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Afraid of losing Top Talent? How to win them back

The last thing a manager wants to hear is one of his star employees saying, “I quit.” Yet it happens all the time. But just because a good employee leaves doesn’t mean you can’t win this employee back. The job market today may be the fiercest in recent memory.The buzzword these days within organizations is “transformed”, however, when you have talented people in your employ, it’s important to find new and inventive ways to keep them there. Remember that one in the hand is better than ten in the tree, after all.

Address Management Issues- It’s no secret that many people leave companies because of their direct manager or supervisor. One supervisor in your business having significantly more voluntary turnover than the rest? Is this the same supervisor that you’ve been considering moving out? Do what needs to be done and always keep in mind, people leave people, Not the Organization!!
Create a culture where employees feel comfortable offering feedback. “If employees feel they have to stay quiet and keep their ideas to themselves, you’re going to find yourself in trouble”. Provide assurances that you will continue to support their career growth. You can do so by committing an amount so they can attend courses or work with a coach who can help them elevate their game. Think about whom you know that may make a great mentor for this person. Offer to make an introduction,

Gain insights from them- Surveys are one of the best ways to measure how your employees feel about the company and their jobs, and figure out what needs to change.Often the best source of information about the state of affairs within your business organization is going to come from the recently hired. Try to keep it to people who have been with the company for two weeks to two months. More or less than that and they have either not enough knowledge to be honest and open or too much to lose to risk offending.Also, One of the best ways to win back good employees is to make it a point to stay in touch. You can do this in a number of ways including sending an occasional email. Let the former employee know you’ve been thinking about him or her and wanted to reach out to see how they are doing. When doing so, consider including an article that might be of interest to them or perhaps sending a quick note about a local happening that is right up their alley.

Don’t underestimate the power of the exit interview- By identifying the factors driving employees to leave, you’ll identify the factors that could potentially drive other employees out the door – and do something about it before it’s too late. “If one of your top employees is saying something in their exit interview, chances are, there are other people within the organization who feel the same way. While an exit interview will not “save” the employee who’s actually being interviewed, it may help you retain everybody else.

Use their talent- One of the most commonly cited reasons for employees to leave the companies they work for is a distinct lack of challenge in the work. They need challenges in order to stay engaged in the tasks at hand and committed to the job. It’s great to have a big picture plan but everyone contributing to that big picture needs challenges that are achievable but somewhat aggressive (not impossible) in order to make them feel like they have something important to bring to the table and keep them coming back Monday morning after Monday morning.They need to believe they have a future within the company and that the business has a vested interest in them. Look for new challenges and increasing responsibilities to give to employees who produce consistently good results so they’ll have ample incentive to continue doing so.

Elite Performers is a team of experts specializing in Consulting, Employee Engagement, Business and Life coaching for teams and individuals as well as Leadership training and development.
We help organizations get their people strategy right and achieve their objectives.

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How Teams Can Work Better Together

Working in teams can be both beneficial and challenging at the same time. Sharing work can be less than ideal if the team members don’t work well together. In most team settings, you’ll have a leader and one or two other people who share the workload for the entire team. This can lead to pent-up feelings of resentment on the part of the worker bees, and sometimes the other team members can feel left out. Teams that work well together can greatly increase workplace productivity and creates a more cohesive company culture. Here are some tips that will help your company’s teams work well together.

Communicate Openly

When communication channels in a team are properly established and information flows easily between teammates, then that increases the ability of staff members to interact, Team members learn how to interact more efficiently with each other to perform their job duties, and they are better able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each teammate. Encourage team members to ask questions and listen to one another. This helps to build better team dynamics and stronger relationships.

Eliminate Ambiguity by Defining Roles

Have you ever experienced complete frustration at work due to unclear roles and responsibilities?
These types of problems occur when employees are unclear about their roles and responsibilities. It becomes particularly difficult when a supervisor does not “give up” the tasks she assigned to her subordinate. In some cases, it is difficult for supervisors to let go.They can be easily solved with a one to one conversation in a meeting entitled “clarifying roles and responsibilities.” This conversation should be used to discuss the specific roles of each employee and clarify who is to do what task. This usually solves the problem, but there are times when it does not.Communication will not solve the problem when a person stubbornly holds onto a role that belongs to another. It also fails to solve the problem if two people disagree about who should perform the specific role.At this point, a third party must enter the conversation to provide clarification and expectations about each employee’s assignments.

Respect individuality

Individualism promotes creativity and innovation — the lifeblood of most corporations — but it’s not terribly popular. Instead, many companies look for employees who embrace the organization’s culture and play well with others. This all-for-one-and-one-for-all structure may feel secure to those who live within it, but it stifles individualism and could cost the company its edge over competitors. When a group of people with all different skills and personalities are put together to accomplish a certain task, understanding what each team member brings to the table is critical. Each team member needs to contribute his or her strengths in order for the team to function as one.

