Greatleaders lift up the people around them. They help employees harness their natural
abilities, guide the development of their skills, and support them along an
internal career path. Nurturing your organization’s team members has many
payoffs. Staff member stay dedicated to the company and its mission; employee
retention remains high; and in time, the organization gains its next generation
of leaders.
the persistent talent shortage across the globe is undermining these efforts. There
continue to be more jobs than qualified people to fill them. Further, this
talent shortage is delaying promotions, which keeps people stuck in their
current jobs because they’re the only ones who can do that job. Even when
there’s a career path for them, talented employees can’t advance in their own
company; they can’t step up because there’s simply no one available to take
their place.
can solve this problem by creating a rising tide of talent available to your
organization. Instead of focusing on succession plans that fail for lack of
qualified successors, developing a continuous influx of top talent expedites
advancement and elevates careers at all levels in your organization.
can you create a rising tide of talent? By ensuring your organization maintains
a wealth of quality people.
Current Talent Wealth
employees who do outstanding work are the secret ingredients that make a
company great. Sustaining a full complement of good employees fuels succession
plans and helps you maintain a competitive advantage.
as there are levels of personal wealth, so too are there levels of talent
wealth within all companies. The departments in your organization are either talent
rich, talent poor, or hover somewhere in between. Understanding your current
level of talent wealth is important. Read the following descriptions and share
them with your organization’s department heads and HR. Work together to
determine which description best describes the current ranking of each
department.
Departments
Talent
rich departments employ mostly above average people, many of who are top talent
in their fields of expertise. These people consistently do high quality work,
often exceeding expectations and beating deadlines. Numerous advancement
opportunities are almost always filled from within, creating new job opportunities.
These jobs are filled quickly from a pipeline filled with high quality job
candidates.
Departments
Talent
strong departments employ people who are at least average at what they do. Some
of these employees are top talent in their fields of expertise. They do quality
work that meets expectations and deadlines. Advancement opportunities are
frequently filled from within, creating new job opportunities. Some open jobs
are filled quickly from a pipeline of talent. Other jobs take longer to fill,
delaying promotions until new employees are found.
Departments
Talent
stable departments have a mixture of average and below average performers. Just
a few, if any, employees would be designated as top talent. The performance of
these employees is typically adequate, although they can struggle to meet
expectations and deadlines. Advancement opportunities, when they occur, are
sometimes filled from within. When jobs become open, it usually takes days to
fill some of them, weeks or months to fill the rest. Promotions are often
delayed or even cancelled when backfilling a role takes too long.
Departments
Talent
poor departments employ a significant number of below average performers, along
with a handful of people who could be considered average in their roles. Rarely
is there anyone on the team who could be considered top talent. Job performance
is usually mediocre at best. Deadlines are often missed and expectations are
rarely exceeded. Advancement opportunities are rare, prompting people to leave
for other positions. When jobs open, it takes weeks or months to fill them.
Your Organization’s Talent
rich businesses thrive while others struggle. Make maintaining high talent
wealth throughout your company a top priority to ensure its success. Require
that each department improve their ranking (or maintain their talent rich level
if that’s already been achieved). Support department heads in filling open jobs
and replacing subpar performers with quality hires. Work together with each
department to set a goal and a deadline for this improvement, such as raising
their current ranking one level or more by the end of the next business
quarter. If you need help drawing in quality job candidates and conducting an
efficient hiring process, my new
book will show you how.
flow of talent in your organization will determine its future, lifting careers
or sinking them, including your own. Hire exceptional people. Help them to be the
best versions of themselves. Offer them a path that elevates their careers and
yours. Build and maintain a wealth of talent that makes your organization an
unstoppable force in the marketplace.
thousands of companies across the globe find and select employees, helping
design and implement a process to hire top talent in less than an hour. He is
the author of the bestselling new book HighVelocity Hiring: How to Hire Top Talent in an Instant (McGraw-Hill,
April 2017). Over the past 18 years, he built the Wintrip Consulting Group, a
thriving global consultancy. For five consecutive years, Staffing Industry
Analysts, a Crain Communications company, awarded Scott a place on the
“Staffing 100,” a list of the world’s 100 most influential leaders. He’s also a
member of the Million Dollar Consultant Hall of Fame and was recently inducted
into the Staffing 100 Hall of Fame.