You know you’ve made the right hire and you don’t want to lose your best employee.

Their credentials are impressive, consistently bringing their A-game to work.  In every way, they are exceeding your expectations and are a huge asset to your organization.  You couldn’t be happier, but they may not be. One day you may turn around and they will be gone.  How does this happen?

Consider this scenario as it plays out in companies every day…

That person you hired who has exceeded your expectations at some point wants more.  They want more challenge, an opportunity to grow into a new position (maybe even yours) or be involved in something new and exciting.  Right now they are bored, feeling complacent and aren’t engaged like they were in the past, you simply haven’t noticed.

They come to you to discuss career opportunities or an idea they have for a new project or role and what do you do?  

Your first thought is “oh no I can’t lose them, how will this affect me?”  And as soon as you go there you’ve lost them, you just don’t know it yet. Why?  Because the words that come out of your mouth are ones of discouragement….why whatever they want isn’t a good idea, isn’t good for the department or company or worse yet you simply dismiss them without any thought as to how they are receiving your message.  At that point, they go back to their desk and begin to consider other options, outside your company.

When employees feel that they can’t grow, and you will hold them back they feel like their needs don’t matter, which translates to they don’t matter.  

They feel like no one is paying attention to their career growth, and are either just a cog in a wheel or given the opportunity will be held back because it doesn’t meet the needs of the manager or company.  Who wants to feel that way? No one and thus it begins the process of them leaving your company. Think about it. If they don’t feel like you care about their success why wouldn’t they take a chance to go to another company where there is a chance their career needs and aspirations will be taken seriously?

But what’s a manager to do?

You’ve taken time and other resources to develop this person and losing them to another department won’t help you a bit.  You can count on them, you know what to expect and how they will perform and having to bring on someone new not only is time-consuming there are no guarantees they will be anywhere near as much a superstar as the person you have now.  

So doesn’t it make sense to try and hold onto them instead of supporting them in their desire for new opportunities?  Before you answer this consider the following:

As I stated above once they leave your office and know you aren’t encouraging them in their pursuit of new learning, they slowly but surely become disengaged.  That star performer becomes increasingly less productive. What is the cost to you to even have their performance drop by 5 or 10%?

They will be leaving you at some point, likely within the next 6 – 12 months and not only will you be losing anyhow, the rest of the company loses the potential of this individual as well.  It’s a loss to you, the company and even the employee.

How do you overcome this dilemma?

It starts with recognizing that everyone reaches a point where their learning as stopped and your star performers aren’t content when that happens, at least for very long.  That means the longer someone is in a role, there is an increased risk to you that they will top out in their learning and want something new.

If you see your role as a leader as one that develops and supports your employees, then that means you have to be selfless and not selfish.  

Their needs for additional learning, new roles or challenges needs to supercede your need for status quo and what’s good for you.  So take a few minutes to ponder these questions:

How did you get into your current role?  

Did someone support your growth and development or did you have to leave a company and join someplace new in order to get the challenges you desired?  

If you had to leave, is that what you want for your high performers or would you rather help them get what they want in YOUR company so everyone wins?

If you were fortunate enough to have someone take an active interest in your career and mentored, guided and became your advocate so you have had opportunities along the way, shouldn’t you be doing the same for those you manage?

On the other hand, losing your best employees doesn’t matter…then keep thinking of yourself and your own needs, and discount the needs of those you manage.  

You can’t control the future but you do have a significant opportunity to impact whether your best and brightest stay or find their new opportunities elsewhere.