Mindy Gibbins-Klein advises businesses to invest in employees' thought leadership to retain top talent

St Albans-based author and business speaker Mindy Gibbins-Klein believes companies could hold on to their best people by giving employees greater opportunities to build their own voice and reputation.

Businesses trying to retain their top talent should invest in employees’ thought leadership and allow them to build their personal brands alongside the company’s, according to Mindy Gibbins-Klein.

Speaking exclusively to the Female Motivational Speakers Agency, Gibbins-Klein said businesses should encourage talented employees to share their ideas publicly and make thought leadership part of their development.

“Invest in them, especially in their thought leadership,” she said.

“I think people should create a culture of thought leadership, encourage and reward people for sharing great ideas, and allow them to build their own personal brand alongside the organisation brand.”

Gibbins-Klein said some organisations are already making thought leadership part of employees’ development rather than treating it as an optional extra.

“The smartest organisations are rolling out thought leadership strategies for top talent, and that allows each person to develop their voice and get their ideas into the market by writing and speaking,” she said.

“It's not an afterthought or a nice to have. It's built into each person's personal development plan.”

She believes the effect can extend beyond an employee becoming more visible professionally.

“What happens when you show people that you value them? They become more loyal,” Gibbins-Klein said.

“They feel excited and proud about sharing their ideas online, maybe on stages.

“They feel more loyal and grateful to that organisation for allowing them the opportunity, and they stay.”

But she said businesses still need boundaries around what employees publish and discuss publicly.

“Of course, this is all done strategically,” she said.

“We don't advise letting people loose to write and say whatever they want. There's always an agreed plan.”

Gibbins-Klein also links individual thought leadership with the wider purpose of a business.

She said companies cannot convincingly present themselves as purpose-driven unless their senior leadership understands what that purpose is and how individual leaders contribute to it.

“It's only possible for a business to be purpose-driven if the senior leaders are in touch with and clear about their purpose,” she said.

“That may require some deep reflection and a strategy for each leader to understand how they individually add value to the brand, as well as aligning what they say and write with the brand message.”

She added: “Individual thought leadership is an important part of thoughtful leadership, and it's the forward-thinking organisations who understand this.”

Gibbins-Klein believes having several people within a company publicly sharing useful ideas can shape how the organisation itself is perceived.

“When done properly, the overall effect of multiple thought leaders in the organisation getting their best insights into the market is a sense that the business is leading with purpose,” she said.

Her own thinking about purpose eventually led her beyond the workplace.

Several years ago, Gibbins-Klein began examining how much of her income she was regularly giving to charity.

“I was reflecting on the fact that my income had really gone up over the years, but I didn't think my giving had kept up,” she said.

“I did a little calculation and was shocked and very upset to see that my regular charitable giving was less than 1% of my net income.

“I felt really bad about that because I see myself as a generous person.”

She began speaking to others about their charitable giving and said many told her they had never considered making regular donations.

Gibbins-Klein also spoke to charities and found some had few, or sometimes no, regular donors, making it harder for them to budget and plan.

The conversations led her to develop the Giving 1 Percent Project.

“I developed a very simple way for people to calculate and reflect on their regular charitable giving and decide if they can give at least 1% every month to the causes that touch their hearts,” she said.

She was later invited to give a TEDx talk on the subject.

“That made me even more determined to get the idea into the public domain,” Gibbins-Klein said.

“I share this wherever I can and I love seeing people become enthusiastic about regular giving.”

This exclusive interview with Mindy Gibbins Klein was conducted by Tabish Ali of the Motivational Speakers Agency.