Facilitated Discussion With Alysia Kehoe, Kehoe Consultants
Hiring is more difficult than ever right now. When it comes to attracting and retaining top talent, “finders keepers” is the name of the game. First, you need to find the right talent. Then, you need to keep them.
Employees generally have more choices, and your competition isn’t shy about poaching your best talent. Organizations need to focus on an employee-centric culture.
We all thought we’d be back to normal by now. Trauma and disruption would be behind us, and 2022 would be business as usual. Few of us expected that upheaval would be normal now.
If you find uncertainty hard to swallow, we have a suggestion: Don’t focus on what you don’t know — focus on what you can do.
Lean on the leadership actions that are empirically proven to stabilize organizations and help them succeed. Specifically, communicate often and clearly, develop your managers, and support well-being.
Do those things with skill, and you’ll have a more resilient organization that can capitalize on change better. Here’s how.
Three tips for today:
1) Communicate often and clearly:
Since COVID-19 erupted, Gallup has only detected a six-point increase — from 13% to 19% — in the percentage of U.S. employees strongly agreeing that their organization’s leadership communicates effectively with the rest of the organization. Perhaps the lack of communication is due to a lack of information.
Neutralize the anxiety of your employees by ongoing communication — More words are better than less!
By staying in touch with employees — and reiterating that you have their back — you’ll light a path through uncertainty that people are desperate to see.
And the staggeringly high quit rate means many managers are doing more with less, and less, and less. It takes a toll.
Big Hint / Ideas from Alysia # 1:
- Establish daily / weekly time for positive feedback with each person.
- Create a visual display of ways the company lives out its mission.
- Host virtual social gatherings for remote employees to connect with the team.
2) Develop Your Managers: Develop them for the environment they face; like the new hybrid workplace/teach them how to capitalize on employees’ strengths.
Few were properly trained for managing a hybrid workplace. Most don’t know how to capitalize on employees’ strengths, much less coach them. And when a member of their team is hurting — through burnout, illness, family conflicts, or a lack of skills — the manager hurts too.
Some managers never had (or wanted) a shipping budget, for example, until their team went remote, and now mailboxes are a critical human resource interface.
Big Hint / Ideas from Alysia # 2:
- Invite employees to nominate others for living out corporate values.
- Partner with local mental health professionals to counsel employees in need.
- Task functional leaders to create strategic plans with their team to embody the company’s core values.
- Ask Alysia to facilitate the “Elevations for Organizations” program:
Through this program the team will learn about Personality traits, Values, Skills/Competencies, their interests, and their team members; and come up with shared team values and goals for the team going forward.
3) Well-being: based on five elements (career, financial, physical, and community)
Well-being is based on five elements (career, social, financial, physical, and community) that work in tandem to create thriving lives. It’s no surprise that well-being generally dipped during the pandemic, which damaged organizations.
Well-being is a leadership issue. Your HR function is probably well-stocked with EAPs, but fewer than 10% of employees use them, according to SHRM. You have to bring well-being to people, not wait for them to seek it, and the messenger is the manager. Managers know employees better than anyone else, so they can coach well-being in the right way, at the right time — provided they have the development they need.
Development does. Well-designed, ongoing manager development sensitizes team leaders to the intersection of work and life, helps them initiate quality conversations that build trusting relationships, and shows them how to open doors to resources employees need. Development turns bosses into coaches. And highly effective coaches, Gallup data shows, achieve better wellbeing, engagement, and performance outcomes.
Big Hint / Idea from Alysia # 3:
Ask Alysia to facilitate The Crazy Cycle program for your team. Leaders will learn how to give “Personal Care” to their team members/employees. Employees / team members will learn how to ‘Respect’ their leaders; all through easy communication techniques.
More Ideas:
Career:
- Invite employees to lead ‘lunch & learns’ on relevant/ meaningful topics.
- Stream or attend conferences as a team.
- Provide career coaching to employees for a Certified Career Coach (contact Alysia Kehoe, Certified Career Coach).
- Also provide ‘encore career’ coaching and planning seminars for those 50 years old plus.
- (Read Alysia Kehoe’s book, “Reinventing Yourself” on Amazon).
Financial:
- Establish an emergency assistance fund.
- Serve employees who work overtime with gift cards for family time.
- Offer a home – or car repair fund.
- Empower good stewardship of resources through financial management guidance programs (voluntary).
Physical:
- Send meals when someone is sick.
- Host a family gathering (like a game night, picnic, sporting event).
- Allow employees to support the needs of teammates, with a benevolence fund.