Top talent is the lifeblood of an enterprise, and yet a constant headache for most CEOs and CFOs. Many often refer to them as “expensive,” “flaky” and “entitled.” Turnover is high, and loyalty is non-existent.
Outside the top 100 Places to Work, what bonuses and perks do you have to retain the best and hire new talent? High-priced recruiters, PR agents and consultants may not be an option – or a winning strategy. Neither may be those Foosball tables, swag or letting them telecommute (that’s so 2012).
According to a Feb. 2017 Deloitte Insights report, “Organizational culture, engagement and employee brand proposition remain top priorities in 2017; employee experience ranks as a major trend again this year. Nearly 80 percent of executives rated employee experience very important (42 percent) or important (38 percent), but only 22 percent reported that their companies were excellent at building a differentiated employee experience. 59 percent of survey respondents reported they were not ready or only somewhat ready to address the employee experience challenge.”
What if there was a simple, inexpensive way to express your care to future employees, weed out pretenders and bad fits up front, decrease turnover and increase your workforce loyalty?
As a Millennial personal development consultant for the Fortune 500, I’ve worked with hundreds of top Millennial, Gen X and other execs to get them unstuck from jobs and bosses they hate and transition careers to do work they truly care about, where they’re treated as humans, not KPI dashboards.
The proven methodology I’ve used to help hundreds of clients has six elements:
Life mission, free of constraints and barriers. This is the problem that each person wants to solve for purely selfish reasons of the intellect and heart.
Second, we tackle Values. Is there a commonality among the team? Are they particularly kind or generous, hilarious or brilliant? Are they Type A or B or have specific superpowers? Each person has a theme.
Third, we examine Outcomes. This isn’t a spreadsheet or report, but rather value through delight, curation or empowerment of others, organizing or improving business processes, or some other channel for a person’s or a business transformation.
Fourth, we now touch on Role. This isn’t title-based, but more about a person’s natural tendency in any situation. Some are persuasive as evangelists for causes, businesses and people; others are no-nonsense operators. Some get excited by a variety of work, others by subject matter. Some focus on the ideation, others on the execution. Certain caretakers love empowering others to the life’s best work.
Beyond the first four pillars, we draw out the limiting beliefs preventing people from fulfilling their potential. This is the baggage of one’s childhood, failures, bad relationships, etc.
Lastly, we dig into the “Founding Stories” that make each one of us precisely who we are. This includes mentors, books we most enjoy, the kinds of games we love to play, assorted trauma and all the formative experiences. How do we make decisions? How do we process information? Everything’s important.
Why would employers bother with these details? That’s quite simple – it refines the algorithm. Imagine how much time and money can be saved up front by finding the best fit for each prospective. Traditional assessments often miss the nuance and the shades of gray that every person has to offer. By helping each of them find this out organically, you set them up for success, whether inside your company or elsewhere.
Instead of taking on smooth talkers who can’t execute and then wash out, you’ll have a workforce that is better optimized for roles and contributions. Being a caring, human company breeds engagement, loyalty and lower turnover, which means direct impact for an important bottom line. Just as importantly, you’ll reap the dividends of brand identity that’s super-charged by helpfulness and care.