Ian Stephens - Leadership Coach

In this article Ian Stephen shares what five industry leaders are doing in order to keep their talented people engaged. A must read for all leaders and managers if you want to keep your best people away from the head-hunters and weekend papers.

Finding talented people isn't all that hard. Throw a 'Start Up' bonus on top of the attractive salary package and they probably won't say no. Keeping them... now there's the challenge. And if you thought the 'War on Talent' has already occurred, think again. The job market is hot, and the battle lines have been re-drawn. And as far as your organization is concerned, the fight is on to retain those talented individuals who conservatively add at least 20% to the bottom line.
I was recently invited to moderate a forum discussion entitled 'How to engage, retain and develop your Talent'. I was asked what I would do to get people to commit that extra level of discretionary effort; in other words, what makes the difference between engagement and disengagement of people with talent? I answered "Make sure your leaders are serving up ample quantities of 'The Seven Universal Life Requirements©'. They are a recipe for creating employee fulfillment". These seven requirements underpin our 'value' system, and in my experience, leaders are notoriously bad at making sure their talented people's 'Emotional Bank Accounts' are topped up regularly in these areas. Let me explain.
Success leaves clues, and there are patterns in people's behaviour. My travels and observations over a twelve year period of working with people across a diverse range of industries and cultures, have led me to develop the "Seven Universal Life Requirements©".Whilst we are all unique and individual, we are all human beings and therefore instinctively similar. You can basically take all the things people value, desire, need, are motivated by, or driven to achieve, and distill them down into seven universal requirements we need satisfied in order to feel fulfilled as a human being.
These universal requirements are...

Belonging: To bear a relationship to, to be rightly placed, and to feel loved and connected.A sense of belonging is a primal urge and requirement. We all long to feel connected to a family, work group, or to belong to a cause. And, of course, we all require love and affection. A senior leader of a client organization puts it this way, "The team needs a bit of a cuddle occasionally!"
Importance: Definition - of significance. As human beings, we all have a need to feel special and significant to someone. To know that we make a difference and we are 'worth' something... This is one of the deepest needs humans experience, and the absence of it causes significant issues for many.
Absolutes: Without reservation, assured, certain to happen, without doubt, categorical.We require some absolutes in our life. We need to be certain we can feed ourselves, pay the mortgage or the rent each month, or know with absolute certainty that our partner loves us. Children love us unconditionally - we absolutely know we make a difference in someone's life.
Diversity: The state or fact of being diverse, variety, multiformity, a point of difference. In an apparently cruel paradox, our creator has decided that whilst we need some things to be absolutes, we will also want some variety. We all have experienced the feeling of boredom if life does not serve up some variety and diversity. Variety is, after all, the spice of life.
Personal Development: To grow gradually, to improve and expand our epistemology.We all have a fundamental requirement to grow. Some people lose sight of this and then wonder why they don't feel fulfilled. We were designed to expand, grow, and evolve in terms of our capabilities, knowledge and skills. Let's look at people who have started a new career or job. They will tell you they left the old job because they were not growing anymore, and now they feel excited and outside their comfort zone. In essence, their need for diversity is now being fulfilled again and they are growing personally or professionally.
Altruism: The principle and practice of seeking the welfare of others, and contributing to the greater good, the bigger picture. This is about making a contribution. Rotary Clubs have the motto "Serve others above self" which summarises this requirement. We feel more satisfied and fulfilled when we are contributing to someone or something else. We are giving back-a deep instinctive response over looked by many, yet thankfully understood by a powerful army of humans who give back daily. A true leader is always contributing to the growth and well-being of his/her team and therefore making sure that this requirement is met.
Faith:The principle of conscious life, vital to animate a person's life and actions.Faith is defined as confidence or trust in something or someone, a belief which is not based on proof. We are not necessarily referring to religion here. For some this is simply a belief and faith in something bigger. Read any article about why people leave companies and change jobs, and you will frequently hear the feedback "I lost faith in my one-up leader, or the direction the company was moving."

The forum attendees then discussed and assessed the effectiveness of some initiatives they were implementing in order to keep their talented people engaged, and saying 'no' to the recruitment head-hunters:

Create a career map or pathway: One company had documented a clear career pathway for its people. This map included the skills and competencies people would need to develop along the journey. It had some positive consequences in respect to managing the overinflated expectations of Gen Y, in addition to its retention implications.
Structured Induction Training Program: Too many companies inadvertently make 'New Starts' feel like a nuisance. In this time-poor world, many outwardly positive staff send the wrong sub-conscious message: "I have better things to be doing than training you!" A well structured induction training process is a fast track way to ensure potential talent feels a sense of belonging, connectedness, and of value.
Coaching and Mentoring Program: A well known company had implemented a structured 'Coaching & Mentoring' program for their emerging talent. Feedback confirmed this strategy was building a nice retaining wall around their talented people despite market offers from the competitors.
Training and Development: An international Finance provider had implemented a targeted training and development program to up-skill the workforce. Feedback included this comment: "Thank you for investing in me. I feel like this company values me. I'm growing personally and professionally."
"Open Door" Return Policy: One company had deliberately promoted an 'Open Door' Return policy to the valued talent who had succumbed and left the company for greener pastures. Driven from senior levels, the CEO would personally thank them for their contribution to the organization and inform them of the 'Open Door' Return policy. Based on the 'Don’t burn your bridges' motto, the aim here is to make it easy to re-enter the company if indeed the grass was tougher to chew! Surprise, surprise. Some good people were welcomed home.

All the initiatives stacked up fairly well. You don' have to be a rocket scientist to understand why these companies had been successful in engaging and retaining talent. Remember the rules of thumb above - serve up all seven requirements and people get addicted and loyal. It will take something rather significant to move them. My wife and I have been talking to couples about theses Universal Requirements as part of our 'ENRICH' personal development weekend. Since then, we have never heard of someone leaving their partner. If all seven needs are being met by your partner, why would you ever leave?

In summary, it seems the 'War on Talent' will not be won in the trenches, but driven by a well thought out action plan to retain and engage your talent.

Call to action: Have your Human Resources team re-examine how well the organization scores in serving up The Magnificent Seven!