The CEO’s Competitive Advantage

The war for talent still rages, however, we are hearing and seeing some “loosening” in the job market over recent weeks. The talent wars that challenged businesses in the years leading up to the pandemic were escalated by the workforce revolution. Workers are seeking better, higher paying jobs and for some, jobs that align with the flexible work options they value.

Prospective employees want more than just a good job and competitive salary; they also want companies with a compelling culture, flexible work options, and a noble purpose with development opportunities for personal and professional growth. Adding to this challenge is the issue of employee retention. It’s said no-one leaves a ship during a hurricane, but they will once the storm passes. Recent research published by Microsoft revealed that 41% of the global workforce is likely to consider leaving their current employer within the next year. While some Boomers have been leaving the workforce through planned retirements, others have retired early as a result of the pandemic.

A new workforce is taking shape as Millennials step up into higher levels and Gen Zs begin to step in as frontline employees. These generations are different and a recent article “Act your wage” in The Executive outlined two types of future employees that require a two-track approach to attracting and retaining staff.

The first track will focus on the Task Operators. These are employees who are interested in short-term, tactical work. They are here to contribute, to make a living and live well while at it. Their priorities are elsewhere, and work is merely a means to an end. They do not see any higher purpose in working for your company’s cause. They are here to collect their paycheque and give value in return. They are probably not going to produce the next leader or be integral to your succession planning.

The second track is for the Purpose Pursuers or Future Leaders. These are employees who see work as a way to make an impact on the world and they want to have impact in the business. They are ambitious, want to progress quickly and see the impact they make on customers, the business and the planet as a great cause to commit to. They are here to grow and create. They want to be developed and honed to become your future leaders.

Personal and professional growth plans need to be aligned not only with your organisational ambition, but also with the ambition of your employees. While the Task Operators may not want to move upwards towards leadership responsibility, they still need to be trained in both skill and competencies to achieve mastery. Don’t be fooled into thinking these operators are lazy or lack ambition; their ambition is just weighted towards doing a good job and having time to pursue other ambitions outside of the formal job role.

CEOs should start with understanding their organisation’s bench strengths in each of the two categories. Identifying the high potential employees and the speed at which they are accelerating through defined career paths. This provides a view of succession planning and helps reveal talent gaps that stand in the way of long-term goals.

Employees who want to lead and contribute strategically but don’t see a clear path that leads there, become a retention risk. We also need to accept that large numbers of employees have decided that leadership is not the path for them. Task workers want to do a good job and be fairly paid for it while living a more balanced life. It’s not wrong, it’s just different from the more traditional view of a sustainable workforce. Future leaders on the other hand need to be supported on a track of growth and leadership development. This divide in resources will be more apparent as it will affect all employees, those who are on the task track and those on the leadership growth track. In many ways, the choice of balanced worklife by some employees will be clearer in terms of the future sacrifices it may entail. This will be evident in the way organisations provide resources, invest in training, pay and incentivise employees, and evaluate performance.

While some will consider this approach challenging or even unfair, it is simply a response to today’s emerging employment trends. It is not meant to punish anyone for their choices, but it does recognise that there may be consequences for that choice.

If employee development is to become the CEO’s competitive advantage, we need to look at it very differently than before. Creating a clear career path is an underutilised component of attracting talent and retention of key staff for small and medium sized businesses, so to create a sustainable business for the future, organisations need to start recognising which employee belongs where and dedicate their resources accordingly.