Top tips for People Managers to retain their Talented Team members

We hear a lot of talk about the "Great Resignation" following on from the pandemic. How much of that is based on the economy, and how hard it is to come back to work after being furloughed or laid off for months ? How much of that is based on mental health issues and concerns, how much of that is based on having had time out to spend reflecting and rethinking one's career goals ? Certainly some of these factors are present for many people, but how can you truly measure which is which and what is what ? No one has yet come up with compelling People Analytics to quantify and qualify and fully interpret the data of resignation trends.

However , as a People Manager, there are many things that are certainly within your own control, and steps that you can take to ensure you are a good People Manager -the kind that people want to work for, and work with, and stay working with. In this article let's look at some effective ways for you as a manager of people to?RETAIN?the talent you have spent that quality time and effort to attract and develop.

And here is where to start:

Invest time, focus, and energy in the people you have hired, the people you already have in your team.??

Consider the amount of time you would spend in the recruitment and on-boarding process of identifying, hiring, and bringing up-to-speed a replacement for a departing team member.?Remember those hours spent sifting through resumes/CV’s, scheduling and conducting interviews, and then orienting and training a new hire??Doesn’t it make more sense to invest the same amount of time and effort working to retain your current valued team members??You hired them once and you need to think that each week you are hiring them again for the ever changing needs of your business; the next project, the next objective, the next month’s workload of tasks. Re-recruit your valued team members with the same intensity as you did when you had a vacancy.??The Stay Interview with your talented people is far more proactive than the Exit Interview when they have already "checked out".

It’s easy for employees to sometimes feel unsupported by company systems , and a constantly changing environment can in many cases lead them to feel unsettled and tired.?They may be becoming more willing than usual to consider new opportunities from outside of your organization – thinking that the grass is always greener on the other side. Even in cases where your business is doing well , and growing, it is never safe to assume that your employees share the same buzz of excitement as those at the top of the organization.?Uncertainty about “what’s in it for me”, how will my role be impacted, how will we cope with the new venture, the acquisition, integration, new partnership or alliance arrangements etc., can often be more stressful than you would think for your people including those whom you deem to be your "high flyers".

Do note that?it is?often the strong swimmers who jump ship.?After all they will interview well and have a strong track record of accomplishment which translates well to a powerful resume/cv.?That’s why you and your colleagues hired them in the first place!??

So, keep close to these valued employees with regular check-ins, one to one’s, and informal discussions.?Don’t be afraid to tell them that you appreciate and value their contribution and are interested in hearing their views and concerns.?Make them feel important and confident that they have your trust, support, and sponsorship.?

Continue to remind your team, your group of the positive aspects and unique selling points which contribute to making your company, your organisation, a great place to work.?Keep them posted on the exciting new leading- edge approaches your business has implemented to meet the challenges which are coming down the road.?Share with them the positive fact that the company is leading the way in an ever changing world of work and that other organizations will soon need to follow this trend. Promote the benefits of hybrid and agile working wherever this is possible, role model and practice diversity, equality and inclusion. Be flexible to consider the personal needs of team members, get to know the whole person not just the work role persona. Think beyond "one size fits all" . Ensure communication and dialogue in your organisation has an open, honest, adult to adult tone, not one of command and control or compliance to a heavy set of rules.

Proactively sell the value of developing skills, competencies, and experience now in preparation for this new world, rather than choosing to step off this journey, and move back to join another traditional organization with all of this change and uncertainty yet to come.

??Recognize possible indicators and symptoms related to “Jumping Ship”??

There are a bunch of advance triggers which People Managers need to be aware of as possible preliminary signals or drivers that could result in someone in the team thinking of leaving.?

These include:???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

• Company changes, mergers, restructuring, external hires into key positions,?a competitor re-locating or expanding its workforce nearby.
• A?sudden downward trend in interaction with colleagues and communications with you, their People Manager. This fact reinforces your need to keep up with regular one-to-ones as it is important to keep these communication channels open.
• Confusion and uncertainty expressed regarding future career options.
• Conflicts in relationships with managers, team leaders, and colleagues.?
• Expressed or implied boredom or the feeling of being under-utilized.
• Unusual activity around seeking out recognition and appreciation for efforts.?
• Raising compensation and job grading issues.?
• Reports of repeated calls from head-hunters. Don’t let that interaction with the third-party recruiter be the best coaching and confidence building conversation that your employee experiences.?

