Talent always wants to know what’s next.
Talented people work hard to develop and grow their skills to be ready for the next opportunity and challenge.
Because of the positive feedback they receive and the contributions they make, they feel entitled to one thing: clarity about what is being planned for them.
They fully expect that their leader is thoughtfully planning how to retain their talent by staging the next experience, position, role, or promotion to enhance their development and career.
They want to know what is in store, the timing of that opportunity, and what they need to do to prepare for it now. Despite their ambition and desire, they normally don’t ask for these conversations. They trust that their leader will sit them down and discuss the plan at the right time.
So, they work hard and wait.
When leaders fail to speak with them, talented team members presume they are being overlooked. When opportunities outside the organization knock on their doors, they believe there is no good reason not to answer. Careers that are taken for granted, they conclude, equate to talent that is, too.
Of the many factors that influence a talented team member’s decision to stay with or leave an enterprise, perhaps none is more important than conversations about their career progression.
Given the importance of creating this clarity, we might assume that leaders in nearly every organization are constantly in deep conversation with their top talent about the opportunities coming their way and how their careers are being managed.
Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Leaders have a long list of reasons why they don’t have these discussions:
- They don’t want to overpromise or create expectations they can’t fulfill.
- They are too busy charting their own careers.
- They don’t have the roles, positions, or opportunities to challenge others with.
- They need the approval of those above to create this clarity.
- They had this conversation some time ago, and feel nothing has changed since then.
The excuses are many. So, they avoid, neglect, or push off these conversations to the detriment of retaining their top talent.
The hard truth is this: In the absence of career clarity, top talent leaves.
When was the last time you had a career conversation with your most talented team members?
Just because little has changed since you last checked in with them, your team members still expect to be updated and engaged about how they are feeling about their careers and what opportunities they most desire.
The best leaders stay on a regular cadence with them about the plan in place and the opportunities on the horizon. They don’t take loyalty for granted by avoiding the career conversations team members desperately want to have. That’s because they know talent retention is at stake.
A Daily Dispatch from the Front Lines of Leadership.
