In most cases it’s because of time and money. (What else is new!) Developing talent through multiple ranks is time-consuming, and in some instances, is something the business leaders don’t know much about. Further, time is money. Finding someone with the resume intact is a shortcut to achieving great things.
However, consider this…
Those outside candidates will always be there, but wouldn’t it be ideal for your business if the talent waiting to be “called up?” Perhaps a strong sales person with good organization and leadership skills that can become a sales manager? Or a project manager with a track record for bringing in work on time and within budget to put into an operations management role?
Two ideal situations, but what about filling the roles of the newly escalated? That’s exactly the purpose of having a solid farm system in your organization. The only way to escalate talent is to have talent to back fill.
This type of internal development is great for building strong companies with high morale since employees have a chance to grow within the organization both in their skill set and their professional position/financial reward.
I’ll be the first to acknowledge building this type of system is difficult. It takes careful hiring and a commitment to developing your teams. However, for any organization that has had to hire in short order or consistently has run into a talent shortage, there is a cost to that as well.
Build your farm system strong so you can feature your stars and selectively hire talent from the outside. That is where champions are made, in sports and in business.
Daniel L. Newman currently serves as CEO of EOS, a new company focused on offering cloud-based management solutions for IT and A/V integrators. He has spent his entire career in various integration industry roles. Most recently, Newman was CEO of United Visual where he led all day to day operations for the 60-plus-year-old integrator.
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