Executives Are Not Loyal Either

How many times have you heard senior leaders in an organization complain about the lack of loyalty among lower-level employees?  They bemoan how hard it is to retain key talent.  Some even get quite frustrated about what they perceive as disloyal behavior on the part of those who choose to leave for other opportunities.  Well, a new study by Peter Cappelli and Monika Hamori shows that senior executives perhaps should look in the mirror.   Cappelli and Hamori studied information collected from a leading executive search firm. They discovered that 52% of the senior executives approached by the recruiters responded with an expression of interest in an outside opportunity.   They became candidates for an outside position.  Cappelli found the number quite surprising. 

What's the implication here?   Certainly, senior executives need to think about the conflicting messages that they are sending their employees.  If they are frequently entertaining outside inquiries, then how can they expect different behavior from their staff?   Moreover, executives need to think about their talent development programs and succession planning processes.  Why do many people consider leaving?  Their firms aren't investing in their development, and/or they don't see a clear path to advancement. 

One final interesting finding from the study:  Executives with greater career breadth, either outside the firm or within the firm, tended to be more likely to become candidates for outside positions.  In other words, moving people around to different units, regions, and functions can be good for your company and for the employees' development, but it may have one adverse effect.  It may actually make those people more open to moving to a new opportunity outside the firm. 

Retaining Talent: Authentic Socialization

University of North Carolina Professor Brad Staats and his co-authors have published an interesting new study regarding talent retention.  The paper is titled, “Breaking Them In or Revealing Their Best? Reframing Socialization Around Newcomer Self-Expression.”  The scholars conducted a field experiment at Wipro BPO in India.   In this study, they introduced a new type of on-boarding technique for new employees.  The methodology is called "authentic socialization."   It focuses on helping new employees identify their capabilities and strengths, and then finding ways to use them to help the organization achieve its mission and goals.   That method contrasts with the usual on-boarding process, which is more about teaching employees "the way things are done here."  In the UNC Kenan Flagler Business School Research Insights magazine, Staats explains his research:

“Instead of indoctrinating new employees on ‘how things are done around here’ in hopes that they will internalize organizational values, authentic socialization enables newcomers to highlight their unique identities at the very beginning of the employment relationship and bring more of their signature strengths to the job.”