So here are some actions you can take to proactively address the issues before they arise

1.Create a trusting and empowering environment for development?

?Demonstrate your commitment to your team member’s effectiveness, success, and personal development by making the time to support and coach them.?Help to enable and empower your employees with thoughtful and insightful coaching discussions.?Help them to gain insights, resolve issues and build upon their strengths.?If necessary make the connections for them, join the dots, which will answer questions, increase understanding, or actually lead to resolution of those frustrating organizational issues and barriers to successful delivery.?

Review performance and development on a regular basis with an emphasis on constructive and forward looking feedback (feed-forward) to assist their learning pathway.

The review should not be just a paper exercise which occurs once a year just to tick the HR box.?The review is a dynamic way for you to engage in a two-way dialogue with your team member to build that all important trusting relationship.

Never be complacent.?It is risky to assume that your key players are going to remain on the team just because they have not publicly announced their dissatisfaction and intent to leave.??

As the famous saying goes:?"People join companies but they leave managers".?According to a recent Gallup study, around 50% of employees who leave jobs do so to get away from their boss.?Don’t let it be your name that appears on the exit interview form as the reason for leaving.?Make sure you use regular conversations to really get to know your team member’s current goals, perspective, opinions, hopes, concerns, and fears.??Regular real dialogue goes a long way in ensuring that you are viewed as a top-quality boss.??

2.?Keep Building Stretch and Challenge into Work Roles

?Having stretch and challenge in one's working life, together with working towards meaningful, realistic, and achievable but stretching deadlines, enjoying a variety of work, are all rated highly as motivators in work based research.?When individuals start to express concerns over their lack of job challenge, boredom, feeling stuck in a rut, watch out!? In many cases it is more stressful to be under occupied in a lazy comfort zone than to be fully stretched and occupied, so long of course that that this pressure doesn’t creep into the over-stressed over-loaded panic zone.

??3.Have Frequent Discussions to Test the Challenge Temperature

Use your frequent conversations to check that the role has a?“Goldilocks”?quality to it.? Not too hot, not too cold, but just right !?If the job is not offering sufficient challenge look to act fast to enrich it with wider or new areas of responsibility, increased exposure, or work in a new project area.?Ask yourself, could this be an opportunity to delegate some of your work to your team??Remember, look to delegate with support, development and satisfaction in mind, not just to dump your in-tray!

4.Give Individuals the Mandate to Tackle some of their Biggest Frustrations in their Job

Empower your team to find ways to remove road-blocks, improve processes and streamline ways of working.?Support them in removing obstacles , or in facilitating network connections to resolve organizational issues where your knowledge or position authority is required.??

5.?Always ensure that Challenging but Realistic Work Deadlines and Key Milestones are Established

Do not shoot for targets that will be doomed to failure and frustration, but strive to engineer "success experiences" for your employees.?Show continued interest in their progress at each milestone along the way.?Create shorter term “micro-wins” to mark progress on long term projects and initiatives.?Look for opportunities to regularly celebrate success with planned and spontaneous events or observances in a meaningful manner which is neither over-the-top or understated.??Its much better to set, agree and focus on four or five key objectives or work goals, and deliver them successfully on time, in full, and with good quality, than try to run with 20 or more different initiatives and fail.

6.?Aim to Match your Team Members to the Work that they Love

Do you understand what truly motivates your employees??What do they love doing?? What are they equipped to do well??What are the organizational needs that exist that might intersect with their passion and skill set??By viewing work and development from this perspective you will capture your employee’s?imagination and tap directly into their creative energy as well as their heart and soul!?

