The Importance of Talent Management
Yes, sales is important, yes customers are key to having a business; but your people will determine if your business is sustainable or not. Why you ask?
I am glad you asked that question.
If you have a revolving door of good people leave your business then several things happen:
If good talent leaves - it upsets YOU!
So the importance of keeping your top people is key to growing and sustaining a successful business. I just want to outline a few strategic and tactical steps that may help you as a business leader to keep as well as motivate your top people to higher performance and satisfaction within your business.
Keeping top talent is crucial for a company's long-term success and competitive advantage. Here are some strategies companies can use to retain their best employees:
1. Offer Competitive Compensation
I encourage you to review YEARLY your compensation packages for your top people to ensure that they are competitive within your industry and region. Adjust as necessary as part of your appraisal review.
One trick that I use a lot is to offer a clear bonus structure that is based on company/team and individual performance. This certainly motivate those who are high achievers in the business.
However it is clear that many of the younger generation want a higher base salary to be able to apply for mortgages or loans and maintain a standard of living. So adjusting the base salary is something that has to be factored into your business growth plans.
One of my clients had this dilemma.
One of his top engineers was approached by a competitor and offered him a double digit increase in his salary. Losing this key person would have been a massive blow to the business. Fortunately the engineer discussed this with the Managing Director (MD) This business leader did not knee-jerked to the situation, but checked the market and then worked through the numbers. This included:
I could go on. But this is a fantastic exercise to go through if you are in a similar position.
The MD chatted the solution through with me and what he did was to raise the salary of the engineers generally and created a structure of engineers that would justify the increase in salary and responsibility as well as put in place a bonus structure based on customer satisfaction, project completion on time and no re-work (ie going back to do snagging on site).
The MD was able to keep this important engineer and the business has since continued its spectacular growth.
2. Comprehensive Benefits:
It is becoming more popular that employees expect a level of benefits that start-ups and corporates are providing. Provide a comprehensive benefits package, including health insurance, retirement plans, bonuses, and other perks like wellness programs, flexible spending accounts, and employee discounts (and not so expensive as you think). These type of perks are becoming more routine in the workplace. So do not be left behind in what is becoming expected when taking on a new employee.
3. Create a Positive Workplace Culture
I cannot stress the importance of creating a thriving inclusive culture that fosters a climate of trust, excellence, leadership performance and the pursuit of delighting customers.
And the continuation and fuelling of that climate comes from recognising and celebrating employee and team achievements. This could be through formal programs like Employee of the Month or informal acknowledgments in team meetings.
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4. Developing and growing Talent
We all hear this as business leaders. 'There was no opportunities for me here'.
ALL employees should after 12 months service be clear of the career paths within the organisation, showing them how they can grow and advance.
In addition identify where they are on the motivation matrix which will allow you to motivate and delegate appropriately. An example is the motivation matrix below that I share with a lot with business leaders when identifying the tactics to motivate great employees.
Our previous newsletter reviews the importance of motivating employees. You can check it out on the link here.
It goes without saying that as part of the motivation tactics that you employ, you will need to invest in your employees' professional development through training programs, workshops, conferences, and educational reimbursement. This helps them stay engaged, on top of their game and grow their skills for the benefit of the business.
5. Delegate, delegate, delegate
Hopefully by saying it three times you will get the importance that I stress on this key leadership skill for business leaders.
But firstly create the foundation for delegation by helping employees to understand the company’s mission and how their work contributes to it. When employees feel that their work is meaningful and purpose driven, then they are more likely to stay.
Give top talent challenging projects that will allow them to use their skills and creativity, which helps maintain their interest and engagement.
Check out our newsletter here about a deeper dive of how to delegate without losing control.
6. Promote Work-Life Integration
Us oldies will remember the 60hr+ days and weeks in building our careers and businesses. Unfortunately the generations that are coming up are wanting a better work life balance, and unfortunately we will have to get use to it.
There is now an employee expectation of flexible working, resources and support for mental health, such as access to counselling services, mental health days, or wellness initiatives.
Resilience is important in business, not only from a structural/ system perspective but within our people too. Providing these resources will enable our people to work at the top of their abilities.
But of course you will have employees who sometimes go beyond the call of duty and work long hours, and that is fine to do. However it is important for people to have balance, healthy eating, breaks, holidays and adequate sleep. The way to do this is to set clear boundaries in the communication of business activities and to not expect activities after hours, unless it is super important or agreed with you in advance. I have seen too many staff get burnt out and resentful of work because the boundaries and out of hours exchange of communications is not respected.
7. Regularly Assess Employee Satisfaction
We all want to think that our companies are the best places to work. But the only way to validate that is to conduct regular employee satisfaction as well as leadership 360 surveys to gauge how employees feel about their work, the company culture, their career prospects and about the leaders in the organisation.
But all this work will be irrelevant if the feedback that you get from this feedback is not acted on.
And of course, people will leave. But use this opportunity to really get under the skin of why that person is leaving. Invariably you will find out information that will give you an indication of the culture and the leadership issues that you may not have been aware of within your organisation.
I hope that these strategies and tactics will help you to keep and motivate your top talent in your organisation. If you want to know more of how to apply these within your company, then reach out on the link here for a FREE confidential chat. We have the tee-shirt and willing to share our insights with you.