Tuning in to Employees’ Top Priorities

Despite workplace pressures and slow growth for compensation, greater opportunity for career advancement is the number one priority sought by employees in their next position. Right Management polled 561 North American workers via an online survey and asked:

What is your highest priority in your next position?

• 27% Greater opportunity for advancement
• 21% Better management team
• 21% More flexible work environment
• 17% Better compensation
• 14% Less work pressure

We posed a classic question to today’s workers, what they’re really looking for in their next job. We wondered if higher comp would top the list, or perhaps less workplace stress, but we found that opportunity for advancement is number one. That tells us that despite all the workplace complaints we hear most employees are still highly motivated about their own development and careers.

Higher compensation and less work pressure trailed other concerns including quality of management. The second highest priority among respondents is a better management team, which may mean either more competent leaders or more considerate bosses, a finding that’s common in a workplace poll such as this. This is a variant of the truism that people quit their bosses, not their companies, and it’s a key lesson for all organizations when there’s strong competition to attract and retain quality talent.

But senior management’s main interest ought to be how to engage employees during a weak economy. The most recent Manpower Employment Outlook Survey is for continued sluggish hiring across most industries. Employee turnover has been remarkably slow for the past two years, and everyone is itching for new horizons. In fact, many workers feel trapped in their current situation. Now that’s bad for everyone concerned and the savvy employer will make strenuous efforts to vary people’s tasks and responsibilities, to shuffle work teams, to do cross-team training…to do whatever is needed to demonstrate real commitment to career development and to counter a pervasive sense of career stagnation among their employees.

Some organizations are surely on top of the problem, but I’m afraid too many aren’t. Are you tuned in to what your employees want from you most?

Reap the ROI of your human capital investment

Are you receiving value on the dollars spent training and developing your workforce? Lost opportunities are a sunk cost and impact earnings so it is fiscally smarter to help your employees experience and internalize organizational opportunities.

When companies don’t optimize their talent investment, relationships and knowledge and valuable human capital are lost. You decide: are your organization/business unit/departmental recruiting and training policies and processes a drag on productivity?

The challenge is to allow individuals to grow and evolve in their careers. They need to take on new responsibilities, possibly make horizontal moves into new departments, change functions, and develop an understanding of the company from research, engineering, product/services marketing, prospecting, lead generation and sales perspectives. This will enable your top performers to thrive and deliver on established productivity, customer service and sales goals.

Leaders need to coach, mentor, and provide green field training opportunities that enable your staff to grow – experiential learning is paramount. Give your workforce opportunities to engage in simulations and real-time learning experiences.

If you offer the opportunities and incentives, you will work wonders when it comes to helping your leaders and staff take pride and ownership in their careers. Bright executives know they need to create their own opportunities. You need to help them do just that. They simply need to contribute insights and ideas, take risks, and add value outside their role's defined parameters.

As a leader, it’s your duty to support and guide them in this bottom-line enhancing process.

Playing Goal Keeper

In sports, a goal keeper is a player that is charged with directly preventing the opposite team from scoring by defending the goal. As a leader, you need to be a goal keeper of a different sort. You need to be the one who establishes goals for your team, clearly communicates them on a regular basis, and the person who helps your talent to learn ways to fulfill and exceed the set objectives.

Goal setting involves establishing specific, measurable and time-targeted objectives. Sure, that sounds easy enough. But how do you do this in an uncertain operating environment, where the winds of change are constant and the latest fire drill flips the priorities? In essence, goal setting today is a lot like chasing moving targets. But the reality is that uncertainty and change are the norms of doing business today. If you don’t establish goals, it’s easy to lose your line of site and miss out on fulfilling the broader vision for the organization.

With a clear vision, one that is regularly articulated and discussed with your team, you can define accountability for meeting goals and have a solid platform to loop back and review performance. It’s important for leaders to regularly communicate with the team, set milestones on the path to achieving the goals, and ask for regular updates from everyone on progress.

If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set with your team. When you measure progress, the whole team is more likely to stay on track, reach target dates, and experience the sense of achievement that spurs everyone on to continue the efforts required to reach new goals.

Boost the commitment and development of your team by setting goals that will help to stretch their learning. Employees want career development opportunities. Employees want to be led by those who recognize and appreciate them, and who give them the opportunity to be challenged and enriched by their work.

