Edited by ‘Kunle Adeniran,
Wow.
Sadly, I think you’re absolutely spot on…way too many leaders are either
unaware of the importance of these things or don’t care about anything more t
[...]
Eric Jackson, a Forbes blogger I follow and
find both funny and astute, wrote a really spot-on post in the Month of
February about why top talent leaves
large corporations. He offered ten reasons, all of which I agreed with – and all
of which Erika Anderson have seen played out again and again, over the course
of 25 years of her coaching and consulting. The post was wildly popular – over
1.5 million views at this writing.
So
why do we find this topic so interesting? I suspect it’s because we’re
genuinely curious: What would make a very senior executive – someone who most
certainly has been courted by his or her organization and then paid huge sums
of money to join – decide to pack it in? Is it greed (an even richer offer down
the street)? Short attention span? Or Do
1% actually leave jobs for the same reasons as the average Joe or Jide?
In
Nigeria, I have seen great talent (and I mean Great Talent) enters an organization
afresh, with a zeal and passion for excellent results only to be demoralized after
few months of settling down in the Job. This co-writer is a victim.
According
to Jackson (and, again, I agree with him) top talent does indeed leave for the
same reasons everyone else does. If I were to distill his ‘top ten reasons’
down to one, it’s this:
Top talent leaves an organization when they’re badly managed and
the organization is confusing and uninspiring.
About half of Eric’s ten reasons are about poor people management
– either systemically, as in poor performance feedback, or individually, as in,
my boss sucks. And the other half are about organizational lameness: shifting
priorities, no vision, and close-mindedness.
It really is that simple. Not easy, mind you, but remarkably
simple. If you want to keep your best people:
1) Create an organization where those who manage others are hired
for their ability to manage well, supported to get even better at managing, and
held accountable and rewarded for doing so.
2) Then be clear about what you’re trying to accomplish as an
organization – not only in terms of financial goals, but in a more
three-dimensional way. What’s your purpose; what do you aspire to bring to the
world? What kind of a culture do you want to create in order to do that? What
will the organization look, feel and sound like if you’re embodying that
mission and culture? How will you measure success? And then, once you’ve
clarified your hoped-for future, consistently focus on keeping that vision top
of mind and working together to achieve it.
I’ve worked with client organizations that do those two things,
and people stay and thrive. I’ve worked with and observed client organizations
that don’t – and it’s a revolving door. And that’s true at all levels – not
just for “top talent.”
It’s fascinating to me: Why don’t more CEOs and their teams make
sure these two things happen in their organizations? What do you think?
0 comments:
Post a Comment