Page 3 - The Leadership Line: April 2023

Engage Top Performers

Engage top performers before they leave to encourage career growth
and boomerangs

We all hope our top talent doesn’t want to leave the organization. It is critical to proactively keep an open career-
growth dialogue with all our employees but especially our top performers. Regularly discuss their goals, potential
career paths, internal mobility, and advancement opportunities on an ongoing basis. Our Individual Development
Plan (IDP) initiative was created just for that – it is an individually tailored written plan outlining our career goals
and the steps we need to meet those goals. It helps us focus our professional development by creating a career
“action plan” for skill development and career management. IDPs help improve our current proficiency and support
our development and career progression through a systematic development plan.
If great employees do decide to leave, consider including a future career path discussion as part of their offboarding
and exit interviews.

MIL Boomerang Employee

Glenita Mulcahy, HR Business Partner
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Senior Program Manager, Math-Yu
Lee and Network/Systems Administration Manager, Tarquino Jimenez for the new
National Institute of Health contract. Both Math-Yu and Tarquino re-joined MIL to
work on this contract. Our conversation centered around questions about rejoining
MIL.
Math-Yu and Tarquino told me they left MIL in 2022 due to the Department of
Commerce ITA contract ending. Additionally, he also said that there were no other
senior-level roles available within MIL when he left.

Math-Yu shared that he decided to rejoin MIL because he considers MIL a great place to work with fantastic people.
The relationships he’d built in his previous five years were invaluable and couldn’t be replicated. He also stated he
felt very supported by his manager, Vin Siebert, and as a senior manager, that put him in a position to better support
his own team. Tarquino also rejoined MIL because of his great working relationship with direct management. He
stated that he knew MIL’s culture and values, and the potential to grow.
I asked if they noticed any differences since their return to MIL. Math-Yu laughed and said that he wasn’t gone long
enough for anything to change – other than the award of a new contract at NIH! Tarquino echoed the sentiment
and added that he still sees the same values that make MIL a great company to work for. He has received the same
level of appreciation as the first time that he became a part of MIL.
When asked what have you learned by working elsewhere, Tarquino learned that not all organizations care
about their employees the way MIL does. Math-Yu replied that he went to work for a very large company in the
commercial sector – which was very bureaucratic. Contracts are not given for years, but often months. He learned a
lot about project finance and accruals during his time away. Math-Yu stated that he supported multiple stakeholders
at one time and found that he was better with customer relationships than he once thought.

Did you know?

In 2022, MIL re-hired 16 employees! We have
already re-hired three more in 2023.