Product management has rapidly grown into one of the most vital strategic and operational roles within modern enterprises. As executives increasingly expect product teams to guide critical decisions around portfolio planning, customer experience and business model evolution, having a bench of talented product leaders is more important than ever.
However, the market demand for strong product talent far outpaces supply. So how can CPOs effectively attract, nurture and retain high-caliber product managers (PMs) amid this fierce competition?
Clarifying the Evolving Product Manager Role
Before exploring talent strategies, CPOs must clearly define what the PM role entails within their specific organizational context. Given product’s rising prominence, expectations of PMs have expanded considerably, leading to ambiguity.
Rather than attempting to morph PMs into “mini CEOs” responsible for every aspect of product viability, CPOs should focus on how PMs collaborate with other business functions while bringing specialized skills in market analysis, customer insights, and translational leadership. Clarifying a sustainable, empowering PM role scope builds a compelling talent value proposition.
Casting a Wider Talent Net
Too often, hiring managers 3. only consider candidates with traditional PM backgrounds from recognizable brands. However, diversifying sourcing approaches is key to securing unique perspectives.
CPOs should encourage recruiting teams to take an expansive view of transferable skills from other strategic roles in areas like design, engineering and marketing. While additional training may be required, these cross-functional transitions bring fresh lenses to product thinking.
Widening the talent aperture also means taking a chance on aptitude and potential rather than just credentials. Capabilities like critical thinking, communication and creative problem solving should be weighted as heavily as domain experience.
Creating Engaging Development Paths
Investing in professional development is table stakes for retaining ambitious PMs. Yet many organizations take a hands-off approach once PMs are hired, expecting them to manage their own growth.
CPOs should promote structured training programs, job rotations, mentorships and communities of practice that demonstrate a commitment to nurturing talent. Development paths should balance building general product acumen with tailored guidance to excel in specific product domains based on interests.
Exposing high-potentials to executive leaders through presentations, strategy meetings and short-term stretch assignments also expands perspectives on career trajectories within the company.
Instituting Flexible Career Progression Models
In many organizations, the only path forward for PMs is moving into people management. However, this narrow trajectory funnels out high-performers interested in deepening domain expertise rather than managing others.
CPOs should advocate for dual career ladders that allow both management and individual contributor tracks at senior levels. They should also identify potential product expert roles focused on horizon scanning, standards setting and internal consulting beyond specific product ownership.
Empowering PMs to evolve specialties while staying close to the craft of building great products provides ongoing challenge and fulfillment.
Linking Rewards to Outcomes
Compensation and engagement are clearly connected. Yet outdated PM incentive models often rely on lagging proxies like customer additions rather than leading drivers of growth.
CPOs should pioneer approaches that tie PM rewards more directly to the outcomes they can influence like product adoption, user retention and referral rates. Balancing longer-term product health metrics with shorter-term business goals also improves line of sight while preventing excessive short-termism.
Rethinking what success looks like — and tangibly recognizing PMs for achieving it – drives retention and motivation.
Fostering a robust, expanding bench of talented PMs requires CPOs adopt a long-term, strategic perspective. While no silver bullet solution exists, concentrating efforts on clarifying role expectations, broadening sourcing, enabling development, providing career options and linking rewards to impact can pay compounding dividends over time.
With product excellence growing as an enterprise imperative, those CPOs who build well-rounded, empowered teams will gain a sustained competitive advantage.
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