Are Your People Still Sold On Your Firm?
“If we don’t get the people thing right, we lose; it is the most important thing in all our businesses.”
~ Jack Welch
Over the past three years, we have advised firm leaders to invest in programs that engage and develop team members while focusing on fiscal responsibility and business development, which we know can be a real balancing act. Our young up-and-comers today tend to have a positive outlook for the future and have the courage and confidence to pursue new opportunities – or create their own. If you’re not creating compelling and challenging career opportunities, you can bet your competitors are talking to them about how they will. That is why it is more critical than ever to ensure that your people are engaged and that they remember why they chose to build their careers with your firm.
Most human resource surveys state that it will cost you one and a half to two times an individual’s salary to replace that team member when they leave. Avoid these costs and the issues of continuity by engaging your existing team members with the same zeal and passion that you would a super-star recruit – with the intention to keep them “sold” on their decision to build their career with your firm. In this article, we’ll outline ten strategies to keep your people engaged, including:
- Creating a vision for them. Your people look to your firm’s leaders for clarity on your firm mission, vision, values, objectives and overall strategy. They want to know where the firm is headed and how they can best contribute to your firm’s strategy. Creating your firm’s vision and strategy isn’t a one-time activity either; regular updates and status are required to ensure progress is being made and new plans or changes are being made when roadblocks present themselves.
- Recognizing them. When you see a team member in the hall, at the coffee bar or in the elevator, say hello, call them by name and begin to get to know them. If you are a senior leader or part of your firm’s management team, consider having someone develop a digital book that includes everyone’s picture, name and brief biography. No matter how many people are in your firm, work to know as many as possible by name, on sight.
- Reaching out to them and spending time them. Managers and mentors should ensure that your best people are being touched regularly by check in e-mails, phone calls and face-to-face meetings. Senior leaders in your firm should get “out and about” and connect with key people via lunch or coffee. Be interested (genuinely so) and learn simple facts about your team members and what’s important to them at work and outside of work, too. Find out each person’s driving motivators and learn what they most want to achieve in their career and in their personal life. Regularly ask what more the firm can do to support them in achieving their life’s goals – and then construct plans to do so.
- Investing in them. One of the highest compliments you can pay your people is to pass along your knowledge to them. Take them along on sales calls, to conferences or to meet with key clients or referral sources. Allow them the privilege of shadowing work at higher levels so they can envision what’s possible (and learn new skills, too). Invest more training per person than your competitors do and include soft skills education at every level – including administrative staff.
- Defining your expectations of them. Your up-and-comers want to know what it takes to win at your firm and how to progress in their career. To do so, they need to understand what the expectations are at each level in the areas of experience, skills, leadership behaviors and results. These expectations should be documented in writing so they – and you – can use them to set goals and manage their career advancement.
- Taking risks with them. Offer your best and brightest the opportunity to take on projects that may be just beyond their current capacity. Intentionally stretch them with the assignments you give. Let them know that you expect them to make some mistakes and struggle some while they grow to a new skill level and that it is safe to do so.
- Changing for them. Understand that the needs of your up-and-comers who are the future of your firm may be different from when you came up. Give up your “old school” notions of how it should be and manage your organization based on the way that it is. This means managing results rather than face time and developing new programs to embrace diversity, work-from-anywhere programs and more. It will likely include flexible work programs and moving away from mandatory work periods at some point in the not so distant future, too! Read “Are Mandatory Saturdays A Thing Of The Past?” for a new school change idea.
- Reminding them. Spotlight your firm’s best people programs and benefits in your firm’s internal newsletter, in staff meetings or in other communications. Remind your people what makes your firm special, unique and different and how they will benefit from those differences. Don’t assume they know or will remember what you offer.
- Having fun with them. Younger generations are most engaged when they feel a part of a team at work. Make sure your people have opportunities to bond with their teammates and purposefully engage in team-building activities and corporate fun. Encourage professional friendships through firm-sponsored social and community activities. Ensure that your firm’s leaders actively participate in firm fun and firm-sponsored events, taking a genuine interest in getting to know your up-and-comers (see #2 and #3).
- Thanking them. Acknowledge great work with gratitude – verbal and monetary. Be sure your performers feel your appreciation and respect for their contributions. Send a personal email or even a written note for a job well done. Catch your people doing well and thank them as soon as you notice it. You can even formalize the process by implementing a “wow” notes program where people can submit someone’s name and accomplishment for consideration by management for acknowledgement at a team or department meeting.
How does your firm stack up in these ten areas to engage your people? Which of the ten strategies could you put into practice today to begin cementing the decision your team members made to build their careers with your firm? For additional information about engaging your people, contact Tamera Loerzel at tamera@convergencecoaching.com or (952) 226-1780.
