The Karma of Talent Attraction

I’m convinced that Talent Management is Karmic: What comes around, goes around...

What do I mean? You won’t attract the best talent until you let go, maybe even push along, your best talent. Does that make sense?

Well, I can assure you that it scares the hell out of even the best managers. I mean, we have to get work done, right? How do we do that without our best guys?
By believing that when you push them out, better ones will come.

Don’t believe me?

What about colleges? Would you go to one that wasn’t going to push you out in 4 years?
What about college football teams? Same thing, right? A good football player goes to a college that will give him the chance to turn pro.
What about the old apprentice system?
Or working for ‘hot’ companies?

They pull great talent, and push much of that talent to other jobs.

Let me give you an example.
Once upon a time, there was a division in a big company. 

You may know of one like this – employees called it the Hotel California: You could check in any time you like, but you could never leave…
They kept their top performers through a collection of less than ethical tactics (much like selling timeshares):

• The Guilt Trip: “Please don’t leave us. We can’t live without you.”
• Delay Tactics: This is a common car sales technique. "I’d love to sign your job bid, but I’m sure my boss would like to talk to you first." Of course, his boss is booked full this week, so just wait until next week (when they hope the other job is gone).
• Trash-talking: "You don't want to work for them..." Convincing employees that other departments are terrible places to work
• Undermining You: Telling the team that wants you about your weaknesses.
• Transfer Freeze: "We've implemented a transfer freeze. No one can move until it's lifted." This is usually a lie. Most companies have a pretty strong policy regarding the ability to transfer, because they don't want you to jump to another company.

As a result of stopping the outward flow of talent, this group lost its inward flow. It became the ‘Dead Sea’ of the company.
Word got out and no one wanted to work there.

So what do I propose? In order to attract talent, you’ll need to Generate Alumni. You want to place your talent in great positions and maintain great relationships.
As soon as you do that, more talent will come knocking on your door.

And having a pipeline of incoming talent is a foundation principle of Great Managing.