Every business leader should be concerned about increasing the tenure of career nomads. The average job tenure is just over four years for the entire workforce. However, it is as low as one to two years for younger professionals. We are in the era of career nomads. Moreover, they move from opportunity to opportunity with increasing frequency. For them, it is all about to learn and earn, make an impact, and move on. They are seeking purpose and fulfillment.
“This point was brought home humorously in an extreme example said to me over dinner by the CEO of a huge company, which hires hundreds of college interns each year. Three weeks into the internship, the CEO addressed the new class of interns. When it came time for questions, one of the interns stood up: “I don’t know if this is working out for me. I don’t feel I am making an impact on anyone’s life.”
The CEO replied, “Maybe you should give it a little more time.” — Gary Burnison, Korn Ferry
When there is low unemployment, turnover increases; however, you should not expect this reality to change without implementing a new talent management strategy. Interestingly, the career nomad phenomenon is broader than only with millennials. It is occurring at all levels including senior management positions.
Career Nomad Trend Will Continue
While there is no means of stopping the career nomad trend, you implement effective strategies to extend that two-year job tenure to three years—then that three years to six years. Another critical point, these strategies are especially important to keep your high-potential employees. Moreover, finding your hidden stars and developing them is the secret to long-term success.
These staff members will make the most impact on your organization (the 20 percent who accomplish the 80 percent). Moreover, their learning, development and engagement need to be a critical executive priority. However, high-potential employees need to be identified through a comprehensive succession planning process much earlier than in the past—then nurtured, mentored, and developed. I encourage organizations to start succession planning during the onboarding process.
The Break-Even Point
Unwanted turnover is an enormous hidden cost. Above all, a new employee takes time to become oriented, let alone discovering how to navigate the informal networks within your organization that makes them productive. Given the learning curve associated with any job, it can take months before someone makes a real impact.
A survey by Harvard Business School of 610 CEOs estimates that typical mid-level managers need 6.2 months to reach their break-even point.
With this in mind, consider productivity into three timeframes:
- the first month or so, after training, new employees function at about 25 percent productivity
- for weeks 5 through 12, the productivity level goes up to 50 percent
- through weeks 13 to 20 usually bring the employee up to a 75 percent productivity rate
Notably, around the five-month mark, an organization can expect a new hire to reach full productivity. Do you track this in your organization? New hires want to be as productive as soon as possible.
Strategies to Extend the Tenure of Career Nomads
“If you're early on in your career and they give you a choice between a great mentor or higher pay, take the mentor every time. It's not even close. And don't even think about leaving that mentor until your learning curve peaks.” — Stanley Druckenmiller
It is crucial to realize that career development within the organization is no longer like climbing a ladder. Today, it is climbing a lattice, moving up, and branching out.
With this in mind, here are the critical considerations:
Recruit for Learning Agility
The ability of an individual to apply past experiences and lessons learned to new challenges and opportunities is an essential predictor of success. Moreover, think of this performance trait as knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do.
Identify and develop the trait learning agility as early as possible. A point often overlooked, is that this step is particularly crucial among high-potentials whose desire to learn more, stretch, and grow. You can accomplish this transformation at your organization, with the right career development opportunities.
Today’s leaders perform best if they have an agile leadership style. If you are looking at a potential employee, whom you would one day like to have as a leader, assess the leadership style during the selection process. We use our preferred style when we are under pressure.
Matching high-performers to the right roles is critical.
In our performance analytics, we measure high-potential and can predict success in the current position and one, two, or three future moves.
Career Architecture
You need to give employees a view of a variety of roles throughout your organization. This approach can show how they can satisfy their career aspirations at your firm. Moreover, this strategy is essential to extend their job tenure. The longer talented people stay, the more likely the organization will be to invest in their development. However, your mindset needs to flip the view 180 degrees. The more you invest in employee development, the more likely it is that they will stay with your organization.
The 70/20/10 Rule
The development comes from assignments and their supervisor, not the classroom. That is the 70/20/10 rule of thumb,
- 70 percent of learning on-the-job
- 20 percent of learning from others (especially the manager)
- 10 percent of learning via formal training
When you put the 70 and the 20 together, it shows the importance of the leader who takes an interest in the development of his or her direct reports. It gives employees opportunities to learn and grow. Ensure this is a performance metric for all managers. This metric creates a performance multiplier.
We encourage weekly check-ins to create opportunities for this knowledge transfer.
Onboarding and Development
The onboarding and development of career nomads must be a leadership priority. Most organizations outsource onboarding, development, and mentoring to Human Resources. However, business leaders must be accountable for onboarding, career development and mentoring. This approach
- increases employee engagement
- reduces turnover
- ensures that team members can progress in their careers
The most effective development occurs when you understand the performance traits of high-performers in the role and compare them to the new hire or incumbent in the position. In addition to using the strengths, this gap analysis enables you to target development and provide strategies to manage the challenge areas.
Use Situational Strengths
“A study featured in Public Personnel Management Journal reports that managers (31) that underwent a managerial training program showed an increased productivity of 22 percent. However, a second group was provided coaching following the training process and their productivity increased by 88 percent. Research does demonstrate that one-on-one executive coaching is of value.” – F. Turner, Ph.D.
We have had remarkable success combine and understanding of performance traits require for a role and helping an employee become self-aware of their superpowers. It is important to note, that to increase the chance to do what an employee does best every day, they need four things,
- knowing the high-performance traits required in the role
- understanding how their attributes match with the position
- leveraging their strengths that align with the task at the right time and exercising caution with other superpowers — they may be too dominant for the job
- developing strategies to manage their challenges with the high-performance traits required in the role
Coaching was once the last step to save an executive who was about to fall off the ladder. Today, leadership coaches now help smooth a promotion, teach outsiders about their new culture, and tune up talent. By the same token, coaching works at all levels, especially with high-performers. With this intention, we coach people to become expert in situational strengths. Our coaching takes a holistic view of the individual: work, organizational values, fulfillment needs, and career development work in synergy — not against one another.
Concluding Thoughts
“Paychecks can’t buy passion.” — Brad Federman
As more talent is on the move, organizations need to find ways to rapidly engage new hires and make the most of an employee’s contributions while they are in their role. Our best-fit staffing program is a valuable tool to help you select the right team members. Keeping people on the job longer, with real opportunities to learn and grow and makes an impact. It can be a win/win solution that satisfies the career nomads and their employers.
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