Is your team clear on the goals for your organization? Are you actively keeping them on track to fulfill them?

Worried About Work

Increasingly, I’m hearing that employees are worried about work and, as a result, many are stressed and tense. One of the most common reasons for this worry is a lack of confidence in being able to meet expectations. While workloads have increased as a result of layoffs and cutbacks, managers can go a long way in reducing stress and boosting confidence. How? First, invest time by engaging in regular career discussions. Next, ensure employees are equipped with the tools and have access to the resources needed to excel in their jobs. Then, look for ways to develop them so they're ready for what's next.

Many leaders these days are asking employees to do more, to do it in new ways, or even to do something entirely different. It’s a matter of enterprise-wide agility to sustain performance in volatile market conditions. Jobs and responsibilities are changing, business models are being redesigned, and generally there are just fewer people to do more work. Individuals need to be developed to rise to the next level of required performance. Companies that invest in talent to meet present and future needs have a strategic advantage – an agile, ‘ready-now’ workforce that can respond to changing needs.

With so many competing pressures and responsibilities, as well as constant change due to market realities, career management discussions can end up on the back burner for both managers and individuals. Having such discussions with employees can be a great first step in getting employees more broadly engaged. But managers need to be equipped with the tools to discuss career opportunities and create an environment where employees feel valued and want to grow in their roles. If successful, the outcome will be greater job satisfaction, commitment, and even advocacy – all essential for a healthy bottom line. If unsuccessful, workers will continue to feel stressed and pressured, which will likely harm the organization’s culture and overall performance.

Managers are in a great position to help employees find meaning in their work. When employees are passionate about what they do and really believe they are adding value, most find greater satisfaction in how they contribute to the organization’s success. And employers benefit by building a highly engaged workforce that outperforms the competition.

Are your employees worried about work? When was the last time you talked with them about their careers?

Making Innovation More Than a Buzzword

I read with great interest Ric Merrifield’s blog post where he commented: “My growing fear is that innovation is on course to become the fad of the day in the same way quality was in the 90s.” Far from a “fad”, I believe innovation is core to growth for many businesses and it is not likely to get blown away by the next breezy trend. The foundation to creating innovation in your firm is to develop a culture that supports risk taking. It’s not about fads, trends and buzzwords. It’s about creating an environment that promotes creativity.

Complacency can ruin any good business. Just look at Blockbuster who announced last month they are filing for bankruptcy after not being able to anticipate, adapt and cater to new market and customer demands.

As Fast Company reports, there’s a strong correlation between innovation and failure. One of the worst habits organizations get into is that of not taking any risks. Place the bet on smart people who push the envelope. These are the ones who will help spur innovation. Fostering innovation is about the way you do business as much as who does business with you. Recreate the same uncreative processes, fail to listen to your customers, miss market trends and you’ll have the same uncreative business.

If you value innovation and want to instill it as a cornerstone to success in your organization, then you will need to establish the kind of culture that is conducive to sustainable innovation — one that enables innovation to become part of your company's DNA, rather than being yet another buzzword. Demonstrate to people that ideas are at the heart of what your organization values. Give people room to grow, to explore new ideas; build a strong sense of openness and trust and community; and facilitate the internal mobility of talent. All of this will go a long way to fostering sustainable innovation.

Is innovation a fad or a cornerstone in your organization?

Shhh... Listen to the Secret of Onboarding Success

I followed with great interest a recent LinkedIn HR discussion thread where the question posed was: In one word, what would you like to show/teach a new employee on his/her first day of work with you? More than 1,000 people shared their opinions. Many provided much more than the requested “one word.” In essence, they didn’t listen to the request. They were so absorbed with dishing out their advice that they didn’t tune in to what was being asked of them. This provides interesting insight into why people struggle in their roles: they fail to listen. “Listen” might be the most important word of advice you offer to every new hire.

Listening is key to help new employees ramp up quickly, acclimate to the company’s culture and kick start their contribution to the team and the organization. It involves not only hearing the spoken word or comprehending the written word, but also involves the ability to understand and observe actions and behaviors. When onboarding an employee, it is essential to provide coaching and guidance, including stressing the importance of listening. Too often, new employees – anxious to prove their value – fail to listen closely and don’t clearly understand expectations. Listening helps to trigger important questions new employees need to ask to gain further insights. Careful listening can level-set and establish clarity – ensuring a new hire meets objectives most important and relevant to his or her immediate manager, the team and the organization.

