There is a significant lack of development and advancement opportunities for so-called high-professional talent, according to a recent survey  from executive search firm Korn Ferry. ‘High-professionals’ are defined as deep subject-matter experts, such as scientists, researchers or software developers, who may not have aspirations to be organisational leaders.

In a global survey of more than 700 executives, nearly three quarters of respondents (72%) said there was not a clear path for advancement for high-professionals within their organisations. In addition, 78% said their organisations do not have development programmes designed to help high-professionals advance within their specific function, as opposed to including them in broader high-potential programmes that focus on developing the next generation of organisational managers.

Tim Vigue, Managing Principal at Korn Ferry, commented: “With the global economy becoming fiercely reliant on knowledge, technology, and innovation; many businesses today require highly specialised leaders. It’s critical for companies to find ways to develop, reward, and advance people with deep levels of expertise, not just people with good leadership skills”.

More than half of the survey respondents (55%) say their organisations do not have ways to encourage and reward high-professionals, other than promoting them into formal management roles.

Marji Marcus, Principal Consultant at Korn Ferry, added: “Our survey found that companies that rely solely on promotions and raises for high-professionals are missing the point. We recommend initiatives that recognise the deep expertise these individuals have, and offer them opportunities to grow their contribution within their own functional areas.”

The survey found that nearly two-thirds of respondents (64%) say “being recognised as a subject matter expert” is what matters most to high-professionals, followed by being able to build their professional skills (25%). A raise (7%) and promotion (4%) barely made the list.

Nearly half (46%) said the organisation’s lack of willingness to recognise the value of high-professionals’ expertise is the number one reason high-professionals would leave an organisation, followed by a lack of advancement within their own functional areas (33%).

“Companies that depend on having a deep bench of expert talent to drive innovation and growth could find that pipeline depleted if they fail to provide alternative reward structures and technical career tracks for these high-professionals”, Mr Vigue added.

“The real key is providing the mechanisms that enable these experts to expand their contribution by transferring their knowledge to the next generation of experts – as informal coaches and mentors – without having to take on formal management roles. Otherwise companies run the critical risk of losing key institutional knowledge as experts retire or leave for another job,” Ms Marcus concluded.

Originally published by Staffing Industry Analysts.