Written by Beverly Crowell, EVP, Career Systems International

In recent Talent Mobility research by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp), it’s noted that “talent hoarding by managers is the leading obstacle to creating mobile workforces.” It made me wonder, am I a talent hoarder? Are you? And, if so, why?

According to research by Career Systems International, employees want exciting and challenging work and they want to grow, develop and learn. More importantly, they want to talk about careers, but it’s the one thing managers don’t do enough of. Perhaps, it all comes back to talent hoarding?

After all, if I as a manager, develop my employees and then they leave, what does that mean for me? It means job postings, interviews, and on-boarding. And, whew, that takes time! Time I often don’t have as a busy manager working in and on the business.

On the other hand, what if I do take the time … time to focus on the development and growth of my people? What happens? Research clearly shows they are more engaged, more productive. And, while they may not stay with me for the long haul, they may stay longer and do great work while there. I may even get a reputation as a development-minded leader which certainly won’t hurt my odds of hiring great people in the future.

What do you think? How can we, as managers, actively support the development and mobility of our talent? What will it take from our organizations to help us focus on it? And, what do employees need to start doing differently as well? It’s a curious dilemma, so let’s sort it out.

Interested in learning more about i4cp’s research? Join us for a complimentary webinar on July 20 to hear how high-performance organizations are moving past the issue and getting mobile.