Careful listening helps new employees better understand the organization’s culture and climate, management styles, business issues, team dynamics, expectations and concerns. It creates the foundation for the new working relationships. Once the new employee fully understands the work environment and goals, she or he is better positioned to take action with confidence and bring value and achieve results that are aligned with the needs of the team and the organization.

No matter how well we listen, for most of us there likely is room for improvement. Next time you are onboarding an employee, help them to understand the importance of listening as a skill to level-set all stakeholders and set priority expectations.

Stuck in a Groove?

One thing that often happens to management as they become more senior is they get stuck. As Seth Godin reports in a recent blog: “If you’ve been doing it forever, you discover (but may not realize) that the things that got you this power are no longer dependable. Reliance on the tried and true can backfire.”

We’re not talking about a lapse in memory or judgment, or a mental hiccup, due to “senior moments”. This is the reality of business life today – the skills and capabilities needed yesterday may no longer work today and the required competencies will likely continue to evolve and change over time. The old “we’ve always done it this way” spells disaster for operating in today’s ever-changing business environment. Consider the struggles that Blockbuster faces by not adapting to changing customer demands.

The best leaders make lifelong learning more than a slogan. It involves the continual pursuit of growth and knowledge that takes place throughout one’s lifetime. You can adopt this attitude for yourself and you can also foster it with your employees. Reassign people to new roles within the company or partner them with different people, or give them assignments outside of their regular scope of responsibilities. All of this will help to fuel innovation and develop new experiences and perspectives, which aid overall development – avoiding ruts.

Encourage these types of learning behaviors through regular discussions with employees. Help them to consider new ideas and new ways of doing things. And model this behavior yourself.

As the business environment changes, so too does it change how leaders need to lead. This may drive a need to create new leadership models in your organization. The goal is to align the business strategy with the leadership talent and succession needs.

Reflect, do you need to break out of a rut and keep your organization from becoming stuck?

Lack of Skilled Trades Intensifies Talent Mismatch

Despite high unemployment, many employers are struggling with a talent mismatch: individuals don’t possess the specific skills demanded by employers. In particular, lack of skilled tradespeople is making the issue more intense and there are no signs of it easing up any time soon, according to a new study released by Manpower, Strategic Migration – A Short-Term Solution to the Skilled Trades Shortage. This shortage is detrimental to the physical infrastructure, economic health and potential growth of nations and businesses.

Skilled trade shortages afflict 10 of the world’s largest economies, with the United States ranked number one as the most at risk. This talent crunch could potentially have a devastating effect on economic growth. Companies lack the talent they need to operate efficiently and prolonged unemployment of large sections of the workforce will continue to drag on the recovery and make turnaround unsustainable.

The shortage of skilled trade workers stems from several problems, including the retirement of older blue-collar workers without adequate replacements, technical training that isn’t meeting businesses’ needs, and the higher status accorded to knowledge work over more manual forms of labor among those beginning their careers.

Such workers can’t be offshored, but they can be onshored. When the right skills cannot be found within a country’s borders, strategic migration can involve recruiting from elsewhere to bring the necessary workers to the work, alleviating the immediate pressure of the talent shortage and allowing stakeholders the time and opportunity to work on long-term solutions to the talent mismatch.

In the short-term, strategic migration is a practical answer to the talent mismatch. The long-term approach will require employers to partner with governments, labor unions and academic institutions and individuals to train and reskill workers. Employers need to invest in developing their workers, provide for varied career paths for skilled tradespeople, understand how the aging workforce will impact their viability, and plan for growth by upskilling workers to provide the supply of talent to meet changing business demands.

Do you need to migrate talent to meet the shortfall in skilled trades?

It's Time to Get Off the Bench

There’s a lot of data circulating in recent months, including our own, that cite how many employees are displeased with management, disengaged, stressed with more work and longer hours and looking for opportunities to leave. But will they really leave? As Dan Walter put it in a recent post: “Employee engagement surveys are like New Year’s Resolutions.” Meaning, what people say they want to do is not always what they actually do.

But the reality is employees are leaving. One in two employees has been approached with a job offer in the past 6 months, while 54% of companies reported losing top performers in the same time period.

