How do you engage your top talent?

Its important to foster employee centered professional development and growth opportunities with top talent early on in the relationship. Top talent often looks to grow and improve and that's what makes top talent. Their desire to always want to learn. The minute they feel intellectually unchallenged or feel their experience has plateaued, they will begin to look elsewhere.

Engaging top talent involves offering clear career pathways, professional development opportunities, and challenging work. Recognizing their contributions and providing leadership opportunities can also motivate them. Maintaining open communication and ensuring a healthy work-life balance are essential for their well-being. Implementing mentorship programs can further support their career growth. These strategies will help keep your top performers engaged, contributing to organizational success. Have a Productive Wednesday & Stay Safe!

Gartner research says that only 30% of organizations tell the person that they are high potential or top talent. How do organizations navigate communicating leadership development decisions when they are not transparent about the status? I would like to know your experience.

In terms of engaging with your top talent, a good place to start is to ask a few questions of yourself and the business: 1. How deep in the organisation are you prepared to look? From experience my suggestion would be to look 'deeper', don't just focus on the top tiers of the organisation. Unearth the 'early career talent' as they will be the disruptive leaders of the future. 2. What initiatives are you considering for this population? Once identified, be very specific with action plans, and review progress. Keep in touch and consider informal as well as formal mentoring arrangements. In terms of initiatives to develop the talent pool, don't just look at external programmes. Challenge yourself to be creative eg 3-6 month assignments.

I look for people with a proven track record of creative problem solving, diverse and adaptable skill sets, and relevant hands-on experience. Most importantly, I look for people with a casual, down-to-earth demeanor. In my experience, self-starters who take initiative and think outside the box often have the most potential for growth and innovation, regardless of education level. I've found that hunger for continuous learning matters more than degrees or training programs. Rather than focusing on name dropping institutions, I lean in on practical intelligence and appetite for taking on new challenges. This allows me to build a talent pool of unconventional thinkers who can thrive in a dynamic work environment.

I think this is really key to ensure that you both nurture and retain talent. Ensure there are opportunities for them to be able to upskill, think about developing in new skills also if there are ways to develop their expertise in certain functions perhaps. It should not feel that the only way you can progress is to get an upwards promotion.

I have to disagree with the above statement with Boi. To develop your own talent, why should it take a year to speak to someone. Espeically in Technology, it evolves so fast, that waiting a year to talk about about "What don't you like about your job" is not an option. What I normally see in Tech teams, is cohorts, each dev will be assigned to one. They then change this round, for example one could be working on the "Tabs bar" the other could be the actual design. Then change it round. One thing I see is a massive positive to continue to stay up to date with current tech stacks, is companies investing in their Tech team by having Pluralsight. Which is a online learning tool for developers to remain up to date with their Tech stack.

Development shouldn't be limited to a structured learning or coaching program. It should include a self-directed aspect as well to put ownership on the individual instead of feeding them. Providing them a mix of opportunities, and more responsibility paired with coaching to guide the individual through thoughtful questioning can help provide self-reflection and individual growth.

Each year, a manager or leader should be touching base to discuss an employee’s professional growth. Determine what interests your employee has and ask them about how they would like to grow professionally. Questions you can ask are: - What do you like most about your job? - What do you like least about your job? - How would you like to grow in your current role? Seek out development opportunities that will enhance learning and build on an employee’s skills in their job. This leads to greater employee engagement which leads to longer retention.

I like the last question Boi, "How would you like to grow in your current role?" because it is interesting to hear what growth looks like from the talents perspective, not just what the line manager and senior management propose. They may suggest a growth model that is way more relevant than one that is currently in place.

HR Professionals may sometimes wonder how talents are meant to be treated and managed. Asking what does recognition mean to a talent can help get the most impactful engagement ideas. Intentionally curating the talent experience in our organizations will have a far reaching positive impact on many dimensions that determine how the talent feels while they stay and when they choose to move on to the next.

Ask your employee how they would like to be recognized. This will make the recognition more personal, meaning, and impactful.

‘What get recognized gets reinforced and what gets reinforced gets repeated’ Imagine what will happen if repetition happens with your star performers …what impact it can have to the organization. Recognition is essential for keeping them engaged, motivated, and committed to the organization. As illustrated above it could be monetary or non monetary incentive -soliciting their opinions, listening and implementing their ideas, providing flexibility in work options, supporting their work life balance, providing constructive feedback they all may seem small tokens but indeed go a long way in creating positive work culture to retain your top talent.

Recognizing Talent in general shouldn't just be limited to top talent. Most people when put in the right environment will thrive and putting a strong focus on one group can make others feel a lack of inclusion and belonging in an organization which can lead to disengagement and poor performance. It is far more important to provide individuals with an environment they can thrive in and feel appreciated for their contribution rather than singling out a single group.

Top Talent needs to know that they are top talent. Some organizations are super secretive about this data and in effect lose its impact. Some organizations do a fabulous job of identifying, communicating, developing, and recognizing top talent. Some ways of recognition are creating a separate cohort that can be branded, faster career progressions, creation of shadow boards etc. On the flipside once your top talent knows its worth and the organization is unable to keep them engaged, then they are high flight risk.

At work, we were allocating assignments for a big event. In fact, it was our biggest event ever. Then, someone realized that 'Johnny' didn't have an assignment. People were trying to figure out where to plug him in based on the pre-set assignments. However, the event was a fundraiser, and 'Johnny' is exactly that...a FUND-RAISER. He has the talent of WOO, or winning others over. He has never met a stranger. His network is EXPANSIVE! Please know that I'm not an overbearing person who has to get their way. But, I was like "Johnny doesn't need an assignment. Let Johnny be Johnny. Let him get to the bag! Let that man roam free." In a nutshell, yes, there are certain parameters for work; but let talent do what it does! Let them roam FREE!

Definitely for me, espeically in a led technology environment. I have continued to come up with "new" and "creative" ways of doing things. Job descriptions are the same these days, so I started my own podcast, to invite hiring managers and invite candidates to this live. This helps give a more digital view of the culture, team and real challenges that they face. It helps connect the hiring managers to the candidates to ask the questions that they would only get at interview!

Show me the incentives, and I'll show you if you'll be able to engage & retain top talent for the long haul. Communicate what's most important to them. Then give them meaningful work, challenge them to keep growing. And then reward them with the incentives that's most important to them.

Engagement shouldn't just be limited to top talent. All employees should be engaged and provided with a sense of belonging. When it comes to top talent it will be far more important to ensure they are being provided feedback on their progress, areas for improvement, and the appropriate mentorship to help them grow, but also for them to empower others below them. By growing strong internal leaders the chances of having a top-performing organization can be greatly impacted by the culture of inclusion you create for everyone and not just a single group of top talent.

Create an engaging culture and you will have engaged employees. Culture is created by having a clearly articulated vision, setting clear expectations, encouraging open dialogue, fostering growth, rewarding good behavior and not tolerating poor behavior, recognizing contributions, promoting trust and respect, and leading by example, to name a few things.

How do you feel about telling talent they are considered "High Potential" vs. "Top Talent"? I used the former for years, but I also like the latter for a softer, more personal "label."

I like top talent. Depending how you use the nine box, you could have some people who are in fact top talent, but are not on the high potential row. I think it helps clarify for managers who are new to the process.