Related Fun Fact of the Week:

A talent is an ancient unit of mass and was sometimes used as a measure of money. Some authorities say the talent typically weighed around 75 pounds. Imagine having to carry that around in your wallet! I certainly wouldn’t want that opportunity!

Nearly every organization is faced with the same issue: How do you retain talent as organizational structures become flatter with little to no upward mobility opportunities? “Career ladders” are collapsing and a new vision for career progression is emerging.

The focus on career advancement is shifting from title and position promotions to identifying and developing unique employee talents then applying those talents to organizational opportunities with the measure of performance success as the impact and results delivered, leading to the next career opportunity.

A client organization in Iowa has been shifting their career progression and performance model over the last few years. What was a typical top down, task driven, performance environment is now an employee led, leader supported, organizationally enabled organization. This all began when they conducted their first employee engagement survey four years ago. Results were turned over to an employee led engagement team chartered to make recommendations and lead the efforts to enhance overall organizational engagement.

Chris, a Brand Manager for the organization, volunteered to participate on the initial engagement team that produced tremendous results, elevating year over year employee engagement numbers by double digit percentages. During the yearlong engagement team assignment, Chris stood out to senior leadership.

Fast forward two years, the success of the organization required building a new, much larger facility. The CEO saw such potential in Chris that rather than going outside to hire or contracting someone to project manage the construction, he tapped Chris for a two-year unique opportunity to lead the expansion effort. Prior to the assignment Chris had zero general contracting experience but he did know how to lead people and projects.

Fast forward another two years, the brand-new corporate headquarters and warehouse opened two months early and right on budget under Chris’ leadership. While this was not a traditional career promotion, it stretched a top talent that produced tremendous impact and results. It has also set Chris up for future opportunities to grow, develop and showcase his value.

The future of career progression, unique talent applied to unique opportunities.

If you want better employee engagement, try engaging your employees. We know you will be amazed.

For more information on ELO employee engagement contact us or shoot us an email at info@cornerstonelearning.com.

For free engagement and performance resources head over to our Resource Vault!

Cornerstone Learning is a performance and leadership consulting organization that has worked with clients all over the world. Our focus is working with individuals and organizations to create performance solutions that deliver top-tier results by inspiring, enabling, and developing employee-led, leader supported, and organization enabled performance. We are able to successfully deliver this through multiple products and services such as employee surveys, online training, performance assessments, and performance coaching. The goal at Cornerstone Learning is to assist our clients in enabling success by developing a dynamic and customized pathway to deliver role model organizational and personal performance.