Investing In Your Executives and Senior Leaders in an Uncertain Market
No one knows the future, but as an HR professional, you are keenly aware of how tough the market has been over the past several years, especially when tasked with supporting top talent. Economic uncertainty is likely to heighten those challenges. It’s expensive to turnover talent. But the financial cost of turnover pales compared to the tactical and emotional costs of losing talented team members. Turnover affects individual contributors and teams—and their work, engagement, and morale—not simply the bottom line. Companies are “labor hoarding,” forgoing any short-term gains made by layoffs to offset the costs of hiring. All of this contributes to a labor market unlike any we’ve experienced.
Companies are spending a lot of time on their P&Ls right now. The good news is that the numbers alone don’t provide the complete picture of the untapped potential of your leaders. Opportunities exist to leverage your existing executive talent–through coaching, development, and support. These development tools help with executive retention, engagement, satisfaction, and fulfillment. They support you in strengthening your existing executive talent during an economic downturn to continue producing great work with their teams. The impact of this kind of executive support, two or three years down the line, can be enormous.
The investment opportunity often looks different for people moving into senior executive positions and those who are longtime, legacy executives.
