How to win the talent war

Source: Technology Digital

Date :20/06/2007 15:49:03

It’s never been more important to attract and retain the best people, says Ken Blanchard

By Ken Blanchard

Blanchard argues that too few leaders realise that successful talent management depends as much on how you treat your people as how much you pay them.

For the last five years, we at The Ken Blanchard Companies have been asking business leaders what they believe to be their most pressing people management issues. This year, increased competition and a shortage of skilled workers came top of the bill. Worse still, few respondents to our 2007 Corporate Issues Survey expect the situation to get any better before 2010.

Over here in the States, our Bureau of Labor suggested a while back that there could be as many as 10 million more jobs available than there are employees to fill them in three years time. In the UK, latest figures from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development suggest 46 percent of employers expect to struggle when looking for new recruits.

Clearly, we are in the middle of a war for talent on both sides of the pond. The question is; how to win it?

It’s not all about money

Traditionally, many companies have responded to this kind of crisis by throwing money at the problem, offering higher and higher salaries, more perks and bonuses. But not only does this, ultimately, have a negative effect on the economy – pushing up wages pushes up inflation which in turn pushes up interest rates – our research into why people quit their jobs suggests it is precisely this kind of attitude that probably causes people to walk in the first place.

True, offering a high salary is likely to attract someone to your organisation. It just won’t keep them there. Not unless their financial position is pretty desperate and they are too terrified to take any risks and move and, if they are under that kind of financial stress, how impressive is their work anyway? Maybe they already have one foot out of the door emotionally.

The truth is, all our research and all the conversations I have had with people since I have been in the management business tells me people don’t leave their jobs or their organisations; they leave the people to whom they are accountable; their managers or their board. 50 percent or more of an individual’s job satisfaction is determined by the relationship they have with their immediate manager and, if that relationship isn’t working, people will want out.

When asked why they left their last job, we found only two percent of employees cited earnings and benefits as the reason. Instead, they left because of a lack of leadership or because of the way leaders were treating people. They left because of the lack of support their organisations have for professional development and - most important - they left because of their leaders’ lack of integrity. Integrity is the number one attribute people seek in their leaders, whatever their market sector.

Building emotional capital

So, to win the talent war, organisations need to think beyond the merely financial and start dealing with the emotional, developing ten, no-cost retention-building habits we know can encourage people to stay loyal:

1. Be there for people. Praise them verbally or in writing – it’s a proven way to improve performance and loyalty. ‘Catching people doing things right,’ should be every leaders’ top priority. Too many leaders only pay attention when people get things wrong. Show interest in their family and hobbies and value them personally for contributions they make.

2. Make work meaningful. Let people know precisely how they make a positive difference to the company, to customers and to society.

3. Ask brave questions, like: ‘please will you stay?’ Many top performers told us they left their jobs because no one asked them to stay. If organisations are going through difficult times and don’t want people to jump ship, this is especially important.

4. Help your people grow. Put them in challenging situations to develop their skills, ensuring you provide support and direction in the form of an appropriate leadership and/or coaching plan. Learn how to do this with training such as Situational Leadership II, which ensures you match leadership styles to the needs of the people you are leading.

5. Meet regularly, one-on-one. This strong, retention-enhancing habit takes just 15-30 minutes a fortnight. Let your people set the agenda; turn the floor over to them and strong bonds will form.

6. Make retention everyone’s responsibility. Disappointed or disgruntled co-workers tell leaders about their gripes last. Encourage everyone to alert managers to problems immediately so they can be smoothed out before matters get out of hand.

7. Be a career builder. Talk proactively with people about their career goals. When leaders express interest in their people’s aspirations as opposed to just exploring their own business agenda, trust and loyalty build up. Helping people explore opportunities within the organisation doesn’t mean people will stay forever but they will stay longer.

8. Help people get an ‘A’ by telling them what ’A’ looks like. If people are going to meet goals, they need to know where the goalposts are and how they can score.

9. Manage change. Economic downturns, mergers, negative publicity, changes in upper management – these are all red flags saying “check in with people more often.”

10. Walk your talk. Leaders who don’t ensure their actions match their stated principles don’t deserve credibility or respect.

If these principles work throughout organisations, trickling down through every management level, not only will people want to stay, they will become great ambassadors for their companies too, in turn helping showcase their workplaces as ‘employers of choice’ and lessening potential recruitment difficulties.

Finally, remember no one is ‘the boss.’ Being a great leader isn’t about showing everyone who’s in charge but about doing whatever it takes to help people succeed. Effective leaders value their people and let go of authority in favour of creating an environment to inspire people to support and meet organisational goals. Organisations and leaders who treat people as appreciating assets can sit back and see rising profits as the applause they get for doing a good job.

Ken Blanchard is CEO of The Ken Blanchard Companies, an international leadership development consultancy. He is also the co-author of business best seller The One Minute Manager