By John A. Haas
Management Strategies Group
As enterprises scramble to survive and thrive at internet speed, they face new organizational challenges.
Organizational Impact of the Strong Economy
Most every organization is struggling to find enough qualified people in technical and many other functions. Creative and expensive recruiting strategies include stock options, signing bonuses, other perks and amenities, and even shares in equity that customers have pledged in return for services.
In addition, employees have learned to manage their own careers, constantly seeking personal and career growth and development from all assignments. Employee loyalty is harder to build given readily available employment alternatives.
Increasing retention is clearly preferable to expensive recruiting. (See my January 2000 newsletter article).
Discovering Solutions
Workshops and seminars on retention strategies appear everywhere. While many of these may be useful, adaptation and adoption of ideas presented is usually haphazard, uneven and left to participants' personal initiative. I suggest that facilitated management meetings that lead to discovery and consensus about how to address these problems in this company are a better (or additional) approach. Here's how:
Increase Awareness of the Problem -Why are reasons your organization? The promises of more money or career growth are reasons cited. An outside consultant can often explore the reasons confidentially and more candidly than can be achieved internally or through exit interviews.
Get Ownership and Accountability - Improving performance-based compensation and benefits/ perks should certainly be investigated as partial solutions. More effective, however, is providing a forum for managers to understand that this is fundamentally their problem to solve and build confidence that they can find solutions. Providing opportunities for managers to discuss and share experiences will help them arrive at this realization and start to envision solutions.
Discover Alternatives - Encourage managers to explore and empower them to implement creative and responsive approaches. Include how to build upon and strengthen aspects of the
organizational culture that represent both the company values and employee expectations. For example, how can we make employees feel more valued and recognized? How can we celebrate successes in new ways?
How can we accelerate personal growth and development, through new assignments, team participation, educational and training and especially discussion of career directions? Can we involve more people in setting directions and operating policies?
Create Action Initiatives - Before adjournment, participants should agree on an implementation process or at least a process that will lead to implementation. Good ideas only get that way when implemented and monitored to assure they are having the desired effect.
Creating a customized approach to which those accountable for solving the retention problem believe in and are committed, will make all the difference in making a difference.
Winter 2001 - Volume 11, Number 1