Building on talent

Source: Technology Digital

Date :20/06/2007 14:29:30

After Manchester United played Sporting Lisbon in a pre-season friendly 3 years ago, the players entreated Sir Alex Ferguson to buy Cristiano Ronaldo – the most talented player they had seen

By Terry Carroll

Two years later, he was pilloried for an impropriety at the World Cup. The manager put the metaphorical arm round the young star and told him he could become the greatest player in the world. His colleagues supported him. Ronaldo has just been voted best player in the Premiership in a series of polls and signed a new 5 year contract.

For the 3rd edition of The Role of the Finance Director, 85 top FDs were asked what was the biggest daily challenge they faced. “Getting and keeping good people” was the answer. When asked what they were doing about it, the universal answer was “paying more money.” It’s not the solution.

According to a McKinsey survey of 9,345 executives in 2005, the supply of talented workers was rated as the most significant managerial concern and the cost of these people most likely to constrain company growth.

Employee retention

Too many businesses utter the cliché “our people are our greatest asset.” Ironically, Premiership football clubs are one of the few businesses that actually value talent in the balance sheet.

The people you want to keep don’t leave for more money. If you’re one of the few that does exit interviews you may be given this reason, but it’s like that awkward moment when the maitre d’ asks “was everything ok?” People are sometimes reluctant to share the hard truth.

People often leave organisations because they are unhappy, unfulfilled or undervalued. Replacing an employee has been estimated to cost up to 200 percent of salary when learning curve and training costs are taken into account. The secret of employee retention and indeed corporate success is in talent management.

Talent management

McKinsey’s original report that sparked the interest in 1998, The War for Talent, was the result of a similarly massive survey. “And the companies that are most likely to succeed are the ones that spend the most energy on attracting, developing, and retaining talent.”

In short, every ambitious company needs an employee retention strategy, built around getting, growing and keeping good people. People who feel valued and are given the chance to grow are more likely to stay.

As Jim Collins found, in his best-seller Good to Great, ‘Level 5 Leaders’ take all the blame when things go wrong but give all the credit to their colleagues for what goes well. They are unassuming, diligent and committed. They put the company first, people a close second and themselves a long way back.

Your people are your USP

Companies talk endlessly about USPs. In an age where technology can make a process obsolete in weeks, the only true USP for any company is its people. Your people and your culture cannot be copied. When you build that culture around recognising and nurturing talent; where leaders aren’t threatened by the thought of someone becoming even better than themselves; where, as at Eatonfield, the receptionist became a project manager and the cleaner a salesperson; then you have the key to sustainable success. It’s what Sir Alex Ferguson at 65 does best.

Terry Carroll is Finance Director of Eatonfield Group plc, and author of several books including The Role of the Finance Director (Prentice-Hall; 3rd edition 2003)