Has this happened to you?

"I feel like I've been punched in the gut". - client

The first words out of the mouth of my client who called me last week.

What was he talking about?

One of his top performers was leaving the firm. Someone that my client and his senior leadership team had tagged as having "high potential".

A real go-getter. A team player who had all the skillsets necessary for a next-gen leader to do great things.

Has this happened to you?

It happened to me many times as a managing partner leading a transformational change in our business. And every time, every time!, it hurt. It felt like losing a family member.

It's funny how you can see the potential in someone and they do not see it in themselves.

Business Is Good.

By and large, business is good. For some, it's one of the best years so far that they have ever had.

So good in fact that today capacity is one of the biggest issues facing most businesses.

There are several ways to overcome the lack of capacity issue. I've heard that some are turning away opportunities. Not a winning strategy.

What Can We Do?

If you don't have enough people to deliver on your promise to your customers, then no doubt you are under a great deal of stress.

Common sense dictates that you employ one or several tactics to solve this problem, such as: finding alternative external sources of manpower through joint ventures and/or outsourcing offshore/inshore, redeploying existing resources within your firm, and work-flow optimization including leveraging technology to streamline processes, among others.

Additionally, I recommend that you reevaluate the quality of your customer relationships to make room for your ideal customers.

The way we have dealt with this situation in the past, however, has been to ask more of those who already work for you and for them to pick up the slack.

The thing is, that was then. This is now.

That Was Then. This is Now.

Now, your employees want more from their experience working at your company. Yes, adequate compensation is important, but not the only thing.

A recent McKinsey & Company survey found the top five reasons for changing jobs are inadequate compensation, lack of career development, uncaring or uninspiring leaders, lack of meaningful work, and unsustainable work performance expectations (McKinsey Daily Report, May 16, 2023).

There is a war for talent. How have we been fighting this war? By paying more.

The problem is, this is a zero-sum game. In a tight labor market, this is 'I win, you lose' (and visa-versa) when it comes to finding talent.

What You Can Do.

I believe that you have to do everything you can to retain good talent. Identify your top performers and hi-potentials and give them the training they need to succeed.

Don't let compensation be an issue.

You've got to invest in your people. Find ways to enable them to contribute to the organization with opportunities for growth and advancement with meaningful work.

Evaluate the quality of your internal training programs and consider training for the NextGen future leaders.

The Bottom Line.

The bottom line is your employees want to feel like they belong, that they can contribute to the success of the company, that they believe the company will be around into the future and thrive, and that they have a future there.

Back to my client, don't just tell them that they have a future. That's not enough. Don't tell them. Show them.

Show them by having one-to-one conversations showing that you care. Listen intently, invest in their growth, and give them meaningful assignments.

Until next time!