up. Our best clients have separate annual discussions with
their employees — apart from their annual or bi-annual performance review
meetings — to discuss succession planning or career development. If your best
people know that you think there’s a path for them going forward, they’ll be
more likely to hang around.
5. Shifting Whims/Strategic Priorities. I applaud
companies trying to build an incubator or “brickhouse” around their
talent, by giving them new exciting projects to work on. The challenge for most
organizations is not setting up a strategic priority, like establishing an
incubator, but sticking with it a year or two from now. Top talent hates to be
“jerked around.” If you commit to a project that they will be heading up,
you’ve got to give them enough opportunity to deliver what they’ve promised.
6. Lack of Accountability and/or telling
them how to do their Jobs. Although you can’t “jerk around” top
talent, it’s a mistake to treat top talent leading a project as “untouchable.”
We’re not saying that you need to get into anyone’s business or telling them
what to do. However, top talent demands accountability from others and doesn’t
mind being held accountable for their projects. Therefore, have regular touch
points with your best people as they work through their projects. They’ll
appreciate your insights/observations/suggestions — as long as they don’t
spillover into preaching.
7. Top Talent likes other Top Talent. What are the rest of the people
around your top talent like? Many organizations keep some people on the payroll
that rationally shouldn’t be there. You’ll get a litany of rationales
explaining why when you ask. “It’s too hard to find a replacement for
him/her….” “Now’s not the time….” However, doing exit interviews with the best
people leaving big companies you often hear how they were turned off by some of
their former “team mates.” If you want to keep your best people, make sure
they’re surrounded by other great people.
8. The Missing Vision Thing. This might sound obvious, but is the
future of your organization exciting? What strategy are you executing? What is
the vision you want this talented person to fulfill? Did they have a say/input
into this vision? If the answer is no, there’s work to do — and fast.
9. Lack of Open-Mindedness. The best people
want to share their ideas and have them listened to. However, a lot of
companies have a vision/strategy which they are trying to execute against —
and, often find opposing voices to this strategy as an annoyance and a sign
that someone’s not a “team player.” If all the best people are leaving and
disagreeing with the strategy, you’re left with a bunch of “yes” people saying
the same things to each other. You’ve got to be able to listen to others’ points
of view — always incorporating the best parts of these new suggestions.
10. Who’s the Boss? If a few people have recently quit at your
company who report to the same boss, it’s likely not a coincidence. We’ll often
get asked to come in and “fix” someone who’s a great sales person, engineer, or
is a founder, but who is driving everyone around them “nuts.” We can try, but
unfortunately, executive coaching usually only works 33% of the time in these
cases. You’re better off trying to find another spot for them in the
organization — or, at the very least, not overseeing your high-potential talent
that you want to keep.
It’s never a
one-way street. Top talent has to assume some responsibility as much as the
organization. However, with the scarcity of talent — which will only increase
in the next 5 years — Smart Organizations are ones who get out in front of
these ten things, rather than wait for their people to come to them, asking to
implement this list.
