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Critical Tactics to Keep Top Talent
| A report by Towers Perrin-ISR on a survey 11,000 employees at 10 diverse organizations tells us there is retention, but then there is retention. Tactics to keep top talent must be based on what engages them, that is, what motivates them to give their all – all the time.
The Molson Coors Brewing Company (MCBC) in particular has found that what engages top talent has been different from what engages the rest of the staff. Let’s see if you have the instincts to keep your top talent working for you. Which three of the following did MCBC identify as unique drivers of their top talent engagement?
A. Growth opportunities
B. Recognition
C. Respectful work environment
D. Clear job expectations
E. Talent retention
They all might sound good to you, but only the bottom three got their top talent engaged at their job. And yes, ‘talent retention’ made their top talent more engaged. Do you get the implications here? If you keep top talent, they become more engaged. When they are more engaged, they tend to stick around. Now that’s a feedback loop you want to keep spinning!
Of course, as the diet pill attorneys say, your results may differ. Your top talent may prefer other drivers. Find out. If the drivers are as easy to produce in your project as ‘respectful work environment’ and ‘clear job expectations’, you may be able to laugh at those who are suffering through today’s talent shortage. |
Posted on: September 20, 2007 10:20 PM
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Overwhelming Reasons to Spend More Effort on This Project Enabler
| Even I was impressed by the list of reasons provided in this article that described benefits of a high-performance culture. (And, no, a high-performance culture is not today’s equivalent of the Roman war vessel with “workers” chained to the oars.) I summarize what a strong culture creates here:
These are just the benefits project managers need right now! It’s time to check what else you can do to improve your work culture. |
Posted on: September 17, 2007 10:06 PM
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Workers Will Replace Your Procedures With Their Own
| Forget what you lay down as work rules, employees are likely to do whatever they think is more efficient. At least that’s what a new study finds about workers at large American companies. What happens is that many more come up with their own solutions than turn to supervisors or managers. And how does the following make you feel? Thirty-seven percent say they sometimes ignore company rules “because they’ve developed better ways of getting work done.” Does that scare you? What about customer service? Regulatory compliance?
Here’s the thing: You’re going to have to deal with this. Workers today want to work autonomously, and evidently will whether you want them to or not. Set up a process that allows them more freedom to innovate. You want them to do this. Let them know the objectives of their efforts, and let them know the constraints (regulatory requirements for example). Let them know best practices. But then let them find the most efficient way. They can surprise you – in a good way! |
Posted on: September 13, 2007 08:25 AM
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Talent For You Is Out There...Really
| I have good news if you are trying to fill positions. CareerBuilder.com says college grads are increasingly up for moving even to other states to get a good position. Fifty-nine percent of all workers would move to advance their careers, so make an effort to improve your marketing and spread the word to all states. Talent is scarce, but don’t make it more difficult to find than it has to be. Need help on this? Go to our home page and key "recruit" into the Search field. It's just another topic that we have covered for years, only perhaps you were not suffering enough until recently to need our help. We promise not to rub it in if you use some of our excellent guidance. |
Posted on: September 10, 2007 10:35 PM
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Women Don’t Get No Respect
| A new survey says that women are underutilized as leaders. No surprise there. But it adds that getting more female leaders in place may not be easy in the future either. There’s more than one reason.
One major reason must just be called gender stereotyping. People expect women to act in a certain way – and this certain way does not include characteristics of leaders. For example, if a man is assertive, he is seen as a leader. But woe to the woman who is assertive - she is just not a nice person.
The other major reason why is that today’s top management and corporate leadership positions are “extreme”. While extreme may be good in an energy drink, it’s not necessarily desirable in a job. Women, in general, are less likely to seek positions that require 70-80 hours per week. This could be evidence of a higher intelligence – maybe the subject of another study.
In any case, project managers have to develop female managers and leaders. Some of my previous posts have described why there will be a lack of leadership in the years to come. But the need for more leaders is not the only benefit. We need better leaders. Women leaders will be part of that culture change. |
Posted on: September 07, 2007 03:35 PM
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