The Hunt

A CEO once shared an observation with Artemis that has stayed with us: many leaders put their best talent on their biggest problems. He believed they should put their best talent on their best projects, the opportunities capable of having the greatest impact on the organization.

When a major account is at risk or a project is falling behind, leaders turn to the people they trust most. They know those people will step in, take ownership, and find a way forward.

But that instinct raises a question every leadership team should ask:

Are your best people spending their time repairing what is broken or building what could transform the organization?

Some problems are too consequential to ignore. A turnaround may be exactly where a particular leader does their best work. The concern is what happens when an organization routinely assigns its strongest people to rescue missions while its most promising opportunities wait.

Where should an organization put its best talent?

Put your best people where their strengths can create the greatest strategic value. That might be a struggling division or a critical client relationship. It might also be a new market, a product launch, a growth initiative, or the development of future leaders.

The decision deserves more thought than “Who can fix this fastest?” Leaders also need to ask what the same person could accomplish elsewhere.

Urgency demands attention. It does not always deserve your very best talent.

When high performers become the cleanup crew

Every organization has people who can be counted on when something goes wrong. They inherit the troubled account. They take over the underperforming team. They rescue the late project. They correct work others failed to complete.

Those assignments often reflect a leader’s trust. Over time, though, they can begin to feel like a tax on competence. The reward for being dependable becomes another difficult assignment.

These employees continue to create value, but much of it comes from containing losses and returning something to an acceptable level. They may have fewer chances to create something exceptional.

That can become a retention risk. A high performer may welcome a challenge and still wonder why every new challenge involves repairing someone else’s work. People want the opportunity to use their strengths to build, lead, and grow.

What is the opportunity cost of solving the problem?

Leaders can usually see the cost of an unresolved problem: a missed deadline, a dissatisfied customer, or a team that is falling short.

The harder cost to see is what happens when an exceptional person spends months fixing it.

What could that person have built somewhere else? What customer relationship could have been expanded? What product could have been launched? What future leader could have been developed?

This does not mean leaving serious problems unattended. It means evaluating the full cost of an assignment before making it. If your most capable leader spends the year stabilizing an initiative with limited upside, an opportunity central to your future may spend that year without the leadership it needs.

Stop trying to make every employee well-rounded

Talent decisions also become clearer when leaders consider individual strengths.

Development plans often focus on correcting weaknesses. There is a place for that, especially when a weakness prevents someone from doing their job well. But the better goal may be to build a well-rounded team, rather than expecting every individual to excel at everything.

One leader may be exceptional at rebuilding trust in a troubled operation. Another may be at their best launching something new. A third may see how to scale a promising idea into a dependable business.

All three can be outstanding. Their value depends, in part, on the assignment.

Your best person is not always the right person

A turnaround and a growth initiative call for different strengths. The person you rely on in a crisis may be the right leader for the next rescue. They may also be the person whose abilities could have far greater impact on a future-facing project.

Before assigning a high performer to the next urgent initiative, ask:

• Where can this person create the greatest organizational impact?
• Does the assignment fit their distinctive strengths?
• Is this a chance to build value, or another request to recover value that has already been lost?
• What important opportunity will receive less attention because this person is assigned here?
• Are we placing talent according to our strategy, or reacting to the most visible problem?

These questions can change the conversation from “Who can handle it?” to “Whose strengths are best suited to the outcome that matters most?”

Put your talent where your future is

Your biggest problems deserve capable people. Some will require your very best. But your greatest opportunities deserve strong leadership, too.

Being able to solve a problem is not, by itself, a reason someone should be assigned to it. Leaders have to consider whether the assignment makes the best use of what that person can contribute.

Take a look at where your most talented people are spending their time. Are they developing new leaders, strengthening important relationships, entering new markets, and building what comes next? Or are they consistently called in after something has gone wrong?

The problems may be demanding your attention. But your best opportunities may be more deserving of your talent.

Artemis Consultants recruits exceptional Mid to C-Level talent for emerging and established companies. We exist for two reasons: to help organizations grow by recruiting highly qualified leaders and professionals, and to help talented people discover career opportunities that positively impact their lives.

People. Performance. Possibilities.

Delivering Talent Worth the Hunt.