The Up Side of Losing Talent

Having a star performer or company leader depart for another company can be devastating for a business and can pose a huge set-back. Project work can stall, the culture can be disrupted, and it can take time to find the right replacement.

How can there possibly be an Up Side to having talent walk out the door?

Andrew Shipilov, writes in the HBR Blog that losing talent is not always bad.

He noted that a recent study about the Fashion Industry found that when designers leave a fashion house they tend to stay in touch with friends and former colleagues from the old job. "These ties act as communication bridges through which former colleagues can learn what the designer is up to in the new job. And when several designers leave to work for different fashion houses, the colleagues staying behind build bridges to lots of companies."

McKinsey consultants use this principle to keep contact with former co-workers, which may end up being future clients. Shipilov adds, "To be sure, we are not talking about industrial espionage here. The positive effects of communication bridges on creativity come from friends catching up with friends in very general terms about what is going on in their professional lives."

I suppose one way of looking at it is bridges between companies, but I think this is just an example of business networking. As people move around in their careers they build their professional networks with former colleagues.

Can your organization benefit from being better connected to a high quality business network? Of course it can, and so, this "Networking Effect", could be considered an Up Side to losing talent from your organization.

quoted source:
Is losing talent always bad? by Andrew Shipilov