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Keeping the Right People 'On Your Bus'

Twelve months ago, your staff was likely happy just to have jobs. Now, as the market improves, some of your stronger players might be looking for better opportunities.

So how do you keep them engaged, involved and loyal … especially if you do not yet have the earnings to compensate them accordingly?

In How to Keep Your Best Executives from the October 26 Wall Street Journal, Elizabeth Craig, John Kimberly and Peter Cheese offer advice which may appear to be counterintuitive. They say the best way to keep these executives from getting other positions “is to prepare them to do just that.”

They articulate the underlying paradox that “to keep them, you need to give them what they want most: the skills and experience that make them more attractive on the job market.”

Think about the three specific areas highlighted in this article and how they might figure into your retention planning.

The opportunity to take on challenging tasks and more responsibility was the highest ranked factor for career satisfaction in the survey performed by the authors.

• Do you take a long view with regard to your team?
• Have you identified those who you want to be with you for the long term and further identified needs for their development?
• Do you know what the individual goals are for the members of your leadership team and the tools they will need to accomplish them?

Have you provided opportunities for members of your team to increase their knowledge outside their specific functional area as well as with regards to general management issues?

• Do you understand the strengths and weaknesses of the members of your leadership team?
• Have you worked with them to develop plans to build upon their strengths and correct their weaknesses?
• or your key people, are you working with them on plans to enhance their general business skills as well as their specific functional capabilities?

Do all members of the team understand the importance of cultivating relationships, both inside and outside the organization?

• Do you encourage engagement with leaders of other parts of the organization, even if it is outside the team member’s purview?
• Do you help people with and encourage networking, both through the uses of in-person contact and social media?

There are no guarantees you can keep your entire team as the economic recovery continues, but we believe that when people are engaged, happy with their jobs and feel like they can leave at anytime, they are less likely to jump when the first suitor comes knocking at their door. Taking the above steps to improve your team’s skills and marketability increases your odds of keeping your critical players.

This publication is part of Blackman Kallick’s marketing of professional services, and is not written tax advice directed at the specific facts and circumstances of any person and/or entity. Contents of this publication are of a general nature, and you should not act on this information without obtaining professional advice from your business advisor that is appropriately tailored to your individual needs and circumstances. This written advice is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding penalties that may be imposed under the Internal Revenue Code.