Creating the Training Ground for Future Leaders
As I look across the business pages of newspapers I often wonder to myself, how did that person get to be the CEO of that company? What did they do? Who helped them?
This then gets me wondering who will be the CEO of that company in 20 years times? Could that be me?
I have noticed in the organisations I have worked in there are programs the help people move into management and senior director positions, but generally you get invited or nominated for them and you normally have to be at a certain grade or level to be eligible.
Something that does trouble me though, is what about the young leaders and innovators that join organisations through graduate programs that end up leaving to pursue other things at other companies; I have seen this happen a lot at Cisco.
What are these individuals looking for that they were not getting from their current role? And are businesses doing enough to engage and retain this talent that they thought were worth that initial investment – sadly, I think the answer is no.
Why do people leave?
This is a question I am sure HR directors across the UK&I are asking themselves and one that they want an answer for. The easiest thing that people say when they are leaving a company is money – now I am sure this is a contributing factor, but I actually challenge whether this is the real reason and its not just a happy bi-product of moving to a new company.
I believe that most people end up leaving as they are unfulfilled, under appreciated or seeking a new challenge. It has been well documented that generally speaking most people take between 18 months to 36 months to be able to master their job and demonstrate business impact. But what happens once this has been achieved? This is the crunch point for the HR Director
It is at this point, that the future leaders will want their next challenge, whether that is a change of role, switch of sector or a new project to focus on and develop. If the organisation does not provide this next move or development for them, I believe that this is when the job dissatisfaction and the feeling of being unappreciated and being unnoticed starts to creep in and the decision to leave isn’t too far away – I think this is especially present in the Generation Y workforce.
As I approach the end of my 20’s, I can look back and see that I changed companies or roles every 12 – 18 months in the first 5 years of leaving university because I felt under appreciated and I felt I had learnt all I could, so I wanted to find the next challenge.
This need for a ‘side project’ was actually highlighted to me by someone whom I respect who is a little older than me, paraphrasing his comment ‘the day to day job is boring, its my little side project that keeps me interested and engaged’.
The Training Ground
Since joining Cisco I have been involved with many projects, including the British Innovation Gateway, RAPTOR business mentoring and contributing to a couple of the Cisco public blogs. This has helped satisfy the need for a ‘side project’ to keep me interested – on top of this as well it has enabled me to meet lots of great people across Cisco.
My current endeavor is co-leading the UK&I Early Career Network with my colleague Liz Cook. Liz and I are currently preparing to re-launch the ECN with a focus on creating a training ground for future leaders.
We are planning on creating a platform for people to get involved in additional projects and help develop the skills needed for a future leader. Offering programs that people can get involved in such as mentoring, project development and leadership skills.
From our experience already, we have expanded our network and profile by being involved with the ECN. Whether it is meeting with our university liaison team, presenting to the Country Leadership Board or meeting with EMEAR and World Wide Directors. This has enabled us to demonstrate that there are young people in Cisco who will be the future leaders of Cisco and our enthusiasm needs to be nurtured and developed or there is the risk we will be tempted away to other companies.
Liz and I both hope that as we launch the new look ECN in November we will be able to succeed in the vision of creating a training ground for the future industry leaders and leaders of Cisco.
We will be contributing regularly to the UK&I Blog so please do come back and check on our progress and if you do have any ideas and suggestions, please do comment below on how the training ground can be developed further.
