The talent shortage is real and despite headlines about layoffs, plenty of organizations are struggling to attract, retain and engage top talent. Competition for the best and the brightest is intense—which puts them in high demand. They are hardest to entice and also the most likely to leave.
Your strongest players have a significant impact on the performance of the organization and huge influence on team members as well. Fortunately, new data proves there are practical ways you can boost the likelihood that top talent will stick around and continue to make great contributions.
Top Talent Delivers Big Results
The impact of top performers and the challenge of keeping them–and ensuring they’re engaged–are among the top challenges keeping leaders up at night.
And leaders are wise to be concerned, because top performers out-perform average performers by 400%. This is according to research from Indiana University with over 600,000 people across different time periods, industries and job types
Top performers also have positive effects on others. According to a study by Harvard, when people sit within 25 feet of the best contributors, they tend to increase their own performance by 15%.
Unfortunately, top performers tend to leave organizations more frequently than average performers. Specifically, within the first year of employment, 30% depart, according to research published in the Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies.
In addition, research with almost 11,000 leaders by DDI finds that 9% of high-potential leaders are likely to leave and 21% of high-potential individual contributors are likely to leave—up from 13% in 2020.
How to Retain Top Talent
So how can you retain top talent? There are three primary strategies that will make the most difference.
1. Provide Purpose
When people don’t have a sense of purpose, they are almost five times as likely to leave compared to when they do, based on the DDI data.
Purpose is based on three elements. First, people want a good understanding of the bigger picture that is beyond their day to day work. Second, they want to know how they can make a unique contribution to it. And third, they have to believe the purpose matters at a human level. They may commit to delivering increasingly strong profitability, but what will truly motivate and inspire is knowing how their work makes a difference to other people.
You can retain top talent by talking about the why of the organization—and being clear about their expectations, their responsibilities and how they impact the overall outcomes. Share the mission, vision, direction and goals of the organization and provide people with something they believe is important.
2. Provide Strong Leadership
Another primary way to retain top talent is to ensure that leaders are trustworthy and inspiring, and that they lead effectively for multiple generations.
In fact, the DDI data found that people are almost four times as likely to leave if they don’t trust senior leaders. But trust in leadership has declined over time, and 61% of people don’t trust their leaders, according to a global survey by Edelman.
Ensure that leaders have strong interpersonal skills and that they provide coaching and feedback to their employees. Also ensure leaders are transparent, accessible and present.
Leaders must also be consistent in order to foster trust. They should be consistent day-to-day and be consistent in what they say and what they do. And they should also treat people with consistency—ensuring equity.
Retain top talent, by developing high quality leaders who are always striving to get better.
3. Provide Development and Advancement
You can also retain top talent by ensuring you provide plenty of opportunities for development, growth and learning—as well as career mobility.
People report to DDI they are almost four times as likely to leave if they don’t have opportunities for growth and development and just over three times as likely to leave if they aren’t advancing in their careers.
Retain top talent by asking what kind of growth people prefer—greater skills, responsibilities, visibility, networking, flexibility, autonomy or the like. Provide development toward unique goals, and think broadly about the ways that people can learn. This may be side-by-side with teammates, on a high-priority project, through classroom training or with a mentor.
Retain Top Talent
Top talent is critical to organizational success—and when you retain top talent, it will deliver returns in their happiness and fulfillment as well as the performance of the organization. Focus on what matters most—and get feedback from the best performers—to understand what’s working and how you can continuously improve as well.