January 15, 2010 | Filed under: 
What does the recent Leno vs. Conan NBC disaster have to offer other than great material for David Letterman? It provides a great case study for companies who want to maintain their top talent. According to a recent Fistful of Talent article, here are the three major don’ts of superstar talent rentention that NBC ignored:
- Never guarantee a promotion. Never. Even to your very best A-players. Folks have argued whether you should tell your A-players, as a part of succession planning, about plans to groom them into leadership roles for the future. Telling people they are being groomed for roles? That’s actually fine by me especially if such a move will help with retention. You can then help them plan for the future and grow the necessary skills to take things to the next level. Promise them a role though? That’s a different story. So, please. Don’t do it. You create a sense of entitlement, and that ain’t right.
- Never put someone into a promised role, then rescind, then offer something that’s second best. If your senior rockstar decides to step aside and go on to something else, and you then move your up and coming rockstar to fill their shoes… but the senior rockstar wants back in? Think about the demoralizing impact you’ll have when offering a second best option to your up and comer. Rockstars don’t want second best. They may be gracious and patient to wait for their turn for their big shot – but give them a taste then take it away? Not so fast, buddy! And it’s why you shouldn’t have made any promises to begin with. Don’t offer someone a role that you know is their dream job only to take it away from them seven months in and offer something else that is second best. No one is going to be happy with that.
- There will be a trickle down effect in screwing over a rockstar. Rockstars have groupies. And groupies are loyal. Burn a rockstar in a bad way? Deal with the issue of the groupies ganging up against you too. Conan isn’t alone in this situation. He has a team of people who all are working towards the same mission – of getting to the Tonight Show and making it as great as it can be while building upon the legacy and history of the franchise. Mess with Conan and, I guarantee, you deal with the backlash of his groupies and staff too. Not to mention… now look at the potential of this situation sending him to a competitor. Already, there are talks of FOX wanting to offer Conan a gig. Don’t drive your A-talent elsewhere because you’ve over promised and then under delivered. Manage expectations and be fair from the get go.
