Beingaleader means you have to deal with the new reality – short term employees. Gone are the days of employees staying in one place for life. In fact, the new reality is that there seems to be a lot of fluidity in the marketplace and not only is it a reality, it’s an accepted reality.
What that means is, you have your employees only for a short time. Your team may experience significant turnover over the course of a few years. You need to take every opportunity to raise them up as leaders. To have them make an impact now. Not just think about later. Give them training and opportunity now. Don’t wait.
Why is this happening? There are at least two answers to why this is happening. First, employees are continually seeking new opportunities and, unfortunately, the old adage that you have to leave to get what you’re worth, still rings true. I have seen this over and over where you try to give someone internally a raise and the powers that be want to limit that raise and then the person either leaves and you have to replace at a higher wage or another opening arises and the reality of the marketplace forces you to use a higher salary for that new person to attract top talent. This drives me crazy. Known quantities are held back while untested new people get higher pay. I’ve fought against that my entire career with limited success.
Secondly, company consolidation, bad planning, fiscal realities, etc. all lead to employers letting good employees go quicker than they would have previously. This is often to the detriment of the company. Short sighted thinking often leads to the bleeding of good talent. Companies need to do a better job of attracting top talent and keeping that talent. The hiring process needs to be shortened. The insanity of 4+ interviews and everyone wanting to have a say in the process is hurting everyone involved. Go after the talent you need and stop hedging your bets with everyone’s input.
Impact? Companies often suffer long term. They lose top talent and suffer accordingly. The ones left behind pick up the pieces to the best of their ability. However, the talent often suffers only short term loss and then moves to higher planes in the open market. They are top talent for a reason. They have options. They are needed elsewhere.
Beingaleader means means you have to deal with the new reality – short term employees. Make the most of the available time.
Being A Leader 