“Top Talent: Keeping Performance Up When Business Is Down”

TAGS:

book review, downturn, motivation, recession, retention, top performers

John Borrowman, CPC
Borrowman Baker LLC 
Franklin, TN

If you think your practice has already been hurt by the downturn, imagine what would happen if you lost your best talent. Just because layoffs have expanded the universe of available BV professionals, don’t think your star performers have nowhere else to go.

This risk – and what you can do about it – is the message of “Top Talent: Keeping Performance Up When Business is Down”, by Sylvia Hewlett.

BV practice leaders depend on their star performers to help propel them forward. After years of fighting to compete for talent, it’s hard to hear about layoffs in the industry and not be tempted to let your guard down when it comes to motivating talent. People are so grateful to have a job, the conventional thinking goes, that they can be relied upon to contribute 110 percent.

Wrong, says Hewlett.

Recently completed, cutting-edge research conducted by Hewlett’s consultancy supplies the foundation for her tightly focused and hard-hitting commentary. She lays out a menu of pragmatic actions for how BV practices can do a better job of managing talent in troubled times.

Paying attention to talent motivation when things aren’t going well can boost your reputation and set your practice up to be talent magnet in what will certainly become an increasingly competitive market for top BV professionals.

“Top Talent” is part of the “Memo to the CEO” series from Harvard Business Press. Hewlett’s book is timely and compelling. Best of all, a quick read. Pack it for your next flight.