Retain Top Talent

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?

One of the greatest leverage points in a business is the ability of your managers to create high performing teams. Most managers fail miserably at the process of creating a high performing team. Here is one of the reasons this happens. Are you A "Seagull Manager?

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I like the idea of using gamification to stimulate and motivate employees around performance, collaboration, and learning. Have you tried any of these tactic in your organization?

Next to not defining expectations, having a non-existent or weak non-monetary reward and recognition system can lead to underperforming employees. Here's a quote from the article based on Gallup research:

Gallup's research shows that only one in three U.S. workers feels engaged, and a staggering 79% of job departures are attributed to a "lack of appreciation."

Almost 80 percent of employee resignations are based on a lack of appreciation. Are some of your best employees looking at job boards and talking to recruiters because your appreciation program is horrible?

I've been stressing this idea for a couple of years. One of the greatest gaps in managerial performance is the lack of ability to hire stars for their team. The vast majority of managers are good people - they are just clueless about best practices in hiring top performers. They've never been trained, coached, mentored, managed for this critical component of success.

Is it time for some remedial training to help managers be better at one of their core job expectations?

Here's the quote that caught my attention:

"only a quarter of remote and hybrid workers felt connected to their organization’s mission and values, according to a Gartner poll in December 2021."

The question is what are you doing to promote/enhance your remote/hybrid workers to the mother ship?

Here's a quick podcast on the importance of measuring both NPS and eNPS. Many of my clients struggle with measuring employee engagement, satisfaction, productivity, effort - here a couple of metrics that bring all those concepts together. Are you measuring NPS and eNPS - or are you afraid what the metrics might show if you actually measured it?

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.

Here's an interesting article in forbes online.

"a staggering 60-90% of strategic plans never fully materialize. Moreover, our ability to predict the future is often flawed. In fact, around 40% of CFOs surveyed admitted that their forecasts are usually inaccurate and time-consuming."

My research indicates that 80 percent of all corporate tactical initiatives - IT, mergers, acquisitions, new product launches - fail miserably. It comes down to a lack of execution.

My focus is on why do most employee engagement initiatives fail horrifically to achieve their desired outcomes?

One of the major reasons employees - especially new hires - become disenchanted with your company is the lack of learning, feedback, and coaching. If coaching in sports works so well in helping teams and athletes perform at a higher level, why can't we apply that same concept in a business setting.

Here are some eye-catching stats on the impact of coaching:

"A report in Harvard Business Review found that employees were 44% more productive after receiving regular coaching, while the Institute of Coaching suggests that coaching can improve employee performance by 70%." Gallup has shown that 70 percent or more of engagement is related to a manager.

Given those studies, are you teaching your managers how to be great coaches? Or are your employees quiet quitting their bosses?

Here's a litany of why employees leave their jobs - the first few are eye-opening. Are you purposely driving employees away from you through the lack of effective retention and engagement tactics?

My most successful clients spend an enormous amount of time focusing on defining their culture, building it into their hiring process and interview questions, measuring it with employees in feedback and performance reviews, and tying it into every aspect of employee management and leadership.

How hard are you working to make your culture a competitive advantage?

Most companies are not working very hard on employee retention (the employee experience, happiness, culture, engagement).

Here's the number ONE issue:

"People don’t quit jobs; they quit bosses. If your senior role leaders don’t know how to lead, then your best performers will be gone before you know it. So, anyone who says you can retain top talent without some serious leadership development is pulling your leg."

The vast majority of companies are horrible at developing executives and managers to be great leaders of their teams. Most executives and managers are clueless about best practices in leading people - they are good people but leading by hope and luck.

Is it time for some remedial level of training around core best practices in managing and leading people?