The Academy Network

The Development and Retention of Talent

Situation: The Chairman of Better Corp questioned the CEO about levels of recent turnover in the senior management team. The CEO advised that while they had lost three senior executives, all had left for very positive and different reasons.

While the chairman accepted the CEO's explanation, he observed that the loss of three key executives was a major blow both in terms of financial loss, market competitiveness and future talent succession. He estimated that the cost all up to the company (impact on earnings, resignation payments and replacement costs), would be in the vicinity of at least A$1.0m. On this basis, he asked the CEO to look into the matter to see if such situations could be avoided or minimised.

Action:

A detailed assessment was made of current programs designed to develop and retain executives and address Better Corp’s succession needs. Figures were prepared quantifying development activities, internal promotions and departures for the previous three years.

Executives who had left Better Corp over the previous three years were contacted and feedback sought in terms of their decision to leave, and issues within the company that contributed to their decision.
Senior members of the management team were also interviewed and their input sought.
A report was prepared detailing the findings and making a number of specific recommendations. These included initiatives to create more career/development programmes, to better align individual and company objectives, to improve the level of communications within the Company and to strengthen the culture and workplace environment.

Outcome: The CEO and GM HR agreed with the recommendations in the report and concluded that two of the initiatives could be comfortably undertaken by the Company’s human resources department. However, they decided that in implementing the remaining initiatives they would use the services of a senior executive from The Academy Network who had previously implemented a similar programme of change in a major public company.