How to Cultivate and Retain Leaders

A company is only as good as its leaders. Recently, low unemployment rates have made finding and retaining the best leaders difficult for businesses. When unemployment rates are low, the excess of opportunities usually leads to increased rates of job hopping.

Job hopping isn’t ideal, because employee turnover is expensive. It also means that more leaders are being hired externally, rather than cultivated from within.

Independent research firm, Bersin & Associates, states it quite perfectly: “It is hard to find a company which has survived many economic cycles that does not have a sophisticated leadership development strategy in place.”

At Centro, we know that leadership development is an antidote to today’s job-hopping culture. A good leadership development program will boost employee engagement, reduce turnover, and increase an organization's ability to deal with gaps in the talent pipeline.

Here are our top two tips for cultivating and retaining leaders:

1. Invest in self-improvement. 

Self-improvement is one of Centro’s core values for a reason: “lasting happiness is achieved through continuous personal growth.” In other words, the success of our leaders depends on the opportunities we provide for learning and advancement.

LinkedIn’s 2018 Workforce Learning Report found that 93% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their careers. Further research shows that 80% of employees consider high skills training a top benefit.

Ongoing training and development programs can help your team become more skilled in every part of their job. Providing additional opportunities for continued education is also a great way to prime team members for leadership roles.

2. Create a plan.

If your employees aren’t sure how, when, or why to take advantage of self-improvement programs, then those programs aren’t being fully utilized. It’s important to create a strategic plan around leadership cultivation, in order to track the progress of each individual.

For example, Centro made the investment to boost our own leadership development program based on the teachings of the Conscious Leadership Group. Our leaders are enrolled in a 10-module program that includes reading materials, in-person coaching, online courses, and cohorts with peers. Content includes topics such as hiring for fit, value alignment, emotional intelligence, and the power of feedback.

Investing in people follows one of the oldest rules in the book: You get what you give. We’ve seen that every dollar we put into our leaders comes back to us in measurable benefits.

Curious about the perks and benefits of working at Centro? Learn more about our total compensation package here.