Due to its large size, the baby boomer generation has had a significant impact on society, business and the economy. Representing people born between 1946 and 1964, boomers make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce. Many of these boomers serve on today’s boards of directors, management teams and other top-producing employee teams. Over the next ten years, our challenge will be to bridge the gap by replacing or rebuilding the intellectual capital that is about to leave us.

To minimize the brain drain, smart business leaders are implementing programs to help address the generation gap between workers. Now more than ever, it is important to attract, motivate and retain top talent, and to prepare for the inevitable shift of responsibility to the next generation of business leaders. It is also important to keep in mind that the generation just behind the baby boomers, “Gen X,” is not big enough to fill the gap. Thus, the subsequent generation, “Gen Y,” will be forced to take leadership roles earlier in their careers than prior generations.

How can we attract new talent and develop it in such a way that younger employees will want to join our industry, stay in it and encourage its future growth? And how do we prepare our younger generations for the fast track their careers will be forced to take? There are various solutions to be considered. The possibilities include: identifying young talent and nurturing it to maturity, establishing focused training and mentoring programs, tapping into the diversity of today’s emerging workforce and devising creative ways to encourage baby boomers to stay longer.

Identifying Top-Tier Talent
At Key Equipment Finance, we have taken several steps to find and retain top talent. We began by looking at our existing workforce and thinking about how we hope to expand our business in the future. At regular intervals, we take an inventory of employees, looking for candidates who have the interest and potential to grow with us. To build loyalty and engagement with our company, we let them know they are valued members of our organization. Then we make sure they get the focus, development and exposure they need to feel satisfied and grow with the job.

We have developed some specific tools to get the most out of this examination process, such as the performance calibration we built into our management process: Once or twice a year, we ask leaders to rate all of their direct reports as high tier, vital core or low tier. High-tier employees consistently exceed established performance goals and client expectations while exemplifying the values of the organization. They take the job another step beyond the vital core performer who is the employee that achieves all assigned goals and expectations but may not feel driven to do more.

Next we bring our leadership team together and review the consolidated list of star achievers and make sure everyone is in agreement. By talking through the list, the management team is able to exchange information about employee performance to provide a full picture of each targeted employee. This process balances the input of some managers who might be “easy graders” or “hard to please.” This also allows for cross-company sharing of talent between departments as well as between any of our affiliate businesses. The final step is to identify critical job openings forecasted for the next six months and determine where certain people might fit into these opportunities.

Nurturing Employee Development
Human capital is the most important asset in any company. Therefore any investment in professional development, from implementing an in-house training program to supporting membership in industry associations, is a smart one.

At Key Equipment Finance, we have a Learning University, which offers self-study, online and classroom training on topics that are relevant to the business. Classes range from hands-on training on systems or self-study tutorials on business compliance to soft-skill development such as how to manage a difficult conversation or make an effective presentation. Our “Life of a Lease” series traces the various departmental functions required as a lease moves from proposal to booked transaction.

Our Learning University personnel work closely with “subject matters experts” within our organization to ensure course content is meaningful, accurate and representative of our organization. We also offer a lending library of industry-related books, audio programs, magazines and articles.

As an organization it is important to make a strong commitment to the individual development of employees. At Key, each employee sits down with his or her manager at least once a year to create an individual development plan. Managers are required to check in with each employee several times a year to make sure the employee is on track, taking the recommended courses and making progress toward the desired goal.

Fighting the Brain Drain
Another way to fight the industry brain drain is to attract top talent to your organization. Whether you target an existing employee or recruit a new one, it’s important to guide the employee’s career course in such a way to keep him or her interested and fully on board. A formal training program can be a great way to shorten the learning curve, allowing you to fast-track employees to higher levels within your organization. The identified employee agrees to undertake a development regimen, which might include classroom training, mentoring and rotating through different job functions. This kind of carefully planned curriculum can dramatically decrease the number of years on the job necessary to achieve advanced management levels.

Diversity is another important aspect of developing the industry. In an increasingly global economy, the successful financial services company will be the one that can open its doors and encourage diversity within its own ranks to reflect the multicultural population it now serves. Equipment finance and leasing is a worldwide business with a worldwide talent pool. This presents the advantage of having a group of workers who understand multiple cultures and language, which in turn allows the industry to bring more value to its customers beyond U.S. borders.

Expatriate programs and student internships with non-U.S. citizens are both valuable methods of integrating diverse leadership styles in different geographies by providing learning experiences for all affected. At Key Equipment Finance, we can look for diverse talent within our own international office locations. We also work closely with the career center and diversity office at the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business, giving us access to diverse talent for both internships and future hiring.

Developing Future Leasing Leaders
As veterans of the equipment leasing industry, we have an additional responsibility to coach emerging talent by teaching younger employees how to lead while helping them understand industry dynamics and providing a solid foundation in the fundamentals of pricing, structuring, sales processes, personnel matters and other everyday basics.

ELFA’s Future Leasing Leaders Institute is helping to shape the next generation of the industry’s leaders by offering challenging training programs. In addition to improving overall leadership skills, participants are challenged to expand their knowledge of the industry by focusing on development of the strategic aptitudes necessary for advancing corporate growth, expanding profitability and optimizing risk management.

When it comes to the industry-wide challenges related to human capital, ELFA is ahead of the curve. In 2006, it established the Human Capital Committee of which I am chairperson. Our goal is to better understand and help address member companies’ human capital needs. The committee also helps member companies address the important areas of talent recruitment, development and retention by providing a forum for sharing best practices, resources and lessons learned.

Mentoring is another effective way to pass information from older workers to the next generation. By pairing a seasoned worker with a high potential employee, you encourage the flow of information. But be careful that the information flows in both directions: Today’s younger workers are tech-savvy and may have unconventional viewpoints — these traits may motivate them to question existing processes and offer suggestions that fly in the face of established best practices. Remember that open, two-way dialogue can be the perfect solution for inspiring enthusiasm and generating new ideas. An environment that encourages input from all workers, regardless of age or experience, ultimately leads to the most successful exchange of knowledge.

Last but not least: Encourage your baby boomers to stick around longer. Find creative solutions such as establishing a consulting relationship or an opportunity to work part time or from home. This can buy you more time as you tap into the knowledge of the industry’s long-time employees while passing the torch to the next generation of equipment finance professionals.

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Lori Frasier was named senior vice president of Human Resources and Facilities Management for Key Equipment Finance in 2003. In this role, Frasier is responsible for the worldwide human resources and facilities functions of Key’s equipment financing units. She is chair of the ELFA Human Resources task force and serves on the Compensation and Diversity Steering committees.