Attracting and Retaining Key Employees

Recently, Markon CEO Matt Dean and I presented at a recent session on executive compensation and retention strategies, “Attracting and Retaining Key Employees.” In this blog post, I would like to highlight some key takeaways from this presentation.

On November 1, 2017, Markon reached our 10-year anniversary. Over this time-span, we’ve enjoyed year over year, profitable revenue growth. A significant enabler of this growth has been the retention of our key employees and leaders. By leaders, we are referring to not only our L1 & L2 (President and Vice Presidents), but our L3 Directors and emerging leaders, as well.

Blue Chip vs. Home Grown Leaders

Many firms in the government contracting space bring on ‘blue chip’ strategic hires with significant experience in the consulting field, a resume of top notch firms, and/or degrees from brand named schools. This is a good strategy that works for many.

At Markon, we view this as a large investment that may not always pay off. Instead, we choose to develop our own leaders. While we are not altogether opposed to the idea of a strategic hire, at this time, our entire team of 15 Directors and above are all “home grown.” Not one has been hired above the title of Senior Associate, regardless of their experience or educational pedigree. 

Many of our leaders who arrived at the firm with minimal leadership experience are now responsible for teams ranging from 20-50 people. They are successfully delivering to our key clients and have embraced and overcome many  challenges. Additionally, other up and coming Markon employees remain motivated by the opportunity to become yet another home grown Markon leader. Our growth continues to expand the opportunities for these rising leaders.

Creating a Leadership Development Program

Five years ago during a leadership offsite, the initiative was incubated to establish a leadership development program (LDP). That idea has blossomed into a robust and enduring program for Markon with tangible impact; retention among LDP alumni is 85%.

Among our leadership team, all but one are either LDP alumni or facilitators, and average tenure in the group is 7 years – in a 10 year old firm! By any measure, the LDP has been a big success and we look forward to continuing to provide this opportunity at Markon.

Based on our leadership team’s feedback we are going to offer an ‘external LDP’ for firms like ours that would like to get the most out of their L3. We would love to assist other firms take advantage of their own home grown talent and reap the benefits of their investment in their employees.

Let us know your thoughts.