How to Keep Your Top Talent by Jean Martin and Conrad Schmidt

Harvard Business Review - May 2010 

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     Forty percent of internal job moves made by people identified by their companies as “high potentials” end in failure.  One in three emerging stars reported feeling disengaged from his or her company and 12% of all the high potentials in the companies the authors studied said they were actively searching for a new job – suggesting that as the economy rebounds and the labor market warms up, companies may see their most promising employees leave in large numbers.

 

     The authors and their research team (at the Corporate Leadership Council) worked directly with human resources officers to examine current practices to identify what works (and does not), studying more than 20,000 employees (emerging stars) in more than 100 organizations worldwide over the past six years to address the following:

       Why do companies so often end up with a shortfall in their talent pipeline?

       What distinguishes organizations that have been able to prepare their rising stars for postpromotion success?

       Explored how the emerging stars viewed their employers

       How the emerging stars were managed

       How the emerging stars reacted to changes in the economy

 

This article takes a closer look at the six most common errors – highlighting what some organizations are doing right – and showing what can be done to correct them.

 

Mistake 1 – Assuming That High Potentials Are Highly Engaged

Mistake 2 – Equating Current High Performance with Future Potential

Mistake 3 – Delegating Down the Management of Top Talent

Mistake 4 – Shielding Rising Stars from Early Derailment

Mistake 5 – Expecting Star Employees to Share the Pain

Mistake 6 – Failing to Link Your Stars to Your Corporate Strategy

 

 

The authors’ research uncovered a core set of best practices for identifying and managing emerging talent. They are referred to as the 10 Critical Components of a Talent-Development Program.

 

Additionally, the authors state that 30% of today’s high performers are high potentials – the remaining 70% may have what it takes now but lack some critical component for future success fitting into one of three common archetypes: i) engaged dreamers ii) disengaged stars, and iii) misaligned stars.