8No Talent Left Behind
Leadership doesn't just happen; promotions don't fall from the sky. Biased performance reviews feed gender and racial disparities in the workplace because they determine how people get paid and who gets promoted. And we know from research that BIPOC employees, women of color in particular, receive less support and advancement opportunities. It is the responsibility of executive leadership to de-bias the inputs (i.e. performance evaluations) that determine who gets promoted, and provide managers with the tools to understand racial inequity dynamics across the employee lifecycle.
Managers, in turn, must develop the skills to coach their people into optimal performance and career growth. This means giving the people they manage as much attention as they give to creating products, platforms, or services. How do you do that? Ask good career questions, help individuals clarify their goals, offer coaching more than corrections on skills gaps, and prep all team members for their next role. We've all learned by now that talent is the lifeblood of an organization. Organizations that thrive ensure they have the right people doing the right jobs and nurtured with the right resources. Otherwise, you risk losing the talent you worked so hard to hire and need to retain.
Take Desiree Booker, a career strategist. She held two communication roles, with two different managers, and she shared how each person who managed her directly affected how long she stayed at each company. ...