Our own engagement research found that as many as one in two employees are disengaged. If you are doing your own engagement studies, then you have insights into how your own employees are feeling. If you have the data, act on it. Those who “quit and stay” -- we call them "Benchwarmers" -- are a real drain on productivity. While many may want to quit, the worst thing is that many don’t. Instead, you run the risk of them quitting in terms of their commitment and loyalty, but staying on the payroll just the same. That is not to say that these people are no longer valuable to the organization. They may have just lost interst in their job or role but could still be highly committed to the organization’s direction, values and culture. Oftentimes, with the right type of re-assignment, re-deployment or expanded job responsibilities, these people can be effectively re-engaged. It is often far more cost effective to look for ways to re-engage this group rather than lose these people who you've invested in and who possess valuable institutional knonwledge.

Either way, you’re courting disaster if you don’t address the problems within the organization that are leading to high levels of disengagement, while failing to support one of the greatest sources of influence on engagement levels: managers. If left unaddressed, customer service, ability to attract high caliber talent, the employer brand, productivity, and ultimately, performance will all suffer. Make the hard decisions fast about the complacent employees who are warming your benches. No company is going to move to the number one position in their industry with a complacent workforce.

Do you know who the benchwarmers are in your organization? Do you know your options for dealing with them?

Solve a business problem: develop employees

We all know that organizations are facing a much more difficult landscape than they did two years ago. Organizations at the forefront of their industries are the ones that attract the best and the brightest talent who bring the innovation and creativity needed to win.

Organizations that value their employees know that they bring a unique set of experiences and expertise. They realize those in the trenches can see where efficiencies can be created and are often the best source for innovation. Encouraging employees to share their perspectives and insights will help an organization enrich its offerings, address organizational issues, become more creative, more efficient, offer a fresh point of view, and escalate the competitiveness of their organization.

Employees want to be involved in business strategy execution and in helping their employer to be more successful. These future leaders want to play an active role and contribute to its success in a meaningful way. Employees are no longer content watching from the sidelines; they want to be part of the decision process.

However, study after study share findings indicating future leaders are poised to leave organizations once the job market improves, while engagement research shows that keeping employees engaged is a key to retention.

Leaders must address how to improve engagement while staying focused on business needs. Developing employees is highly correlated with increased engagement and employee retention. However, simply developing employees may not lead to improved organizational results. There needs to be a link between development and the strategic goals of the organization. An Emerging Talent Program focused on identifying and developing high potentials is a catalyst many high performance organizations use to engage and retain their best and brightest. With direction and input from senior leadership, employees identified as “Emerging Talent” are given organizational goals to research, analyze, and make recommendations on. Examples include identifying additional solutions or offerings, establishing more effective practices, and identifying new market strategies. Throughout the program senior leadership assesses the direction of the projects and makes refinements where necessary to ensure constant alignment with business objectives. Recommendations are then reviewed by senior leadership, decisions are made based on strategic priorities, implementation owners are identified, and action plans are created. Throughout this implementation process the Emerging Talent members are fully involved, and their development continues to expand as a result. Upon completion of the one-year Emerging Talent program, members become mentors and coaches to the next program class to help share their insights and give feedback on the direction of the projects.

Organizations that engage employees through development activities, such as an Emerging Talent Program, while focusing on strategy, increase engagement and retain key talent, creating the high performance workforce needed to move the company to the forefront of their industry. When implemented as part of an organization’s overall business and talent strategy, engaging high potentials by offering development opportunities solves a critical business issue: having the right people with the right skills in the right roles.

Finding Your Next Big Idea

You never know where the next great idea is going to come from. Creative ideas and innovative thinking are what it takes to succeed in today’s hyper competitive market. The best place to look? In your own workplace. Employees have a lot to contribute. In fact, 57% of employees say they regularly make suggestions in the workplace.

Employees really want to be heard. Making suggestions signals they are thinking about the performance of the organization and want to contribute in a much more meaningful way. And this can be a great opportunity for organizations – if you have the right organizational culture, processes and leadership to support and leverage it.

An important demographic to consider are those just entering the workforce. They bring a new perspective and aren’t encumbered by the old way of doing things. They have lots of ideas. What motivates this group is the opportunity to contribute at a higher level, play a more active role in the organization and grow in their career. This is an important group to engage. Why? They are our future. However, most college graduates don’t expect to stay long in their first job. Consider how to encourage younger workers to contribute creative ideas as a great way to engage them, develop them and build long-term commitment.

