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Kent M. Rapp
Partner, Grant Cooper & Associates
Think about your very best employee. Now think about what you would do if this person were to leave tomorrow. Scary thought, isn’t it? Invariably, it is the best people who are recruited away. I have never had a client ask me to go out and find them a solid “B” player, and I don’t expect it will ever happen. So, what should you be doing to keep your “A” players productive, happy, and not open to other opportunities? Make them feel valued, challenged, and motivated.
Here are five specific actions you should consider taking to retain your key employees:
1. Challenge your best people with important assignments and make them a part of the decision making process. Provide access to strategic information and seek their opinions on what to do. Getting to a winning solution will be a “win-win-win” for you, your key employee and the company.
2. Practice “tough love” in providing meaningful feedback. Your best people want and deserve the truth. Don’t give fluffy performance evaluations thinking this will keep them happy. You can make them feel good by reinforcing what they have done well, but also give them concrete ways in which they can improve. Then, monitor their performance against measurable objectives. For your best performers, this can “turbo-charge” job performance.
3. Develop a “roadmap” for career success. Most people, especially the best and most motivated, want to know where their career is headed. You had better put together a plan for their career progression…or else one of your competitors will.
4. Elevate key employees in the eyes of their peers. If performance of a key employee is exceptional, and you dearly wish that others would follow the lead, make a shining example of that person by publicly recognizing them.
5. Pay them well. Your best people should be well-compensated, and if they are critical to the success of your company, they should perhaps be somewhat over-compensated.
There are many things that you can do to help keep your best employees “in the boat.” Make sure that you are doing something, or else you stand to lose your most important asset…your best people!
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