Nobody wants to lose talented employees: They can be hard to find, expensive to replace, and pivotal to your long-term success. So how do you retain high performers? The best workers want to be challenged, rewarded, and work with the best companies—and that means making diversity, inclusion, and belonging (DIB) a priority.
Companies that lean into DIB are typically more innovative and creative, perform better financially, and have a stronger culture.
While changing the status quo isn’t simple, asking tough questions and exploring new ideas can help your company develop and hold onto stronger leaders and more engaged employees. Here are three ideas to consider as you assess your development plans.
Consider how you identify your future leaders
Building a talent pipeline is a process that aims to identify leaders at every level of your organization and address gaps between the talent you have and the skills you’ll need in the future. How do you distinguish the top performers in a large talent pool? You may want to start with a wide net.
One challenge is that many common signals—such as employee track records—are open to conscious and unconscious bias, something many companies are working to address.
These selections can impact the performance indicators companies look toward, and employees know it. According to a survey of diverse employees by Boston Consulting Group, half of the respondents said they “don’t believe their companies have the right mechanisms in place to ensure that major decisions (such as who receives promotions and stretch assignments) are free from bias.”
Find balance in employee track records
Identifying high-potential employees typically relies on individual performance metrics. But what those metrics are, and how they should be weighted, is often open to debate—especially if the criteria for advancement aren’t particularly well defined.
Typical indicators might include:
- Achievements and accomplishments
- How long it take to improve from average to the top performer
- A commitment to growth, such as pursuing new qualifications or certifications
- Initiative to boost their skills to help them advance
- Internal or external recognition, such as awards for professional achievement
- Reflecting the organization’s values, such as leading internal initiatives or volunteer commitments
In an interview with SHRM, Steve Hop, a vice president at workforce management company Caliper, cautioned against relying too heavily on the most visible traits, such as confident communication, effective presenter, or plenty of drive—”even if that’s at the expense of collaboration, active listening and respect for others’ opinions.” Instead, he suggested considering less visible factors as well, such as the ability to coach others, natural leadership capabilities, and effective problem-solving skills.
Execute the talent development plan
With a strategy to identify the high-potential employees throughout your organization, you can provide access to the opportunities they’ll need to reach the next level. What are the programs that can have an impact?
Motivational and leadership training opportunities
Developing internal leadership capabilities is a priority for many business executives, but the impact often gets sidetracked. Why? As McKinsey and Company explained, there are four ways companies can avoid derailing their training efforts:
- Taking context into account (i.e., strategy, culture, position)
- Tying training to high-value work experience
- Exploring mindset challenges
- Measuring the impact on performance
External learning opportunities
There’s an adage to hire for personality and train for skill. That’s where external partners can provide value. “We’re seeing an emergence of the micro-credential. It’s this ‘nano degree’ or smaller certificate, previously global head of technical talent development & digital learning at Adobe. “It’s university-based so it has the prestige of Harvard or MIT or Carnegie Mellon, but it’s more of an advanced certificate.”
Another emerging skill for high-performance leaders is the ability to manage distributed hybrid teams. According to the 2024 Future Workforce Report, nearly three-quarters (72%) of hiring managers plan to continue or increase their use of skilled independent professionals. To maximize that contribution, top performers need to get comfortable leading hybrid teams and leveraging their unique skills and diverse perspectives.
Peer-to-peer mentoring relationships
Peer mentorship programs can benefit mentors as much as mentees and be one of the more powerful tools in your DIB efforts. But it’s important that the process not become too bureaucratic. As executive coach, Naz Beheshti wrote in Forbes, “If the program comes across as another obligatory HR program, mentees and mentors are likely to resent it or merely go through the motions.”
Cross-departmental training for well-rounded employees
Cross-training future leaders uses initiatives such as job shadowing, collaborative projects with other departments, cross-functional training, and role sharing to allow workers to gain knowledge and skills while interacting with new colleagues.
How can these talent development programs help advance your company’s commitment to DIB? In an article for HBR, sociologists Frank Dobbin and Alexandra Kalev explained why some particular types of programs can have a positive impact on addressing bias and, ultimately, increase representation among managers:
- Getting current managers to take an active role in boosting diversity within the company
- Increasing contact across different groups, such as encouraging cross-functional teams or rotating management trainees
- Promoting social accountability by increasing transparency
“That’s why interventions such as targeted college recruitment, mentoring programs, self-managed teams, and task forces have boosted diversity in businesses,” Dobbin and Kalev noted. “Some of the most effective solutions aren’t even designed with diversity in mind.”
When identifying and developing great talent is a priority, it’s easier to hold onto top performers, nurture cohesive teams, and prove that you’re as invested in your employees’ success as they are in yours.