Given flatter organizations and potentially less opportunities for promotion, encourage innovation and help younger workers to feel part of the organization by listening and supporting ideas. Use the opportunity to develop employees by having them be accountable for implementing their ideas and measuring the impact. Encourage suggestions but provide coaching to ensure the suggestions are meaningful and executable. Have them make a compelling business case, research any associated costs and related trends. It’s also a great way to raise individual visibility and credibility throughout the organization.

Be sure employees’ ideas and suggestions are not only acknowledged, but that employees have a chance to make them happen.

Do you work in an environment that encourages employees of all levels to make suggestions?

Finding the meaning of... Work

Finding meaning in your work takes a bit of a different path than Monty Python’s parody on The Meaning of Life. Sure, it requires some philosophizing and speculation and probably a few calamities along the way. But most importantly, it requires some understanding of your values, motivators, demotivators, skills and strengths.

People want their jobs to be meaningful. And as they grow more aware of social and environmental issues, they become more interested in having their work align with those values. In fact, as many as 75% of employees find their work to be meaningful, according to a recent poll conducted by our research team. Only 4% of employees rarely or never find meaning in what they do.

Our findings suggest that most people care about their work – how it challenges them, offers a sense of worth or allows them to contribute to larger organizational goals and values. But finding your work meaningful doesn’t necessarily translate into high performance. As a leader, I’m sure you want to strive for a convergence of meaningful work and high performance - creating a powerful catalyst for employees to further the organization’s objectives. It benefits the organization to not only help employees find the kind of work that inspires and motivates them, but ensure employees are committed to the success of their company.

Business schools are doing little to prepare employees to find jobs they enjoy, but leaders and managers can play a real role in helping employees achieve meaning and engagement. Creating this type of environment can be difficult because each individual’s preferences are based on personal values and choices. However, managers are in a great position to identify individual preferences by regularly engaging employees in career discussions – uncovering those areas that drive increased levels of meaning and satisfaction. The challenge is to dig a little deeper and learn whether these same employees are engaged with their job as well as the organization.

Have you had career discussions with your employees lately?

Stretching to new heights

With flatter organizations and leaner resources, we need to make the most of what we have. Often, staff cuts necessitate the assignment of new roles and responsibilities to existing employees. Stretch assignments can be a productive way to develop employees and also meet the business demands you’re expected to deliver on without adding head count.

Research reported in Fast Company revealed that 68% of Emerging Leaders said that stretch assignments had the greatest impact in accelerating their development. For High Potential employees, 57% reported the same.

To make stretch assignments successful for all parties, it’s important to set realistic goals at the outset. Engage employees in discussions to make sure the new projects are aligned with their skills and interests, as well as those needed for the business. And once underway, schedule regular reviews to discuss progress and track results.

Stretch assignments provide numerous benefits, broadening both the individual and the organization to achieve new heights in performance. As Elliott Masie cites in a recent Great Leadership blog: “Unfortunately, organizations do not use stretch assignments often or strategically in their leadership development efforts.” He continues with listing the multitude of benefits, including lower cost development, bonding with the organization which bolsters retention and engagement, and career path exploration for high potentials.

There are also some limitations to factor in. Stretch assignments are custom for each individual and are not a one-size-fits-all initiative. If you want the latter, send your leaders to a workshop. As a leader, you need to be hands-on in actively supporting the assignment and your employee. This includes coaching or mentoring throughout the process and committing resources to provide employees with the experiences that will hone their skills.

Yes, stretch assignments can be complicated. But the return far outweighs the risk when implemented properly.

Take a break...and get a productivity boost

The sad reality is that most of us senior leaders don’t take all of our allotted vacation time each year. And if we do take a break, we remain plugged in to the 24/7 service culture we have helped to create. We remain completely accessible to any and all who want us. As leaders, what we need to understand for ourselves and also impart to our employees is that no one is bigger than the company. If you can’t leave work for a few days or a week, then there is a serious problem that will result in an unsustainable situation.

There are tremendous benefits to taking a break. I’m not going to focus here on the obvious benefits of being refreshed and recharged. I’m talking about the value to your team and your co-workers. Believe it or not, taking a vacation and being out of reach can actually boost productivity. You give your team a break from worrying about all the things you throw in their way when they are trying to get their work done. You also give them the chance to shine and be more visible by stepping up and taking on some of the responsibilities you need covered. It’s also a great way to develop people and expand their experience. But the trick is to not undo all they did while you were out, just because they did it differently.