Trust-building exercises

Trust building exercises help a team increase team trust levels.Team-building activities can be a powerful way to unite a group, develop strengths, and address weaknesses – but only if the exercises are planned and carried out strategically. In other words, there has to be a real purpose behind your decision to do the exercise – for example, improving the team’s problem-solving or creativity skills as opposed to because you felt like giving your people a nice day out of the office.

Elite Performers is a team of experts specializing in Consulting, Employee Engagement, Business and Life coaching for teams and individuals as well as Leadership training and development.

We help organizations get their people strategy right and achieve their objectives.

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The 4 key Emotions that lead to Engagement

A recent study on employee engagement helps to answer a question many businesses ask today: how to engage employees? The study found that emotions are some of the main drivers of engagement. In any organization’s employee engagement strategy, emotions are important indicators of the current level of engagement. Emotions such as enthusiasm, inspiration, empowerment and confidence can engage employees, and the presence of at least three can indicate an engaged employee. Organizations can work to foster these emotions as part of their employee engagement strategy by improving the relationships employees have with managers and senior leaders. The basic emotion that leads an employee to be engaged is being valued,which is the sum of other feelings that are necessary to generate engagement. Lets take a look at some of these drivers..

ENTHUSIASM

The buzz currently in organizational circles is about engaged employees or employee engagement. The truth is that engaged employees are enthusiastic ones. Nothing is more contagious than enthusiasm, especially in the workplace. Enthusiastic employees are interested and engaged in their work and with the people with whom they work. They have a strong passion. Passion is something that can’t be taught. It can be caught, but not taught. One way to spread the enthusiasm virus is to assign an enthusiastic employee to someone who needs to be. This attitude will positively affect both of them. When employers look at prospective candidates, beyond skills, experience, and training, they look for those who demonstrate enthusiasm – those they believe will complete assigned tasks in an upbeat and cooperative manner. All other things being equal, a candidate who can demonstrate a positive attitude and eagerness to tackle the job will have an advantage over one who displays an attitude viewed by the employer as negative or disinterested. In fact, many employers would rather provide job skills training to an enthusiastic but inexperienced worker than hire someone with perfect qualifications but a lessthan-positive attitude. Managers sometimes worry that this type of person will not get along with supervisors and co-workers, treat customers disrespectfully, and not put much effort into his or her work. On the other hand, employees who are viewed as enthusiastic are known to provide good customer service, resolve interpersonal conflict effectively, and work productively with others.

EMPOWERED

Employee empowerment is a strategy and philosophy that enables employees to make decisions about their jobs. Employee empowerment helps employees own their work and take responsibility for their results. Employee empowerment helps employees serve customers at the level of the organization where the customer interface exists. When employees feel under-compensated, under-titled for the responsibilities they take on, under-noticed, under-praised, and under-appreciated, don’t expect results from employee empowerment. The basic needs of employees must feel met for employees to give you their discretionary energy, that extra effort that people voluntarily invest in work. For successful employee empowerment, recognition plays a significant role.

INSPIRED

An inspired employee gives his or her all to their employer, and is constantly striving to be and do their best; to use their skills and talents to their full potential. Take a look around at the people who work with you. Are they listless or full of energy? Are they somewhat disinterested in their work or are they passionately striving to achieve company goals and working to their full potential? If you are like most employers, your workers could probably use a little added jolt of energy and enthusiasm on the job, something that will make them love coming to work every day.

How is this accomplished? Quite simply, you need to inspire your employees. An inspired employee gives his or her all to their employer, and is constantly striving to be and do their best; to use their skills and talents to their full potential.

Eighteen hundred years ago, Patanjali – the author of Yoga Sutra – had this to say about inspiration: “When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.

CONFIDENCE

What is the number one personality trait of individuals who deal effectively with change? It’s confidence. Confident people are self-motivated, have high self-esteem and are willing to take risks. But even the most confident employee may suffer a crisis of self-doubt in times of radical change. That’s when leadership becomes a critical factor.

A confident employee makes for an employee who is more likely to succeed. Employees who lack self-confidence often find themselves unsure of their work, causing their performance to suffer. As a manager or owner, you have the task of ensuring that employees feel good about themselves. Instilling confidence in an employee requires you to take a personable approach to managing and make the employee feel that he’s needed by the company and that he’s successful at his job. Managers need to design “small wins” to encourage people along the way to achieving goals of exceptional performance. One manager put it this way: “A stretch goal can scare people to death. I always begin with a mini-goal that I know my staff can achieve, and then I use that victory as a confidence-builder for reaching the larger objective.”

As a manager, the employees you hire play a significant role in determining your success within the organization. You need strong, confident employees that help motivate others, increase productivity, and drive results. Confident employees don’t wait for opportunities to come knocking at their door; they go after them. Look for candidates that have demonstrated their willingness to help out on projects other than those assigned to them. These professionals are always looking for ways to gain experience and continue growing professionally. When their skills are relevant to a situation, they aren’t afraid to speak up and offer their expertise. These are …