Is Your Organization A Negatively or Positively Charged Talent Magnet?
In 2016 Harvard Business Review published an article titled “Why people quit their jobs?” The author highlights research from the CEB that points to the usual reasons why people quit and one somewhat surprising reason. The common reasons people quit jobs are they don’t like their boss, don’t see opportunities for promotion or growth or they are being offered a better opportunity elsewhere. The one more surprising reason is “their sense of how they’re doing compared with other people in their peer group, or with where they thought they would be at a certain point in life.” We are competitive by nature and it is our focus on keeping up with the Jones’ that motivates this reason for quitting jobs.
In working with organization’s to set their culture, their core values and their talent strategy, Groove Management has found that having the right talent philosophy is key to attracting and engaging the right employees. Think about a magnet. In general we think of a magnet attracting other metal objects, but that is not always the case. In fact a magnet can repel metal objects with the same force that it attracts metal objects. It boils down to polarity. The magnet visual is very helpful when working with managers. We ask the question, what are you doing to be a positive talent magnet? Is there a force that pulls talent towards you? In many organizations there is a mix of managers. Some who attract talent while others who repel talent. The goal is to eliminate or retrain the managers who repel talent. One of the best ways to retrain the talent repelling managers is to expose them to the managers who attract talent.
Recently, Adam Cannavo, senior consultant at Groove Management was featured on the Charlotte, NC CBS affiliate WBTV to discuss why people quit their jobs and what companies can do about it. Adam highlights the role that bosses play. Harvard Business Review published another piece on January 11, 2018 Why People Really Quit Their Jobs that highlighted three reasons people stayed in jobs. During the local news piece Adam highlighted the three reasons people stayed those included:
1) They enjoyed work
2) They got to use their strengths
3) They gained skills
This points to the fact that retention is very closely linked to employee engagement. At Groove Management, we see employee retention as the byproduct of employee engagement. If an organization focuses purely on retention, they can achieve this by overpaying and asking very little of their employees. Employees will be compelled to stay for all the wrong reasons. Many large organizations take this approach because they are measuring the wrong metric. Some turnover is good. The hungriest and best employees tend to move around. They change jobs within an organization and change organizations. It is that insatiable thirst for growth and new challenges that motivates the best employees. To harness that power organizations must not focus on retention. Instead the focus must shift to employee engagement. Engagement points to fulfilling an employees thirst for growth. Providing new and interesting work, challenging the employee, teaching them new skills and supporting them in their quest to grow are all important to driving employee engagement. Employee engagement starts with the boss. Managers must take a vested interest in engaging their direct reports. One size does not fit all, so it is critical that managers sit with their employees and hold development dialogues.
Adam speaks to the fact that it important to conduct pulse checks with employees to measure their engagement. This can be done formally via surveys and more informally through manager led conversations. It is important that the organization is measuring the right things. Too often companies confuse employee satisfaction with employee engagement. At Groove Management we differentiate by defining employee satisfaction as what you get from your employer. This includes your salary, the work conditions, the benefits and other factors. Employee engagement is defined as what you are willing to give to your organization. This is often the discretionary effort, the willingness to work extra time, to go above and beyond, to help others and to be an ambassador for the company. Employees that are engaged at work are far less likely to entertain calls from headhunters and recruiters. They are content where they are and seek the opportunity to make a difference in their current company.
If your organization is suffering from an increase in turnover, the root cause might be the way your managers are treating their employees. By listening more closely to employees, their needs and their concerns managers can drive engagement and in turn improve retention. Make certain that your managers are positively charged talent magnets, there is no room in a great organization for negatively charged talent magnets.