Still in doubt? Read this terrific article on 10 Reasons to Go on Vacation for further inspiration.

As a senior leader, no one expects these days that you will completely disconnect while you are away. Technology is driving around-the-clock work cultures. The traditional work and play boundaries are blurred. Empower your people by letting them know you are “leaving it in their hands.” Use the opportunity to grow your team.

When is your next vacation planned?

Harnessing the intrapreneur

Rather than making history for its deep recession and record unemployment, 2009 might instead be remembered as the year business start-ups reached their highest level in 14 years, reports a recent New York Times article. Many individuals affected by the recession are now seizing the opportunity to reinvent themselves and pursue their own business. Organizations that are seeking to reinvent themselves in the new economy are also now in a position to leverage the intrapreneurial spirit that may lie within their leadership and workforce talent. Such companies can reap the benefits of this opportunity by identifying, recruiting and developing employees who have entrepreneurial motivations and competencies.

Such savvy intrapreneurs are the types of employees who regularly pursue new business opportunities. They network and build relationships with clients and potential business partners. They take action on profitable and mission appropriate opportunities, and they demonstrate a willingness to experiment and pursue risks to further the vision. When harnessed, these intrapreneurs can drive organic growth and innovation. When misaligned, they can be hard to manage, too independently minded, and out of sync with the company’s strategy. So, it is important to identify and align these intrapreneurs efficiently and effectively.

All entrepreneurs/intrapreneurs are not created equal. As companies continue to evolve to meet the dynamics of today’s ever-changing market, some leaders may no longer “fit” their current roles and could potentially become “blockers” or engage in high-risk and unaligned initiatives that divert company energy and strategic direction. The rules of the game have changed and the players may need to change, too. If they haven’t or can’t change, then organizations will need to move them out and replace them with leaders who hold the right skills.

It is prime time for organizations to assess the leaders they have today and the skills and capabilities needed both now and in the future. Do you have the right people in place to grow, innovate and prosper? Are you tapping the potential of your own intrapreneurs?

Re-recruit your top talent

Linda Heasley, who heads up The Limited, was recently quoted in the New York Times as saying she “re-recruits her team every day”. In these times, not a bad business strategy!

The reality for employers is that 54% of organizations reported involuntarily losing high-performing workers during the first half of the year. Less than one-third were able to retain most of their top talent.

We know there are a lot of unhappy and dissatisfied employees coming out of the recession. But organizations must really focus on their top performers. Top performers are responsible for a significant percentage of the organization’s performance results and are more inclined to walk out the door than ever before. The real top performers in any organization will always have an opportunity to move. As business conditions improve, this will likely create more opportunities for high-value talent to pick and choose what suits them best.

Heasley’s advice is a good reminder that leaders should try to stay in tune with employees at both individual and collective levels. While engagement studies may provide insight into the sentiments of the overall workforce, it’s really important for companies to have a much broader enterprise-wide engagement strategy. One key component of such a strategy includes career discussions with individual employees. Managers need to know what their workers are thinking, what they want from their careers, and align this with the direction of the business.

An organization’s talent is often a company’s only differentiator. And high-performing employees are key to executing on business strategy. Business viability is at risk when workforce strategies and talent plans are ignored.

Employee engagement needs to be an active and ongoing part of your overall workforce strategy and part of leadership's everyday mindset. Do you know the engagement levels of your own workforce? And are your top-performers at risk of flight?

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What's growing in your greenhouse?

You’ve made significant investments. You’ve put the infrastructure and systems in place. You’ve cultivated, nurtured and multiplied. Now it’s time to reap the rewards as you harvest the wealth of all you have grown… from your workforce, that is. And the last thing you want to see is your investment walking out the door just as it begins to deliver returns.

Why does retention matter? Your workforce provides a critical competitive advantage. While some organizations feel many employees can be easily replaced, the truth is that there is no way to easily replace the institutional knowledge, customer relationships and business opportunities that walk out the door with them. Losing top performers leaves organizations in the precarious position of plugging gaps that can leave them scrambling to meet objectives. And given the mismatch between demand for talent and the skills available, it may not be so easy to fill those plugs. We know that those with sought-after skills can leave, by choice. Investing in employee retention efforts can be the fabric that enables your organization to thrive rather than fade away.

