Changing manager minds on mobility
Managers don’t want to lose good people. Honestly, we get it. We wrote a whole post about just how difficult it is to watch rockstar team members leave said team. We also know, through statistics and experience, that managerial resistance is the #1 thing standing in the way of internal talent mobility.
It’s worth exploring why so many managers are so very reluctant to embrace the concept. Often, these managers are already familiar with the massive boost mobility can give to employee engagement and retention. Even when they understand the pros, they just can’t see how they outweigh that one big con of having to let their best people go.
The good news is, you can help them see why mobility is the answer. The even better news is, we can help you help them see why mobility is the answer. Here’s what managers should know about talent mobility that might change their minds:
It goes both ways
Yes, embracing internal talent mobility means managers will lose some high performers when they move on to other roles. What some managers don’t realize is that it also means they could also gain high performers from other teams. Odds are more people will join their team to learn new skills and perform at a high level just as the previous people did, or maybe even better. In the end, it can be a good thing for everyone involved.
It’s another way of helping people succeed
Setting people up for success is a huge part of the job for any manager. Whether it’s delegating responsibilities, training for new tasks, or providing support when needed, managers work hard to put employees in a position to succeed on a daily basis. So, why not do the same for their broader career?
Managers need to accept that employees are people outside of their utility to the team, with goals and desires and a need to keep growing. They should do what they can to help get their people to where they need to be.
The future is shared
An employee’s career moving forward within the company isn’t strictly beneficial to the employee and the employee alone. They could be the perfect fit for the team they’re moving to, and the company will be all the better for it. Even more crucially, there’s the possibility that the people that get the chance to grow their careers internally will end up becoming the company’s next leaders.
The people that managers want to hold on to could be tremendously important to the company’s future, but they have to get the opportunity to follow that path. The other option is to lose them entirely, when they leave the organization because their manager stood in the way of their progress.
It’s not going to be easy, but we need to get more managers on board with talent mobility before we can truly make it happen. Thinking about it in these new ways could be just what they need to see that it really is the answer to retention woes.