When it Comes to Talent, You're Still Doing it Wrong

This is a summary of my writing for the 2017 Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) report, which can be viewed in full here.

What better time than now to revisit what might be obvious and find new ways to take better advantage of what this moment in time promises to you and your talent: unprecedented flexibility and enablement. Here are three ways to do just that:

Let go of “forever” and embrace “for now”

As many of you have experienced first-hand, a high percentage of makers and high performers are by their very nature risk takers and challenge seekers. Oftentimes, once they’ve mastered the task at hand, they want to move on to something different. Let them. Encourage them to do so. Be a resource and reference as they go through the process. Don’t be aggravated they are leaving, be proud that they carry the stamp of your brand in their professional passport as they continue their journey.

While this might feel like an extreme position to take, even exploring it out loud with your team allows for a more realistic perspective of what each of you are looking to get out of the arrangement. I would challenge any leader who fears one of their employees leaving by instead saying: you should fear that someone is quietly looking without your knowledge and support. Furthermore, demonstrating you are an organization with strong alumni relations—no matter the duration of service—will make you that much more attractive to the kind of talent that will be able to advance your company.

Find talent in unexpected and under-represented places

We’ve all read the headlines about why diversity is important and certainly no one in 2017 would argue against it. But chances are we are still hiring from the same “top” schools and prioritizing previous experience at “top” shops. But what about the talent in networks you’re not aware of and not connected to? What about the talent who didn’t have the money or access to get into those top schools or networks, but is hungry and ready to do what it takes to help your team win? Two examples for you to consider:

• One of the single best investments I made was in opening an office in Oklahoma. It was built around a talent I had hired as my first employee at JESS3. In a sea of “what’s in it for me?” potential hires from my generation, this 25-year-old had a work ethic and attitude reminiscent of another time and place: loyal, dependable, gritty, unwavering. She explained to me that a lot of people in Oklahoma had similar dispositions and that she could field a team of Okies. I had never even considered this state or the schools there until I met Becca; to this day I still do work with talent from this original office.
• One of the most overlooked makers I mentor taught himself how to draw while also working at a young age to help support his family. He grew up below the poverty line and hungry for a better life. Working multiple jobs and continuing his passion for art all through high school, he managed to put himself through college at a top state school and graduate with high marks. And you know what he’s been told when he’s applied to big name agencies? “We really only hire from portfolio schools.” Are you kidding me? You are going to pass up one of the hardest working, naturally talented potential hires because… they didn’t go to a school you have on a short list? His instincts to work hard and not give up were forged in struggle—even if you tried you couldn’t instill these in someone who has grown up in privilege.

In both examples, zip codes and name brands limited the ability of employers to hire truly talented employees. When you venture beyond densely populated cities (and even the coasts), blue chip brands, and top ten schools, you can discover pockets of highly capable—and diverse—talent ready to loyally contribute. Be the company to give them their break and they will forever remember you for it… and likely refer other hidden gems like them to you in the future.

It’s not about warring for talent, it’s about unleashing potential

No matter the organization, there are cases of misalignment of what your talent is naturally drawn to and what you ask them to do. Some of this can be explained away by the “we all need to eat our vegetables” principle that our parents used to get us to ingest the things that we didn’t like but that contributed to our overall healthy growth. We need people to clean up figurative and literal messes; we need people to come early and stay late; we need people to do tedious, repetitive tasks (though, arguably, less so on this last one if we are leveraging the best of what technology offers us today). But the bigger issue is that each employee’s why—their ingenium as the Romans would call it—is not being understood, unlocked, and therefore applied.

The employee might have a sense of what their why is, but they don’t see obvious or immediate ways to put it to work. And even when they do, it’s often outside of work that it comes alive, expressing itself through hobbies and not through their day jobs. Not only is this a major loss for you, the employer, but it is also a surefire way to eventually lose talent whose latent skills are in fact the very things you might need to do breakthrough work.

What better gift to give another person than to help them unlock their potential? Imagine not only the short-term benefits for your company, but the long-term effect you’ll have had on their life? I put this outcome above all the projects I’ve launched and business I’ve won. For it has given me the meaning and purpose to my life that has ultimately helped me discover my why: to build big people. Big people can live up to their full potential and help others do the same. Big people are charged up to deliver against the responsibilities they have at work, at home, and in their communities. Big people build big companies. Are you growing yours?

About the author:

Leslie Bradshaw is the former President and co-founder of JESS3 and the former Managing Partner of Made by Many’s New York office. She currently serves as an Entrepreneur at Bionic, where she coaches small teams of entrepreneurs to discover, validate, de-risk, and grow new businesses within the walls of Fortune 500 companies.