Retain Top Talent

Good summary in Chief Executive Magazine by Jack Welch regarding his two primary areas of focus - employee engagement and customer satisfaction - both of which are intimately linked.

He talks about helping employees understand what's expected, where the vision is/where you're headed, what their impact will be on it, and what it means to them personally.

I find most companies fall short in this level of communication below the executive level. Very few employees understand what's expected, where the company is headed, what their specific role/impact is in that vision, and how it translates to something personal for them. Without this communication and training managers how to do it frequently - most companies fail to achieve decent levels of engagement and consequently suffer on customer satisfaction - and the related financial metrics.

Interesting article on the importance of relationships at work. Remember one of the key elements of Gallup's engaged employee is someone who has a good friend at work.

The leaders of Faith-based communities figured out long ago that one of the reasons people stay in churches and synagogues is that they have deep relationships with others. 

Is it time to consider extending this model of relationship-building to a business environment?

Do your managers micro-manage their teams? Do your managers lack the training and knowledge of how to effectively delegate?

Micro-managing and not appropriately delegating can lead to low levels of motivation, engagement, and employee effort. The best will just leave to go to your competitors. Is this an issue that your employees are raising in surveys? How do you even know if it's an issue beyond managers who have poor retention of their staff?

Another survey on employee engagement - pretty consistent data.

80% not engaged.

64% considering looking for a job

82% want more recognition

90% want more feedback

What I don't understand is that some of these issues are very simple to fix and are basically low hanging fruit to immediately boost retention and employee engagement.

Why do most employers, especially smaller businesses, feel it's not worth the time to give more feedback, recognition, and learning/development?

My take away here is that employees really want investment in training and development. Do you develop written personal development plans for every plan every year? Are your competitors doing this retention strategy? Have you trained your managers in how to have this career/training/development discussion with their teams?

Inc Magazine recently published this article on the myths of employee engagement. I think they may have missed the mark - not that I would disagree with a major business publication.

I don't believe companies substitute a fun work environment for true employee engagement. I do believe many CEOs and HR execs put millennials in a box. Finally,  many of my clients have weak or non-existent reward and recognition programs.

When should you start focusing on engagement issues - should it be when you've lost 10% of your best talent to your competitors in the next few years?

Good summary of the Gallup and Gartner research on employee engagement. Not only does the article present scary stats on the actual percentages of employee engagement, but it also lists a number of areas to focus on to improve employee engagement.

If you're looking to improve employee engagement, retention, happiness, and satisfaction - - this list is also my top list for reading material. the authors are all outstanding  - especially the first one - Patrick Lencioni whose book was originally titled the 3 elements of a miserable job. Great reading.

To this list I would add Gallup's book It's All About the Manager.

I'm a huge fan of metrics and KPIs. I liked this article's focus around HR/retention/engagement KPIs. What do you measure? Are you holding your managers accountable for making great hiring decisions and sustaining/retaining high performing teams?

Interesting perspective on empathy in the organization as being a key element of employee engagement. the striking statistic to me was the gap between the CEOs perception of being an empathetic organization and employee perception.

Interesting perspective on the issue of loyalty by the younger generations. Are you seeing these issues pop up in your organization?

I've been recommending this idea for over a decade now. Let's kill the traditional sadistic exercise of annual performance reviews and move to Continuous Peformance Management of monthly one-to-ones and regular feedback. Not only will see performance soar, but you'll also see motivation and employee engagement explode.

You know I'm a huge proponent of praise, recognition, and non=-monetary rewards to stimulate retention, engagement, and employee happiness. This article gives some good examples and shares some of the primary research around this topic.

I love statistics, metrics, scorecards, and surveys, especially around hiring and retention.

Here's some surveys and statistics to think about as you start to see your best talent get poached by your competitors.

Sometimes in the rush and pressure of business, we forget that we're dealing with human beings who require a little praise, empathy, encouragement, interaction, and kindness.

Although the author mentions a number of very simple things, like celebrating birthdays, I still find that many companies show tthat they don't care about their people by ignoring some of these most basic elements. 

