In previous articles, we discussed the role of engagement as both a means and measurement to retain top talent. The chicken-and-egg argument applies because what attracts high-performers is also what retains them.
To clarify, things like best-in-class products or leading brands can attract top tier candidates initially. Great benefits, flexible hours, and equity-share are expected if you want to attract the best.
But savvy difference-makers know how to research and network. They will find current and former employees on LinkedIn and chat with industry insiders to get the scoop on what it's really like to work there.
What actually attracts top-performers is best-in-class people. Companies that take the time to discover the personal goals of their employees and finds ways to tie those objectives to the goals of the organization not only have higher employee retention, they have stellar reputations.
Highly engaged workforces are full of missionaries who believe in and are loyal to the organization, rather than mercenaries who only work for the top dollar. And missionaries evangelize throughout the market and their networks.
Difference-makers desire professional development and are attracted to opportunities that will keep them challenged, learning, and on the cutting edge of their expertise.
Knowing what drives your people is the game-changer when it comes to talent retention.
There's an art and a science to managing a team of top-performers. We discussed how The Predictive Index © (PI) can help select best-fit candidates. It's also utilized to manage teams for maximum performance, knowledge transfer, and retention as a solution to coach employees to help them adapt, grow, and succeed in their roles.
PI measures the inherent motivating needs that drive all people. People behave in ways that meet their needs (that's the predictive part). When needs are met at work, performance, productivity, and engagement go up (along with ROI).
What differentiates PI is the PRO (Performance Requirement Options- or Job Profile). Ideally, you administer this to your top-performers to determine the best-fit candidate profile for a given role. The PI software will synthesize the results and match the employee's PI to the PRO for a particular role.
The system generates coaching questions in accordance with the degree of match to the various factors in their PI as compared to the PRO. Managers will have customized questions to ask individual employees in each role to help them thrive and gauge where they might struggle.
As the top-performer gets promoted, their PI can be matched to future job PROs within the company to help determine fit, and reveal where they might need coaching to continue to succeed and remain engaged.
When used effectively, PI can help combat The Peter Principle. One surefire way to lose a top-performer is to promote them into a role for which they are ill-suited.
Also, 80% of employees leave companies because of their manager. If you can improve communication and understanding of the individual drivers between the manager and employee, you can increase success and retention.
Seems the magic recipe for retaining top talent isn't really magic after all: a pinch of art, a dash of science, a little chicken, and some egg... BAM! Kick it up a notch!
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About the Author:
David B. Nast owns FocalPoint Business Coaching & Corporate Training based in Cherry Hill, NJ. David is an Award-Winning Certified Business Leadership Coach with over 20 years of experience in Executive Coaching, Leadership Development, Corporate Training, Career Coaching, Executive Search, and Human Resources. He has coached thousands of CEOs, Business Owners and Executives.
For additional insights from David, visit his LinkedIn Pulse Author Page and follow him on Twitter @DavidBNast. You can also email David at dnast@focalpointcoaching.com.