Retain Top Talent

How much do you encourage, role-model, and reward employees for volunteering within their professional arena, or in the area of their community with non-profit/civic organizations?

The question I've got is how hard do you want to work on creating an outstanding company culture - one that brings great employees to your doorstep and makes it very tough for people to consider leaving. Very few companies put even an ounce of effort into creating an outstanding culture and work environment. The results and impact form this effort are exceptional. Why are most companies so resistant to wanting to improve their culture?

My most successful clients thrive on building these components into their workforce  - particularly around communication and feedback. Most companies are horrible at these two basic fundamental elements of "hearing" the members of your team or workforce.

The biggest problem with your middle management who are supervising the bulk of your employees is that most of them have no clue how to coach, engage, lead, motivate, and drive higher levels of effort and performance.

Why do they not know how to do this - because you don't teach, coach, explain, role-model, and help them to become outstanding as managers in your organization. Gallup indicates this is 70 percent of the equation for what engages your workforce or turns them off. Every dollar you spend on improving your middle managers has a high leverage of 10X return.

Why do so many companies invest so little in their front line managers?

I'm going to suggest that less than 10 percent of my clients do a good job on these two elements of creating a mission oriented culture and nurturing persona/professional goals. Is it any wonder why turnover rates are so high?

More productivity comes out of engaged employees than those who are disengaged. Are you constantly monitoring your level of engagement and using metrics and KPIs to improve that fundamental element of keeping and motivating your workforce?

Here's the stunner quote from the article:

"It is reported that 43% of employees are bored at their current jobs. These employees feel that the company is underutilising their skills and talents, and the company lacks opportunities for them to hone their skills. Once the employees start feeling disengaged, they are more likely to seek other employment."

How rigorous are your initiatives around developing, training, and leveraging employee capabilties?

I stumbled across this article and it resonated for me. Most of my clients evolve through a slow and methodical change process that tends be incremental and minor from year to year. Very few of my clients take risks, make mistakes, challenge the status quo, innovate, and encourage creativity. Are you stagnating, slipping backwards, or slowly dying because of a culture that values protecting the status quo?

"According to Gallup’s annual engagement survey, employee engagement is declining for the first time in a decade"

Are you planning on being a victim in 2024 and allowing these trends to negatively impact your hiring and recruiting - OR are you taking the initiative to put programs in place to boost employee engagement and retention?

Another good article from Forbes online talking about using data analytics in the HR function to improve hiring, recruiting, onboarding, and employee engagement. Besides the data analytics piece, the article lays out some of the tools and technology available for companies to more effectively manage their business. Interesting statistic is that a recent study shows less than 7 percent of all companies effectively using these tools.

In today's climate, every company is a technology company   - are you looking around the corner at all the wonderful tools and apps that help you more effectively manage your workforce?

We could all use a great coach - why do so many high performing former athletes succeed - because one reason is that they had a great coach supporting them. Same thing applies in the corporate world - your key executives need a coach. How many of your key execs are self-aware of their blind spots and have an active plan to overcome those blind spots that might be limiting their success or imipact?

Probably the number one element that attracts, motivates, and keeps employees is your culture. I'm currently working on a program called "Culture by Design" that I will soon lay out in the Vistage Community. It lays out an organizational framework for building, sustaining, and improving a culture outside of the CEO's personality.

Most organizations don't have a good/bad culture - they have NO culture. This is an enormous lever to boost success. How hard are you willing to work on building a class A level culture?

Are you building gaming into recruiting, on-boarding, and employee engagement? If not, you might be missing an important tool - especially among the younger generations.

Some of the elements of engaging employees and boosting retention are so fundamental and basic - I'm shocked that so few companies do it effectively. What's holding you back from appreciating people in your business and helping them develop into better employees?

Have  you explored how AI might help in improving hiring, recruiting, employee engagement, retention, and performance management? Lots of opportunity for data collection and analytics to improve the quality of your workforce. Are you an early adopter of technology or a follower?

I'm always on the hunt for good resources on learning around hiring, engagement and retention, and performance management. Here is pretty decent summary of some of the better podcasts available for employee engagement.

Interesting article on what makes a good leader. My experience in my executive search practice is that pessimists are not good leaders because they tend to be demotivating to their team. Also, I don't agree on the generic statement that optimists can't be effective leaders. Having a positive outlook on the future doesn't mean your head is in the clouds. The biggest problem in choosing people is understanding how they navigate their pessimism/optimism under pressure. If you're not testing for these traits and asking probing questions around them you run the risk of hiring the wrong person.

This is aimed at many of my family and entrepreneurial businesses that try to create a "family style" culture and how caring for workers as human beings and being family oriented are not the same thing. Some good insights here for many who are struggling to define their culture outside of the CEOs personality. #Vistage

Recent research in a 2023 Gartner study found that 50% of candidates who accepted a job offer would ghost their employer before their start date. A key contributor to this is a lack of pre-employment engagement.

How do you fix it?

By having a comprehensive pre-start date engagement with the candidate to help them realize they just made the best decision of their life to join your company. 

Accelerating on-boarding, assigning projects learning, bringing them into team meetings, sending a box of merch/welcome gift are just a few of the things you can do in the 2 week period before they start.

One of the most simple tools to reinforce your company culture is a good newsletter. Do you have someone publish this every few weeks or once a month - maybe highlighting employee volunteerism in the local community, giving a high five to an employee who went beyond the call of duty for a customer, or perhaps a specific element of your culture?

Why do so many companies ignore or minimize their on-boarding process? It's one of the first steps to effective employee engagement and retention. The articles states that " 23% of employees left their jobs during the first six months, adding they would have stayed longer if they had received more effective training."

My most successful clients have outstanding on-boarding programs for new employees.