5 Steps Managers Can Take To Promote Talent

Have you ever been in a job and felt stuck even though you were great at what you do? Everyone in the department leans on you and your supervisor gives you a lot of tasks but you can't move up or go to a different job. At the end of the day, you feel trapped because your boss just won’t let you go.?

As leaders you have to take a different approach to talent management. Your job as a leader is to identify talent, develop talent, reward talent, and ultimately make new leaders. Too often in my various HR roles have I heard employees complain that they are not able to leave a job because their manager is afraid to lose them. I’ve heard managers state they can’t let a rockstar go because they can’t succeed without him or her. What I really hear in those situations is “I can’t let this person go because they have a natural ability and do great work but I haven’t done anything to develop the rest of my team so I can’t lose them.”

When you hold employees back, they become demotivated and their performance drops. The high performer may just leave the company altogether for lack of advancement opportunities. It is absolutely wrong to hold employees back especially your “rockstar” talent. As a leader you should want peers and other departments seeking talent from your team because it means that you yourself are a “rockstar” leader.? That employee will appreciate the time you invested in them and the opportunity you helped provide.?

So, you might be wondering, "how do I get to this point and how can I prepare myself and my high potential employees?" I’m glad you asked. Let me share some best practices that I have used myself and taught other managers in my time as a leadership development coach.?

Here’s 5 steps managers can take to promote talent.?

Step 1: Identify Talent

The next great performer may not have applied to your job. Always keeping your eyes & ears open for talent goes a long way. Participate in your company's Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) by becoming a mentor. This is a great opportunity to spot talent long before you even have an opening. Volunteer to mentor employees from different teams as well. Mentoring others helps you keep a bench ready should you have that last minute unexpected opening.??

Step 2: Develop Talent

This does not have to just be within your own team. Those you mentor can benefit as well. Share with your mentees things about your team such as relevant skills and responsibilities. Let your mentees shadow your current team members for a day. For your own team this goes even deeper because your job as their manager is to coach and development them. You should have regular one on one meetings with your teams. Provide them with feedback on their job performance. Teach them how to improve on tasks and celebrate them when they do. Set stretch goals as they surpass milestones. You will benefit from higher performance and they will too as they grow.

Step 3: Reward Talent

Your development should be paying off with each employee on your team. However, there is always that one or two that really learn quickly and consistently demonstrate and execute at a high level. These are the folks that traditionally you might want to keep all to yourself. Well this is where the change in mindset comes. Reward those employees in meaningful ways such as providing bonuses, raises, and even assigning special projects. These employees are hungry for more and will see the extra tasks as growth opportunity and an investment you are making in them by trusting them with these elevated tasks.?You will benefit from learning to delegate and freeing time to do more coaching. They will benefit by securing another major project for their resume & portfolio.

Step 4: Promote Talent

Once your rockstars are delivering consistently at that high level on their day to day and special projects - it’s time to promote talent. I’m not just literally talking about promoting them but get the word out. You should become a promoter for your people make sure your peers know who this high performer is and what they are doing. Offer your person to work on some cross functional teams. You should be loud and proud showcasing the talent you have helped develop. If you can, nominate them for special talent programs in your company or department like a high potential program as this will give them higher visibility & exposure. Do not be afraid of losing them because if you don’t help them succeed then you’ve already lost them. When your peers come looking or other departments come looking you will already be ready!?

Step 5: Rinse & Repeat?

Probably the easiest step now that you know the process — do steps one thru four again!?

Trust me the process works. I’m sharing my own personal experience. Just this week I lost one of my best Employee Relations Managers to a promotion as a HR Business Partner. I actively recruited him from outside of HR. I coached & developed him on his current ERM role. I nominated him for a special development program. I assigned him special projects and put him in charge of two big projects on my team. When the time came I put in a good word with so many other HR leaders. When they came knocking I let him go. He told me personally how much he was grateful for the time I invested in him and the opportunity he was given. He said if I needed anything he was there. The last task I asked him to do for me was a shadow session with a couple of my new mentees before he left and he did. This could be the story of you and your rockstar. Don’t hold them back.?

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