As we get ready to usher in a new year, there is optimism in the employment market. Every possible friend in the search space is confirming huge hiring demands. The new government seems to be optimistic about the Make in India slogan taking off. The campus season has brought a lot of cheer to the outgoing batch of students. New sectors are emerging. Entrepreneurs are getting born by the day. In other words, the hunt for talent is going to reach a new high in Corporate India. What is often being less stated is the concomitant attrition woes that will also sharply climb. While stock talent will be in demand, the pressure to scalp top talent will be severe. How do we keep our flock together in the face of head hunters’ perseverance? Money may be important, very important. But there is much more that one can add to our retention arsenal, if we choose to answer some of these questions. Do you proactively engage with your best talent? : Often, organisations assume that their best people are adequately ring fenced. Unfortunately, the belief that financial handcuffs will keep people is either inadequate or even misplaced. The best want to be made to feel they actually matter. Are they feeling adequately central to the happenings in the firm? Do they feel they have the space and opportunity to do best? Do they think what they do is truly appreciated by the system? Often we assume. Worse, we may indeed be very keen on the talent but we may not be expressing it well enough. Do a double check. Reach out and listen to how they are actually feeling, before it is too late. Does your promotion really mean much?: Often companies assume that the reward to a great guy is to promote the person. While a change in the visiting card motivates the person for a couple of weeks or the revised compensation keeps you feeling good for a month, is the promotion really one? In my experience, I have found that a change in designation without a significantly enhanced and genuinely enabled set of responsibilities and authority turn counterproductive. Some firms have a very casual view to distributing grandiloquent titles, which makes a promotion even more inane. It is vital that we ensure promotions to our best talent is indeed a genuine career progression. Appeasement is never a sustainable retention strategy. Could your talent just be getting bored?: Even the most challenging of roles may appear boring to a great talent. I know of an experience where a very successful sales person was promoted as Vice President but he quit. Not because the role was insignificant. She had decided that she had enough of selling and wanted to move to HR! She moved to the function, but in another company. Worse, companies may have built their own vulnerabilities around personalities. They may thus be scared of disturbing that person. Talent today, however, is willing to experiment a lot more than ever before. Not many want to just do the same job for years, even in high technical areas. Firms have to recognise this and take some more risks with talent than just continue on the beaten track with blind domain bias. If we do not take risks with our talent, someone else will. Could you be struggling with Loyalists Vs Careerists?| : Many corporations continue to struggle with this syndrome. Often, talent that has been with a firm may feel taken for granted as new people get hired. Without clear lines of communication, some of them may finally test the waters beyond. The converse is equally possible and even more likely. Professionals hired into new companies may experience trust deficit or a huge resistance from insiders or power brokers, who may be very well entrenched in the political labyrinth. Such people could also be more vulnerable with the spate of newer opportunities. The executive leadership in such situations may do well to take a more long term view of the choice it makes. Does your top talent connect with the purpose of the organization?: In recent times, talent is increasingly choosing to work with a larger purpose they identify with, far beyond money and titles. How would some of your best talent be relating with this question in your own organisation? In these times, it will be useful to re-articulate the larger purpose of companies beyond the mere financial? Getting talent across levels and functions see their value add to such uplifting purpose can get them to reaffirm their solidarity to the cause. Talent will indeed not just stay for a few pennies more. Is your Employer Brand rusty and unattractive?: In a world where anyone will pay what it takes to get talent, addressing a sense of organisational pride and belongingness will become key. How would employees think of their organization? How would they talk about it to the talent catchment outside? Employer brand and recall will be key. It is no longer soft and secondary; it is hard and dollar impacting. Many corporations will need to dust and polish their brand recalls to appeal to a new age talent set. Investment in this effort will of course need to be supported by a conscious redesign of the cultural ecosystem - HR systems, quality of leadership, management styles, work life balance, space and authority, recognition and fun and whatever more. Organization culture and leadership styles will have the maximum impact on employer reputation, made more pronounced either way with the rampage of the social media. The new times will see emergent employer brands jostle for space hitherto occupied by some monoliths. It will no longer be a choice. It is a full war to attract and retain the best talent. Do you truly Communicate, communicate, communicate?: Top talent in any firm wants to understand good and bad news from within, not from the morning newspaper. Not every executive team does a great job of this. Many a time, they are ignorant about its value and risk of not doing these seamlessly. In these turbulent times, building a culture of regular and real time communication cannot be over emphasised. Information and news cannot be the preserve of a cabal. It is important to allay disruptive grapevine and drum up positive possibilities. Communication platforms are multiple due to technology options. The leadership intent has to be stronger. Done well, it builds huge trust with key talent and in turn stronger bonds with the firm. Is the Quality and leadership style of the immediate manager above threshold?: This possibly will be one of the most critical areas. Good talent will always want to work with the best leaders. They will look for managers who trust them and give them space and freedom. They will want to work with the best leaders, not average ones who are just more grey. Increasingly, personal brands of leaders are becoming key determinants in career moves. Organisations will need to review, thus, the quality of leaders that the target talent is working with. If wrongly paired, change them today! How deep is your Connect with the family?: Whether a top talent stays or leaves will often finally be blessed by the view of his immediate family. How well do we know the family of such people, who may even be our direct reports? Are we aware of family circumstances? How well do they view the firm? If leaders and companies can reach out in authentic and more exclusive ways to this influence group, we could create a piece de resistance. In its absence, we have no bulwark against a poachers stealth missile. How do you handle departures of top talent from your firm?: If at all, some of your best talent leave the company, how sensitively are these handled? Some organisations and leaders turn sullen and indifferent; others caustic and bitter. Whatever the compulsions, it is important that one handles every exit with grace and goodwill. Top talent are respected in the talent market, internally and externally. Their experiences with their exiting companies will have a huge imprint on how others view the firms genuine interest in keeping top talent. They can be good brand ambassadors or hurt your image significantly. They may be people you may want back again. The firm and its leaders must at least be correct in its farewell. In my view, there is no alibi today to any other action. In all, Santa could be having an extended stay in the Indian talent market this coming year. There could be goodies bag galore for top talent. The temptation and seduction will clearly be on offer. The attackers will be innovative, flexible and wholesome. The pressure will be on the defenders. They will need to keep happy the hearts, minds and wallets of their top talent. The board is set. Let us roll the dice!
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 05:19:21 +0000