Monday, August 24, 2015

Making Sure They Come Back In The Morning

With the national unemployment rate continuing to drop and many company leaders sharing with me about their challenges around recruitment and retention of staff, I am continually reminded of this quote that I read many years ago: "Our intellectual capital walks out the door every night, so the key is make sure they come back." - Aart de Geus, CEO of Synopsys Inc. 

Right now we need everyone to come back in the morning, ready, willing and able to embrace today’s problems and tomorrow’s challenges. We want them to bring their depth of commitment, clarity and connections so that they can generate effective new solutions.

However, David Dell, research director of The Conference Board's Capabilities Management and Human Resources Strategies area, offers a unique perspective to this situation: "The challenge to employers is to not only make potential employees aware of the company as a good place to work and bring the best applicants successfully through the recruitment and hiring process, but also to retain them and ensure their understanding of the company's goals and commitment to them." 

The moment of commitment that I discussed last week in this blog begins by creating clarity about the company’s strategic nexus, i.e. the sum of the mission, vision and core values plus the company’s goals. Yet, from my experience, there is a subtle but important difference in the best companies I have seen handle this current situation. These companies understand that their strategic nexus has to become cultural, namely it needs to translate into a specific way of working. When the nexus is no longer just ideas but also a distinct set of behaviors of how we work together, solve problems together and deliver services together, then the company becomes a magnet for recruitment and retention.

This week transform your strategic nexus into a culture that permeates the whole company. Then, when people go home at the end of the day, we know they will be back in the morning.

FYI: Due to the complications of my schedule, I am not going to post anything on this blog for the next two Mondays. I will be back on Monday, 9/14/15.  Feel free to read past blog posts in the meantime.

Geery Howe, M.A. Consultant, Executive Coach, Trainer in Leadership, Strategic Planning and Organizational Change Morning Star Associates 319 - 643 - 2257

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