How to Appeal to and Keep Executive Natural Talent

I regularly get the opportunity to communicate with CEOs and management of multi-nationals and SMEs about the benefit of top talent to their enterprise. I have arrived at the following findings:

* Capable executives are commonly stimulated and drawn by the potential of individual advancement as rather than substantial compensation.
* Top talent appeals to other top talent - a firm with talented executives is more likely to entice other such individuals.
* In general, a corporation full of top rated talent will get bigger more quickly, and in doing so be recognised as a market leader and yield more profits than its competition.

I anticipate that the issue of talent engagement will be one of the fundamental factors for years to come. The present-day and future availability of talented executives is impacted by transformations in population demographics, more astute prospective hires, technological innovation and globalisation. Without a process to recognise talent, bolster the skills of current leaders and raise the number of individuals in the management pipeline, an organization is more likely to be unsuccessful.

The labour sector is presently particularly demanding in various economies and with many markets having issues obtaining appropriate talented executives for fundamental business positions, everything points to the simple fact that holding on to talent should really be a high priority. It is my impression that organizations without a very clear approach for selecting and holding on to talent will overlook opportunities and have a bigger chance of failing.

Various essential points to contemplate in putting together a retention strategy:
1. Identify the people who are the most important to retain.
2. Recognize the environmental 'push and pull' variables that support retention.
3. Establish an employee value proposition for high potential/high value employees and put together systems to put this proposition into practice.
4. Talent management is not restricted to HR, it is something that each individual leader should do and be answerable for.

I am regularly asked whether executive search firms are at the root of corporate retention challenges? To be honest, the answer is simply no. Needless to say if there was comprehensive retention in organizations then executive search firms would certainly not exist, and yet retention is in reality to our advantage. If recruited individuals promptly move on, in the end neither clients nor candidates will take the telephone calls of executive search consultants who are incapable of, or reluctant to meet the requirements of the client and or candidate. I am very much convinced that a value-oriented model will outlive and go beyond a transactional model. The executive search consultants who have an understanding of this are the ones that help build up their industrial sectors.

Being successful in uncovering talented people will lead to recurring business. Search firms who line-up their pursuits with their own clients' have a substantially better prospect of doing well in every search, and in doing so having a greater chance of repeat business. Effective executive search consultants compel both the client and the candidate to make great, and in some cases very difficult, decisions. Without trust this would not be doable - the emphasis should be on solutions, not just positionings.

As the market place for executive talent becomes ever more fluid, firms without a very clear approach for obtaining and holding onto talent will miss out on opportunities and at some point be unsuccessful.

Executive search firm TRANSEARCH International has representation in most of the major economic centres of the world with 59 offices in 37 countries. TRANSEARCH International was founded in 1982 and is a leading international executive search firm.