Talent is pivotal for the success and transformation of corporate organisations. We have seen brands and organisations all around the world experiencing “The Great Reshuffling” or “The Great Resignation”, with many employees wanting a career change or simply re-evaluating their lives. If you are looking to make a career change, and need some professional advice and help, then do consider our professional executive coaching programme.
Many companies have, in recent years, been changing things up to engage and retain their talents. However, in their effort to do so, most forget one critical leverage: engagement is a one-to-one thing. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to engaging your employees or colleagues.
Firstly, let us note where your organisation is in terms of engaging and retaining talents. Here are some questions you can ask yourself:
- Do your managers conduct 1:1 reports on a bi-weekly or monthly basis? Not to discuss work performance but to connect with and understand each employee’s life – work, health, and family.
- Do your teams conduct fun and chill activities to connect and bond with one another, at least once every quarter?
- Are your managers aware of the company’s overall well-being and happiness level?
- Or are they assuming that everything is alright?
- Are people willingly turning on their cameras during virtual meetings? And are they fully engaged and participating during virtual meetings?
- Does your manager make an effort to engage and retain individuals? Or are they okay with people leaving?
If your answer to all the questions is a resounding yes, congratulations, your company is doing a great job in engaging employees who are also committed to the company. The need for 1:1 engagement is essential. Because each of us has different values and priorities in our career, we need to strategise differently for individual members of our company.
Here are 3 tips to help you get started on engaging and retaining talents:
1. Help your managers realise that it is within their capability and control to engage and influence talents to stay.
While salary is a crucial factor in why people look for better opportunities, it often is not the only factor. Things such as learning opportunities, supportive management, flexibility, work challenges, being appreciated, and work relationships are things that employees look at after they join a company. When your managers realise that there are more critical things than the salary that their staffs value, they are able to engage the company better.
2. Teach your managers to have stay and engaging conversations.
Stay and engaging conversations are different from work performance conversations. It is about knowing the individual’s work values, aspirations, health, family, needs, and overall happiness level. It is about understanding each employee as a whole. To engage and retain your employees better is to make them feel appreciated, heard, and valued. Additionally, have the courage and skill to ask a pivotal question, “What will make you want to look out?”
3. Equip your managers with practical yet effective strategies to engage individual staff.
Whether it is finding new opportunities to help the employee grows, assigning unique projects, finding the right mentor, organising more fun activities in the workplace, showing concern for their loved ones, or leveraging on generational differences, training your managers to develop effective strategies that will engage the company helps to improve the relationship between employees and employers.
Conclusion
Your engagement and retainment efforts might not guarantee that nobody will leave. However, by taking such measures, at least you will be less surprised by any move because you have taken proper measures and action to retain the individual. Leaving might not be a lost cause. As long as you have built a people-focused and supportive culture and make an effort to stay connected with your colleagues and employees, they might return too! If they do not, these individuals will be your company’s ambassadors in the market place.
If you are looking to equip yourself with the necessary skills to engage and retain your employees or to equip your managers better, then do consider Quest Discovery Academy’s career coach certification program or career advancement coaching. Contact us to find out more!