Creating A Mosaic Team Of Fresh Faces And Experienced Leaders

Being a young worker comes with a lot of pressure.    

Managers often rely on new hires to spread their youthful knowledge to the rest of the company, sometimes even promoting them to higher positions to get their message across. However, climbing up the ladder fast can actually hinder these professionals in the future. 

During an episode of the C-Suite Intelligence podcast, Miles Group Managing Director Courtney Hamilton and Chief Operating Officer Taylor Griffin shared why most employers look for workers with the potential for promotion and how throwing them into a position where they have little to no leadership experience can hurt a business.   

Griffin says that promotions come with two risks: scope and scale risks. 

Scope risk refers to the challenges that a new leader faces when learning about their responsibilities, a norm for anyone in a new position. Scale risk is when a person is faced with being in a similar position, but on a much larger scale.   

″[High-potential employees] are takers because, by definition, [they] don’t have some of the skills or experiences necessary,” said Hamilton. “They have to take from others to do that, right? They have to leverage their team more.” 

The key? Finding a balance between fresh faces and established, respected leaders that have the tried-and-true leadership experience.    

“Talent management is, to a degree, a risk mitigation game,” said Griffin. “I think it’s just about bringing self awareness and broader awareness to how you compose a team and how you think about giving people opportunities that set them up for success.”