How to Keep Your Top Talent

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S POTLIGHT ON L EADERSHIP : T HE N EXT G ENERATION One-quarter of the highestpotential people in your company intend to jump ship within the year. Here’s what you’re doing wrong.

How to Keep Your Top Talent

by Jean Martin and Conrad Schmidt

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Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article: 1 Article Summary Idea in Brief—the core idea 2 How to Keep Your Top Talent

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SPOTLIGHT ON LEADERSHIP: THE NEXT GENERATION

How to Keep Your Top Talent

Idea in Brief

Nearly 40% of internal job moves involving high potentials end in failure. If you want to keep your rising stars on track... 1. Don’t just assume they’re engaged. If emerging leaders don’t get stimulating work, lots of recognition, and the chance to prosper, they can quickly become disenchanted. 2. Don’t mistake current high performance for future potential. Stars will have to step up into tougher roles. Explicitly test candidates for three critical attributes: ability, engagement, and aspiration. 3. Don’t delegate talent development to line managers. That only limits stars’ access to opportunities and encourages hoarding of talent. Manage the quantity and quality of high potentials at the corporate level. 4. Don’t shield talent. Place stars in “live fire” roles where new capabilities can—or must—be acquired. 5. Don’t assume high potentials will take one for the team. A critical factor determining a rising star’s engagement is the sense that she is being recognized—primarily through pay. So offer A players differentiated compensation and recognition. 6. Don’t keep young leaders in the dark. Share future strategies with them—and emphasize their role in making them real.

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One-quarter of the highest-potential people in your company intend to jump ship within the year. Here’s what you’re doing wrong.

S POTLIGHT ON L EADERSHIP : T HE N EXT G ENERATION...