‘The War on Talent’ Jargon…Simplified
Last night I attended the Onward NRV Spring Investor’s Reception. Onward NRV is my community’s regional economic development organization, and we had the great honor of hearing from the leader of Economic and Community Engagement at Virginia Tech.
The presentation was about the impact talent has on economic development. The presenter shared a snip-it of an article he came across referencing ‘compassionate and evidence-based culture renovation”. The only problem, like so many others, he wasn’t completely sure what that means.
As I was leaving, I shared my card with the presenter and told him I knew what it meant and invited him to a conversation, but at a high-level it’s simply another catchphrase for ineffective leadership and low engagement.
We’re spending way too much time dreaming up fancy new ways to describe talent challenges when we should be focused on what to do about.
If organizations want to win the war on talent, they need to make specific changes, it must start at the top, and it must be done with purpose and intention - every day…by every leader.
So, what changes are needed? Most importantly, your mission must be at the heart of why you’re there and your values should dictate how you act and behave. Everyone should know why the company exists, what is important and how they contribute to the mission, and every level of the organization should demonstrate the values in how they treat others.
Once this is in place, here are some other requirements to build a culture that people want to be a part of:
Hire the right people – Use behavioral interviews, include peers in the interview process, and if the job is a high-stress role, have the top 1-2 candidates spend 2-4 hours shadowing someone in the department so they get a realistic preview of the job. Candidates are interviewing you as much as you are them and if they start a job that doesn’t look and feel like they job they thought they were starting, your odds of retaining them aren’t great.
Provide an efficient and simple onboarding process. If the first impression a person has as an employee is cumbersome and clunky, it sets the stage for what it will be like to work for you.
Partner new hires with a high performer for orientation and provide them the time necessary to learn the job. People have a fundamental human need to know what is expected of them and how to do their job well!
Get to know your team. Connect in a meaningful way on a regular basis. Ask the right questions, ones that:
Focus on what’s going well
Proactively identify issues (and solutions),
Harvest recognition for people who go above and beyond, and
Ask about career goals and aspirations, and how you can support their growth.
Provide timely and relevant feedback and do it well.
Coach high performers to help them grow personally and professionally.
Communicate timely and transparently. Leverage different avenue to communicate. One-size does not fit all.
Appreciate and recognize others appropriately. How people prefer to be appreciated varies by generation and doing it well drives engagement.
Pay a fair and market competitive wage.
Treat people with mutual respect, where everyone feels welcome as their unique self…even those who are leaving the organization; you never know when they’ll realize the grass isn’t always greener.
Here’s the thing, while the jargon used to talk about talent has changed, basic human behavior hasn’t.
If you want to do something meaningful to attract and retain high performers, you do it by developing high-performing leaders
Leaders who use evidence-based leadership practices and skills that make a difference. Evidenced Based Leadership = Leadership disciplines, behaviors, and habits that have been researched, studied, and have been proven by data to make a difference in your organizational culture…or in other words, there is evidence to prove the way leaders act, behave and treat others matters and makes a difference in engagement, retention, productivity, and recruitment.
Aside from this, the other tangible action organizations must consider is opening their minds about flexibility in the workplace. Employees proved during the height of COVID they could be productive from home, and this did change expectations, particularly with Gen Y and Z.
Need help with evidenced-based leadership development? Ignite Leadership Consulting Group can help.
