Succession Planning: Facing up to low turnover
Posted by
The workforce is showing signs of movement again, but over the past few years many organisations have been characterised by low turnover. A combination of flat structures and low turnover can be hard work for any manager – you know people aren’t happy and would prefer to move on but either they can’t right now or still are not willing to take the risk to do so in an uncertain job climate.
What can you do to gain high engagement and contribution to your team, even when there are no immediate promotions on offer?
- Explain that tough times forge great careers. Getting their work done well and growing the work they do in a difficult climate is great for their reputation. They could look at the glass as half empty, but if they can do well now then people will know they can do well under any circumstances. When growth restarts they will be seen as high potential for the new positions opening up. Think of it as shaking the champagne bottle – when the cork is released it will fly faster! (This is true fact – the most rapid progression in my entire career followed a 2-year period where I was stuck in a dead-end job – and was directly related to the action I took and the people I built relationships with BEFORE the openings arose.)
- Help them to realise that a positive attitude and enthusiasm will help them considerably. If other people in the organisation see them as demotivated and unhappy, this reputation will make it risky to appoint them to a new team. Managers don’t want to recruit people they feel might bring a negative attitude – they want to know that even when times are tough, someone will stay positive. Even though they don’t feel like it, help them understand that they need to display positivity all the time to others in the business.
- Help them enhance their CV. While you are waiting for the tide to turn – how can you give a sense of progress by building a great CV for the next move? What projects do you have that could show a measurable impact – and would look good on their CV? This will really help to secure the next role when it comes available. One marketing department we know had limited promotion possibilities, but offered the chance of gaining expertise across all sectors of marketing. They used this to retain people for 5 years rather than 3 – by rotating good people around all sections and building great CVs.
- Help them build expertise. Can they build qualifications, go on courses, or attend world conferences? Alternatively could they volunteer to present or speak at conferences on work the department has done? Building a professional reputation also gives the sense of progress that people enjoy.
- Let them look after a small group of people. Give people coaching or management responsibility – this will give them a sense of progression and of being valued. What could you delegate to them?
- Give them visibility. Could they spend some time working with senior sponsors or mentors? Access to senior people who may be able to help find them a role move is particularly valued by ambitious people who want to understand how things look from a senior perspective.
- Give them an informal job title change. Being able to add to their CV that they were the “Organisation Lead for XYZ” can enhance the way they feel about their job.
- Swap them for a while with another member of your peers’ teams. Whilst there is a recruitment freeze in some organisations, it may be possible to swap like-for-like with one of your colleagues to give your team member (and the person joining your team) more experience.
People need to feel that they are progressing and growing. If you can’t offer promotion opportunities, you need to find other ways to help good people to expand their capabilities. If you do this, they will remain engaged, positive, and make a strong contribution.