News & Events

By Patty Hampton, CSP, Managing Director, Staffing Services/Executive Search Consultant

Is your management team prepared to lose one of its top players? Can your top performers be pilfered or wooed to another organization? Do you have a retention or succession plan in place that not only addresses how to keep your talented workforce engaged, but one that tells employees how they are rewarded?

The story of LeBron James leaving the Cavaliers is still fresh in my mind and after talking to my brother last night; clearly the basketball world is still spun up about how LeBron broke the news that he was going to put his talent to work with the Heat in Miami.

LeBron James left a sour taste in the mouths of many Cavalier fans, but owner Dan Gilbert needs to have his head examined if he thinks any top player would stay with a team where a NBA Championship was never achieved.

Why do top performers leave an organization?

No one wants to work for an organization that has a bad reputation, high employee turnover, and a broken organizational culture that lacks leadership and vision. Employees will not support or focus on a mission they don’t believe in. Employees need more, especially top performers. Employees like to play on a winning team and they will either seek it in an active or passive career search.

If you are building a talented workforce or plan on keeping the one you have, then now is the time to reward your top performers. Knowing what makes your top performers tick and what inspires and motivates them should never be a mystery to your CEO or Human Resources. Top performers impact the success of the organization and if they leave you might be facing a morale issue too.

If you lost five of your top performers today, how will the loss impact your organization? More importantly, how would you respond? Would you spin out of control like the owner of the Cavaliers or do you have a retention and succession plan in place?

I recommend you have a plan in place that not only addresses retention but one that includes a succession plan.

Over the next few years the Baby Boomers will be retiring and the next Generation, more than 44 million of them (including my 28 year old son) will not only be available to work, but you need to make sure you are including them and other generations in your succession plan.

If you lose some key senior level executives that have led successful teams in the organization, you better believe others might be looking as well. People will follow effective, charismatic, and visionary leaders. By engaging all generations in your retention and succession plans you are preserving a talented workforce and keeping some of your best performers.

Whatever happens in the next few years, I hope you are prepared to keep your top performers. I would hate to find out that you’ve been “LeBronned” and your CEO is having a conniption at the other end of the hall.