by Steven
Vannoy And Craig Ross
http://www.stomptheelephant.com/
©
2008
The baby boomers are leaving! The baby boomers are
leaving! With Paul Revere quickness, word is spreading: As the baby boomers exit,
intellectual capital and talent will be drained from companies at an unprecedented
rate. The search for talent and "high performers" is about to go from
"urgent" to "critical."
And therein
sits the joke – and tragedy.
The Real Brain Drain
Yes, you may miss Joe "The Sr. Production Guy"
as he leaves for Arizona, but his exit is not why your company might already be
taking a huge 'talent-loss' hit. The biggest brain drain and loss of talent doesn't
happen when people walk out your door; it happens every day because of a dysfunctional
and outdated approach to leadership.
It happens all the
time: Someone gets hired. They're excited. They prepare to do their best, to give
their best – because they, like you, want to be great. And then the tragedy
begins. With shocking efficiency the company shouts, "That's not how we do
it here!" And like a dog trained by a slapped nose the new hire acquiesces
and begins to act like everyone else. Which means they are no longer doing what
you hired them to do: raise the bar for your company.
People
are malleable; we conform and adapt for survival. One look at employee satisfaction
rates or Gallup's disengagement research (over 70% of the workforce is disengaged)
proves this is true. Companies hire the best – and then train them not to
be great.
Steps to Destroying Company Talent
Every
company is essentially looking for the same qualities when they hire. Beyond a
desired skill set, everyone wants a person who:
- is a self-starter,
- makes good decisions, and
- is accountable
Ironically,
if you ask anyone if they possess the above qualities they'll answer that they
do. And, of course, every person is right, because to varying degrees, we all
possess these characteristics. Yet, these are the steps most companies take to
destroy these talents.
- Destroying the self-starter: The fact is most
people lead by telling others what they want them to do. After being bombarded
by commands the 'self-starter' realizes they are free to 'check-out' and dream
about Friday afternoons. "Just wait until the boss tells us what to do,"
becomes their thinking. This leaves many wondering what happened to the new-hire's
get-up-and-go attitude…when in reality their boss sapped it from them.
-
Destroying the decision maker: The talented new hire comes in eager to show their
worth. But their ideas are met with, "That won't work here," and "We've
tried that before. When the new hire does make a decision they are often drilled
with "here's what you did wrong," and "we make decisions together
here" responses. So the new kid on the block becomes a savvy veteran, learning
to minimize risks by laying low.
- Destroying accountability: The
mantra of "hold people accountable" is shouted from the roof tops and
so the bosses do just that – they force people to deliver. But productivity
is a choice; people resist being forced to do anything, and so the minimalist
mentality grows. Quickly, the new employee is robbed of their pride and self-worth…and
they leave their best for the fantasy job that most will never realize.
NBA
Benefit Provider - Salesgenie.com
NBA
Resource Article - Time And
Talent
NBA
Resource Article - How to Overcome
the Six Temptations of Successful Organizations
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of this article does not constitute an endorsement by the National Business Association;
the article is for informational purposes for our members and viewers of our Web
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