“New Work will help me keep talents from leaving the organization.”
Principle Misunderstandings (part 3)
It is getting harder and harder to win new talents to an organization — you really need to offer them something today. Organizations are applying for new employees and not the other way around, it seems. And if it is hard to win new talents, I certainly don’t want to lose any I have already “won” — I need to keep them as long as possible. All these other organizations with new ways of working seem to be winning the game, so maybe I can use the tools they use to keep my employees from leaving.
You can’t. Because it is not about talent retention. I would like you to imagine two different worlds:
In the first world, individual performance is the most important thing there is. It is what gets people jobs. It is what they are paid for. It gets them more money. Better titles. More status. Keeps them secure in their jobs.
In this world, people need to protect their knowledge, because it is their advantage, their edge on others, their security. Cooperating with others only works as long as I can shine, show my performance (and get rewarded for it) and use my knowledge sparingly (otherwise others will profit too much from it, or maybe even steal my place).
In this world, employers need to do all they can to keep their employees from leaving — because they have special knowledge, and if they leave it will cost a lot to replace them — possibly months of bad performance for the organization, training and recruitment costs and the loss of clients.
In the second world, real value is created by teams of people collaborating and learning from each other. Knowledge is not protected but shared for the greater cause — because then all members and the organization win. Real value is not produced by having knowledge but by combining the skills, knowledge and perspectives of the diverse members of the team into real creativity.
In this world the individual is important — she desires to grow and learn and the organization wants to provide possibilities for this.
Until it can’t.
And then it is time for the member to move on. The member realizes this because she takes responsibility for her own development, happiness and well-being. Perhaps she inquires about possibilities within the organization, but if there are none that are adequate for her vision of her growth, she moves ungrudgingly on to the next adventure.
The organization is interested in providing possibilities for each individual to grow. This value for the members increases the value for the clients and the organization itself. When that is not longer possible, the organization recommends that the individual pursue their goals elsewhere —ideally it supports the member in finding a more suitable position at another organization. Because it is recognized that lack of growth leads to lack of motivation, which leads to less value being created for all.
And since the individual was valuable for the organization but not irreplaceable — the cost of the loss are acceptable. Knowledge was shared, and the individual also helped others to grow and develop in the team. This organization attracts other candidates that will add their skills, knowledge and creativity to the pot as long as they can learn and develop as well.
Any organization that desires to “do” New Work, should be striving to create the second world.
Anyone trying to retain all of their (good) employees is trying to stay in the first world. They are still trying to use benefits and goodies to bribe people into staying. This is Old Work with new buzzwords.
This is the third part of a series of observations on how the principles behind new ways of working are often misunderstood and therefore lose their effectiveness or can send us off in harmful directions. If you wish, you can also read part 1 and part 2.
If this one was a bit too black & white for you and you are wondering how to go from one world to another, my article on “Career in the Creating Organization” might be helpful.
