Employee management is complicated, and leaders of all levels are constantly in search of the “secret ingredient” to just about every part of the process. Unfortunately, the answer changes depending who you ask, and while there are more than a few important parts to building a successful talent management strategy, everything boils down to retention. After all, you can’t satisfy and engage a workforce that is in a constant state of turnover, nor can you reach optimal productivity. We may not have the secret ingredient to boost employee retention, but we have perfected an amazing recipe to lower your turnover. Below is everything you need and the steps to follow for each.
Step 1: Establish and Align Corporate Values
Values are critical to just about every part of an organization and should direct everything from business plans to overall culture to talent acquisition initiatives. This doesn’t mean painting motivating words on your office walls and reciting them back to candidates in an interview. Value alignment requires a bit of legwork that is first initiated with deep consideration to what it is that drives your product/services, leadership and employees. And that’s just the beginning. Once key values are uncovered, the organization should understand the connection between those priorities and their work - everyday tasks and overarching annual expectations included. Any dissonance should be noted and amended.
“Rather than actionable corporate values statements that truly capture the essence of the organization, leaders often lean on single, powerful words or phrases that they think people want to hear. Examples of this might be ‘Integrity, Community or Service.’ They look good. They sound good. But they are all but meaningless if people within the organization fail to live them in their day-to-day interactions.”
- Chris Cancialosi, @gothamCulture
This is a critical step in boosting employee retention for more than a few reasons. For one, when employees know how their work translates to the overarching business goal, they can see and feel the importance of even the most mundane tasks. Additionally, solid values are easily introduced into the hiring process so your new employees will be hired with fit in mind. If they hold your values, they will better integrate into your business and their new team.
Step 2: Develop Goals and Define Roles
Begin to develop goals that align to your established values. Corporate values should align to business decisions, as well as play a big part in goal development, both company-wide and individual. Start with the accomplishments you hope to make as an organization. With the final destination in mind, coordinate the small individual tasks that will move the needle in the right direction.
Defining goals by team is great for segmenting a complicated chain of events, but you should bring alignment down to the individual employee level and role. Take time to understand their talents and interests so they can be used to their full potential while considering the specific needs of their department or team. If you aren’t already, begin discussing professional goals in performance reviews and one on one manager meetings. Encourage employees to share what they love about their role, duties they struggle with and any additional skills they have or plan to develop. For future reference, managers should consider recording feedback and one on ones so they can be listened to for growth assessment, goal tracking and compliance.
Step 3: Elevate Collaboration and Transparency
A recent study by Melcrum uncovered impressive, if not predictable insights: successful organizations aren’t just building great products or engaging employees, they’re “actively empowering” their workforce. Sustainable and effective collaboration are at the center. Those that succeeded in developing effective internal communication saw an over 40% increase in customer satisfaction, 30% improvement in profitability and boosted overall performance by 36%.
Collaboration and transparency go hand in hand. For employees to feel confident and empowered, they need to know their leadership is completely forthcoming with business motives and their employment. Unfortunately, some organizations fear honesty will create friction or instill doubt, when in actuality, transparency creates opportunities for discussion, feedback loops and innovative solutions. Begin building a transparent workplace by drawing those lines between individual contributions to company goals, as well as inviting employees to provide input on decisions that affect their role.
Step 4: Give Real-Time Feedback
With transparency and collaboration comes more frequent feedback conversations. Again, the process of giving or receiving feedback stirs fear, but the rewards are exponential. In fact, 92% of respondents in one survey agreed that properly administered negative or redirecting feedback improves their performance. So while the process might be a bit uncomfortable, it is welcome. The good news is that once you’ve built a workforce open to honest communication, feedback becomes second nature.
Be sure leaders are not only offering feedback to employees, but asking for some in return. It will help build trust while giving workers the chance to offer their own observations. And remember, real-time feedback frees your team from the overhyped, overly-structured performance review. Instead, think in terms of bi-weekly or monthly one-on-ones, quick emails or intranet messages, encouraging office chats or off-the-cuff advice sessions. There should be structure in the frequency, but it doesn’t always need to be the same in delivery. Leadership should create a process for employees and managers to request feedback as well. It will ensure the team receives the touchpoints and redirection that meet their needs. In fact, this is a feature Inspire Software is building right now.
Step 5: Prioritize Leadership Development
Last but not least, be sure your organization is effective in managing each of these elements, and all other employee management initiatives, by providing leadership development opportunities. Even the most well-intentioned manager or executive can stunt or completely halt well-laid strategies. While there are many causes of turnover, leadership or management tend to be one of the leading contributors to retention problems. A Gallup poll found that half of the participating employees admitted to leaving a job just to get away from their manager.
There are times that personalities simply don’t mesh, but in most cases, an employee’s idea of a good manager comes from that manager’s ability to lead, motivate and support their professional goals.
This is by no means the only recipe that will boost employee retention. However, if each step is successfully implemented, employees will feel appreciated, respected and supported. All that translates to better retention.
This article originally featured on the Inspire Software blog by Ashley Ansari.
About Drea Zigarmi:
Dr. Drea Zigarmi is a highly respected and experienced management consultant, best-selling author, powerful trainer, and motivational speaker.
Drea is the coauthor of Leadership and the One Minute Manager, the third book in Ken Blanchard’s best-selling One Minute Manager Library, and various chapters in Leading at a Higher Level. In addition, he has coauthored The Leader Within, Achieve Leadership Genius, and The Team Leader’s Idea-A-Day Guide. Drea has coauthored numerous Ken Blanchard Companies products, including the widely used Situational Leadership II, DISC, and Optimal Motivation programs.