7.?Become a Talent Magnet

Overcome the fear of letting your team member go to another part of the organisation.?Become known within your organisation as a manager who regularly and successfully imports and exports talent.?Look to grow and develop employees for the future and they will most often choose to grow with you and your organization.??Stifle them and they will surely look elsewhere. Take the time to offer advice and help in a world of flatter organizational structures where lateral moves, rotations, secondments, job cover, and cross-functional moves and projects are increasingly as valid as are the concerns about climbing the narrowing and ambiguous corporate ladder.???

8.Develop your Coaching Skills

?Characteristics of an effective coach include: helping learners to assess their own performance, aid the discovery of?hidden personal facts and self-beliefs, set and agree meaningful development goals and develop the action plan that will make the sustainable plan come alive.?Each individual owns their career and their development plan.?Best practice thinking is that people learn best through on-the-job opportunities which allow them to experiencing things for themselves in real business situations. These on-the job experiences should make up approximately 70% of the individuals development plan, with Coaching and Networking at 20% and Formal Training around 10% (70/20/10).?A good coach can identify real time opportunities for learning as well as facilitate and guide the thinking and framework to bring out the best for everyone.?A strong people manager creates that essential “research and development” environment for learners to safely experiment.????

9.Recognize the Benefit of Establishing a Mentor for your most Valued Team Members

A mentor is likely to be a more senior or experienced manager /good professional, who is a strong role model of your company values and has sound knowledge of the business or is particularly adept with a critical competency related to your employee’s career development plan.?The mentor is able to provide insight into both formal and informal ways to get things done.?They can provide off-line confidential support to the individual, helping them how to network and with whom to network, and helping to remove road-blocks to their progress.?The watching brief of a mentor is to follow through on the fundamental people principle of care for the valued team member, to be the someone who is there for them , someone who can offer a reflective space and provide a sounding-board for thinking and discussing ideas and approaches, someone other than their direct line boss.?

Some organizations have found success with reverse mentoring and diversity and inclusion mentoring.?

In a reverse mentoring arrangement a lower level or newer employee may be matched-up with a more senior mentee in-order to provide insight and awareness into new or evolving business competencies.??Examples of reverse mentoring include:?Digital Marketing, Use of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data Analysis, or insight into the challenges and perspective of the millennial workforce.?If managed well this can be a win-win in offering development for the senior employee and exposure and recognition for the more junior employee.?

Diversity and inclusion policies can actually be brought to life in a practical way by matching individuals from different backgrounds,orientation, and life experiences together - to learn from each other as mentor and mentee, as co-mentors, and to really get to appreciate and value those differences.

??????10.Everyone Can Benefit from Having a Mentor… Including you!

?As a People Manager , be careful not to view the role of a Mentor as a threat to your authority or control over the work of your team member.?Mentors can be seen more as an objective partner who can assist you in retaining valued team members and helping them to navigate the unchartered waters, assisting in motivating them to their full potential. The benefits of mentoring for the individual include: improved self-confidence, learning to cope with the informal structure, insights in the codes and culture of the company, enhanced career advice, and potential future advancement plus additional organizational exposure for your mentee.?For your organization assigning an effective mentor will also have these advantages: improved communications, training and development cost savings, facilitation of rapid development of valued employees, improved motivation of the person being mentored, job enrichment for the mentor, and as important as the rest, enhanced effectiveness and efficiency of the mentee and improved retention of the talent that you worked so hard to hire and develop.??

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With thanks and recognition to my co-author of the Top Tips for People Managers series, the wise and much missed Robert Wolf ,who sadly passed away in October 2019, before this pandemic came along and changed our world paradigm further still. It was an honour and a privilege to have known and worked with "Bob" for over 25 years.

Thanks also to PushFar.com , now the world's largest mentoring platform ,which in this hybrid working post pandemic world has grown from start-up to have over 65,000 mentoring members on its open volunteering platform, offering virtual meetings as well as in person meetings . It's a great way to stay connected and to share knowledge and learning - a great social responsibility value in these challenging times .

Pushfar.com also offers a cloud- based mentoring technology and mentoring training support to over 160 organisations across a range of sectors who see the value of mentoring as part of their People and Culture offer for their employees.

Its a privilege to be part of their team and a volunteer mentor to several mentees.

Simon Brown