Where are you on the spectrum of caring, empathy, and specific tactics? When I help my clients develop compelling advertising, one of the most common phrases they throw back at me is "we're a family oriented environment."

When I ask for a couple of examples of why they say that - all I get is a blank look. Can you back up your statements with examples about your culture, values, and how the company cares about the employees?

Good short perspective on employee engagement in Chief Executive Magazine. Bottom line - formalizing communication made a big difference. I assume it was along the lines of communicating vision, mission, purpose, recognition, and feedback.

It could also be along the lines of teaching/training managers to be coaches - how to listen, how to give praise, how to give feeback.

I liked this article about igniting passion in your workforce. I am not sure I would use the word passion - I might replace it with focused, energized, engaged, self-motivated. When these elements occur, employees tend to show high levels of personal initiative and proactivity.

When missing, people tune out, lean outward, find other ways to become self-actualized than at work, and generally act bored and disinterested (not engaged).

One of my constant efforts as a high school girls basketball coach and management consultant around hiring/retention is to continually be taking the pulse, and developing actuion plans to keep the passion high.

What do you do frequently with your team beyond reviewing daily to-do activities?

There was one major point in this article I found most useful.  With younger generational workers you must have frequent career discussions and provide a clear roadmap of promotions, increased responsibility, and how their job will evolve as the company moves forward.

Not having these discussions at least once a quarter leaves you vulnerable to great performers leaving to go to companies that are willing to have these conversations.

How do you as a manager engage in career discussions with members of your team? Have you ever been trained formally in how to have these conversations?

You probably know from my posts that I am a huge advocate of kindness, grace, appreciation, and gratitude in the workplace. I'm going to suggest that this concept is so far beyond most executives and CEOs that it could be coming from outer space.

The current generation of executives and many managers are indoctrinated from their bosses and mentors with the need to yell, scream, be angry, and show little mercy. They are rude, inconsiderate and don't really care about people in their actions. in most companies, there is very little appreciation, grace, and gratitude.

The challenge for most executives and managers is how to balance the need for execution and attainment of goals with caring about people through appreciation, grace, and gratitude.

Without the appropriate balance, it will be very tough to keep high performers in your organization in the coming years.

How do you do it?

An interesting study and article showing one of the top elements of concern to employees is work/life balance. Unfortunately, the article doesn't provide any greater detail on defining what's an appropriate work/life balance. Does that mean I get time off for Doctor's appointments or you'll not call me at the last minute to work a weekend shift?

I did pick that a couple of the most important factors for younger workers is challenging work and learning opportunities. Duh! Still amazed how many companies don't focus and discuss this issue with their employees.

Counter-Intuitive article about employee engagement. Author claims current tactics have not moved the needle on employee engagement. I think the author is out of touch. For companies that have implemented effective employee engagement programs, they have moved the needle dramatically on NPS, engagement scores, employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, turnover, and retention.

The problem is that so few companies have implemented effective programs, the needle appears in aggregate not to move very much.

The tactics of employee engagement are very basic, yet most companies don't want to make the effort. Simple things like listening, coaching, autonomy, praise, recognition, development, training, challenges - all basic fundamental work motivations -- and most companies are failing miserably at execution,

It's not the tactics that are wrong, it's the issue of poor execution on change management.

What if this was a trait we looked for in interviews - enthusiasm, energy, positive, friendly, helpful. Do we measure it, score it, role play for it, and seek to understand when we are doing references.

The attitude of these folks is contagious. They are the epitome of Gallup's definition of an engaged employee.

Just imagine what would happen if you added a few more of these folks to your team.

The big question I've got is why your hiring process is not focused around finding, attracting, and recruiting these magical employees?

I like the idea proposed by the article on linking performance management and engagement. There is no question performance goes up as engagement goes up. Although the article cites the HBR on this subject, and makes a number of key points, it lacks specific recommendations on how to link them together.

Interesting article distinguishing between recognition and appreciation. Most companies have some form of minimal recognition initiatives, yet very few focus on the element of appreciation. Is your lack of appreciation and gratitude undermining your employee engagement and ability to retain to top performers?