An organic talent development process enables organizations to promote from within. Promoting from within is an opportunity that can have significant positive impact on the organization’s future success. It maintains the integrity of the company’s brand, fosters strong corporate identify, and provides continuity of the organization’s culture. It also instills confidence in leadership, provides hope for career advancement with the same employer, and leverages shared knowledge and the investment made to develop that knowledge. And, just as important, it’s a valuable retention tool in your engagement strategy.

With a strong, “ready now,” committed and highly-engaged workforce, you are a force with which to be reckoned. Investing in developing talent also breeds a culture of high-performance – one that your competitors will strive to emulate.

What are you growing in your organization?

Control Your Own Destiny Because No One Else Will

Is it really possible to have any control over your own career’s direction given all the variables affecting your professional choices? Your career is, for the most part, the sum of your own choices. We make choices and decisions every day that impact the future of our careers. But often there are also events outside of our own direct control that influence the choices we make.

In our youth, we probably considered the careers or professions of those close to us by evaluating their success and wealth. Our environment played an important role in forming our first ideas about careers and sest the wheels in motion as we began our journey on own career path. But even with all of the preparation in selecting a university or a study program, we weren’t necessarily sure we would make the right choices to lead us to the promised land of career happiness.

What often happens is that one’s career path includes the selection of traditional courses such as Business Administration, Economics, Accounting or Marketing, and is then influenced by many other factors, such as friends and teachers, internships, political and social environment, and economic trends. Given so many varied circumstances – outside of our own direct control – were we really directing our career “destiny” or just going along for the ride?

When you accepted a new job with “X” company, you made a choice that impacted your life's journey. When you joined a professional association, you made a choice. When you accepted a new assignment in your role, you made a choice. When you decided to play it safe, you made a choice. The present is the sum of our choices, driving us toward the future.

We have to give up the position that we are victims with little or no control over our future. There are events and circumstances that are out of our control, but we all have the ability to make wise choices. Your professional life belongs to you. Your future depends on you. Don’t yield control to external forces.

A change will do you good... but I don't want to leave

The recession is coming to an end. The business journalists are writing doomsday articles about the impending mass exodus of frustrated employees. Employers are supposed to fortify the dams and fashion retention ties (golden handcuffs are passé’).

What’s interesting is that most good employees don’t want to leave and most employers don’t want to lose good employees. (Read Jerry’s Harvey’s “the Road to Abilene”.) Where is the disconnect? Too many companies were too quiet for too long about how they were dealing with a troublesome economy. Hearing nothing, employees became anxious and subsequently disengaged.

One tactic in a solid engagement/retention strategy: talk with your employees. Let them know what's going on in the business and how they can help. More importantly, let them kow that develoment opportunities still exist. Good employees want development and want to know what the future holds. Ironically, most meaningful development doesn't cost a lot of money; and, it occurs on the job via projects, stretch assignments, attending conferences or meeting and working with clients.

Good managers - those who are good coaches and care about developing leaders and engaging their teams - hold the keys. People quit managers, not companies. How you feel about your manager directly affects how you feel about your company.

With what money companies have left after the travails of 2009, they should invest in developing managers to develop people. It will be the best investment made in 2010 and beyond.

Feedback as mentoring

For managers, as much as for employees, the feedback session can be an event to dread. While the employee may feel like the lead in a horror movie, the manager sometimes faces the distressing prospect of having to deliver home truths at the risk of offending or, worse, demoralizing the employee. Even under the best of circumstances, the feedback session is rife with tension. It doesn’t have to be this way.

With the right approach, feedback sessions will be positive and rewarding for all concerned. One key is to frame the event correctly. Feedback should never just be about skills and capabilities, but should also include a discussion about career interests. Employees need a clear sense of their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their interests and what the organization expects of them so that they are equipped to help the organization achieve its goals.

A second key is to approach feedback as an open, collaborative effort. Give praise where praise is due. Ask questions and listen to explanations. Work together to set a course for improved performance.

A third key is frequency. A single annual performance review simply sets everyone on edge. Providing feedback routinely, however, demonstrates your continuing interest in and support for someone’s development. Feedback and mentoring become indistinguishable.