An organization that wishes to survive and sustain over the years while building a base of loyal customers needs to keep its employees happy. In many organizations, research has proven that the exit of a middle or senior level manager often causes business loss and affects the bottom line.
Good leaders have a strong pull factor through which they attract people to work with them and stay with them in the long run.
As a business, if you wish to retain your top talent over the years, here’s what you can do:
Build a clear set of expectations
Let your employees know what you expect out of them. Having clearly defined job profiles/ descriptions helps employees to know the areas where they are expected to perform. High performing employees are eager to please and contribute to organizational growth. Having a clear and direct channel of communication with them helps to steer their potential in the right manner.
Offer enough learning and development opportunities
Employees with high potential don’t like to become redundant at any point of time. There should be a clear career pathway for your best people within your organization. Sit with them and understand what are their personal goals and aspirations. It helps to then align their personal goals with organizational goals – this will ensure that they stay tuned in the long run. You can also offer/ sponsor/ send them to leadership development programs and other skill enhancement programs. Giving them a chance to build their knowledge and skills over time is the key to retaining them in your business.
You can also offer/ sponsor/ send them to leadership development programs and other skill enhancement programs. Giving them a chance to build their knowledge and skills over time is the key to retaining them in your business.
Make them feel important, valued and appreciated
Your top people will always love to be involved in challenging projects and new roles of business development etc. within the organization. Value their contribution to each assignment/ project. Give specific feedback. A pat on the back can work wonders but written feedback/ emails and public acknowledgement can both go a long way in building a relationship of mutual respect and appreciation. Give small perks like a one-on-one lunch or a day off when needed.
A pat on the back can work wonders but written feedback/ emails and public acknowledgement can both go a long way in building a relationship of mutual respect and appreciation. Give small perks like a one-on-one lunch or a day off when needed.
Ensure that your leaders are great coaches/ mentors
Your top talent needs honing and constant feedback from their leaders/ coaches. It is up to the leaders to build a clear functional framework for employees to perform. Employees also need to understand about the earning and growth potential in a job. If your leaders are good mentors, employees will see more value in sticking to them than can be monetarily valued/ measured. Mentors give life skills to people.
Conduct ‘stay’ interviews
All of us know about ‘exit’ interviews. Sometimes it helps to conduct stay interviews with our best people. Understand from them what you are doing right, why are they staying with your business, what are the gains to both parties involved etc. Once you pick the right pulse, convert that into organizational doctrine. This will help you retain your brightest people in the years ahead.