Secrets To Retaining Your Top Talent

Qualified, loyal, and motivated employees are hard to find, and once you do find them, you want to keep them around.  In today's market, shifting your focus to instill best practices on how to retain key employees adds value to your company.  Having a pulse on your company's climate is an important factor when it comes to employee retention.  Oftentimes, there is a disconnect between the leadership in the company and the needs of the people in an organization, which can be frustrating for employees on all levels.

Rush hiring to quickly fill positions won't fix core issues of employee retention.  This is a hazardous practice because it can create the "hamster wheel" or recurring cycle of rushed hires leaving and employers rushing to fill the role again.

As John Dijulius of The Dijulius Group expressed at the 2022 Multi-Unit Franchising Conference, "Stop Calling It a Labor Shortage, It is a Turnover Crisis," people realize what they will and will not "take" from their employers.  Dijulius further shared, "Days of lighting fires under people are over.  Days of lighting fires inside people are here." People know how valuable they are to organizations, and if they don’t feel respected and inspired, they will go somewhere else that can give them what they want.  Leaders with solid cultures benefit from those who have not yet caught on to the wave that is more about "We" vs. "Me," and there are no profits without inspired people.

Your best talent is the constant target of recruiters so they know they have options.  You need to make sure you aren't giving them a reason to seek out these options.  And let's face it, peoples’ needs change because our world is changing.  So what attracted them to the organization in the first place, and what currently keeps them satisfied may change.  As employees' needs evolve, so should your understanding of your employees, which means you:

• Must 
• Always 
• Get
• In 
• Close

If you ignore their needs or remain unaware of them, you will lose them.  While some turnover is normal, you can ensure better retention of your employees by ensuring your staffing and onboarding processes meet needs and expectations and setting these new hires up for success.

Another key to better retention is providing your employees the opportunity to progress in either compensation or growth such as a title change or change in responsibilities.  Talent who expects this kind of growth are the kinds of employees that enrich an organization.  At a minimum, you should be providing these four elements that improve a working environment and increase retention:

• Inspiration - Leads to engagement
• Autonomy - Gives responsibility
• Education- Leads to empowerment
• Communication- Offers transparency

We often refer to running your business like a sports team.  We're talking about how sports teams develop and train their talent.  Dan Schneider, partner with Rawls Succession Planners, makes a great comparison in Episode 7: "Should organizations intentionally review their talent?" that, like professional sports, organizations can benefit from creating talent depth charts to identify potential or areas to develop.  This also allows for identifying where you have people whose talent can be crossed over into other areas of the organization, which helps your employees develop a broader range of skills and keeps them challenged.  If you have a solid plan for developing and maintaining a talent pipeline, you will ensure that your organization has depth to its talent bench.  So if you lose a key player, someone who has been developing the necessary skills will be ready to step up.  Remember, you won't have to be afraid of losing talent if you utilize best practices to develop and retain your employees.

Don't be afraid, be prepared.

Kendall Rawls knows and understands the challenges that impact the success of an entrepreneurial-owned business.  Her unique perspective comes not only from her educational background but, more importantly, from her experience as a second-generation family member employee of The Rawls Group - Business Succession Planners.  For more information, visit www.rawlsgroup.com or email info@rawlsgroup.com.