People who seek out services like mine are usually ambitious and mobile. They do not have a particular attachment to their job nor the company for which they work. They are loyal to their own personal interests and rightfully so. It is quite easy to work with people like them because they are naturally motivated and driven.
In fact, this is the irony of career mobility. People who are eager learners and who learn quickly are the better workers. Yet they are also the ones who are normally mobile. People who are “settlers” or who stay on a job for a long period of time are not as willing to learn new skills that will require them to come out of their comfort zones. Here is the dilemma of the employer: Do I invest and develop the high-flyers who might leave or the ones who would stay on?
Of course, you somehow know the answer to this. Intuitively, you would develop the latter because they would stay. However, how would you know who is whom? What happens is that the ones you develop more are the ones that become attractive in the market. It is a conundrum that most employers resolve by limiting the training and employee development knowing that that people could leave anytime anyway. Some employers attach a contract to some expensive development programs but some just do not bother at all.
It is quite interesting for me to watch this happening. I have seen this phenomenon from both perspectives – from the employer for whom I served as HR Consultant (my past life), helping them retain the good ones and transition the undesirables; and from the employee who seeks out my help as a Career Strategist (my current work) in developing or planning their career transitions.
My mission is to help both. I am quite comfortable in this uncomfortable position of being the person in-between. I have lived in that world and thrived in it for about many years. However, people tell me I cannot serve both. Until now, I wonder if I really could find that perfect middle ground.
Frankly, it actually makes the journey interesting. It keeps me motivated to get up in the morning and work on my ideas. Trying to get a grasp of the unknown and trying to develop something that might not even work. As Richard Buckminster Fuller said, “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
I would be considered a ‘settler; after a few years of many job transitions I found a job that I love and have been here for 20 years. However, I don’t agree that people who stay in a job for a long time are unwilling to learn new things. If an employer has a learning culture, treats employees well, and gives them the opportunity to shine they should have no trouble keeping skilled and dedicated employees. My employer can’t always afford to give me the necessary training to keep me ‘current’ so I motivate myself to do this on my own. Please don’t write us off!
This is a very good point, Colleen. Taking charge of your own career and professional development is what I would suggest. It is always worth it to invest in your own growth. Thank you!