Based on a dialogue of leading HR Professionals at the Senior HR Thought Leader Forum at the Union Club in downtown Cleveland

It’s a fact—towards the end of a recession, when the economy starts perking up—the most talented people start looking around for other opportunities.

The best are in demand

Think about your very best employee—either in management or in the field. There are probably several people who come to mind—and really stand out.

Now think about what you would do if these people were to walk into your office and give you two week’s notice today. It’s a scary thought, isn’t it?

Invariably, it is the best people who are recruited away. So now, as the economy is starting to show signs of life, you should take action to keep your “A” players productive, happy, and manage the risk that they accept an “opportunity” with a competitor.

Who are your “A” Players?

Bradford Smart, the author of “TopGrading” says that 10% of your staff are “A” players.

An “A” player is a gifted and productive employee, who’s moved up the ladder, with promotions and responsibilities, and who has a career ahead of them. This person is a change agent; someone others look to for guidance; who others think of as a mentor; someone who sees the big picture; someone who consistently performs to their full potential; someone who brings unique competencies to their job and your company; someone who has career potential with your company.

Can you really afford to lose this person?

“A” players are continuously growing, and show their strength by continually adapting to new and changing environments. The question is: “How to you keep them happy and engaged?”

5 Specific Actions you can take to keep “A” Players

Here are five specific actions you should consider taking to retain your key employees:

1. Start at the top: “A” players demand “A” leadership. During tough economic times, everyone is used to hearing news about the need to “hunker down” and “sacrifice.” Now that your company has survived, everyone’s wondering what your new focus is: “What’s the new operating environment?”, “What are the challenges?”, and “What’s the new strategy?” Communicate the good and the bad. Be transparent and vulnerable. Consider asking for 360% feedback. Being vulnerable and open to feedback at the top makes for stronger leadership.

2. Consider a “closet cleaning”: “This would be my best employee, if he/she didn’t have such an attitude problem.” Like it or not—that person creates a problem because tolerating him or her fosters a culture where employees know that leadership accepts unacceptable behaviors in order to “make do.” It opens the door to other behavior problems. Getting rid of one or two saboteurs sends a strong signal to everyone.

3. Conduct “retention interviews”: Figure out individually what makes your “A” players tick. Meet one-on-one with your top talent and tell them. “You are important.” And then ask “What are the things we need to be doing to keep you around?” You want to challenge your best people with important assignments and make them a part of the decision-making process. If you provide access to strategic information, and seek his or her opinions on what to do next, it will be a “win-win” for everyone.

4. Engage in pro-active career management: Most people, especially the best and most motivated, want to know where their career is headed. Share the company’s strategy, and explain how their efforts are critical to the company’s success. Then provide meaningful feedback and measure their progress. No matter how good an “A” Player is, there’s always room for improvement. The best people want and deserve the truth. Reinforcing what they have done well, but also giving them concrete ways in which they can improve can “help you help them” take your company to the next level.

5. Give your “A” players first chance:  This is a great way to overcome organizational barriers for success. While you are taking inventory of the strengths and weaknesses of your organization, you should be asking “Are there any talent gaps?” “Can these gaps be addressed through training?” Before you look outside for new talent, “can you nurture the talent you need from within?” Expanding responsibilities and developing talent from within is a great way to make your best employees feel valued, challenged, and motivated.

Of course it’s important to recognize and compensate your key employees—particularly if you compare the cost of losing and then replacing a key employee—it doesn’t hurt for them to be well-compensated, but by following the 5 specific actions listed above, it will be a “win-win” and they’ll be compensated fairly for the value they are bringing to your company.

There are many things that you can do to help keep your best employees.

Make sure that you are doing something—because doing nothing will be a most costly mistake

And you’ll risk losing your most important asset: your best people.

The Senior HR Thought Leader Forum at the Union Club in downtown Cleveland is sponsored by Dise & Company – a Professional Services Firm specializing in Executive Search, Corporate Outplacement, and Leadership Coaching.

To learn more about what you can be doing to attract and retain “A” Players, call Ralph Dise at 216-752-1700.

Career management is not just a nicety—it’s a necessity

By Greg Reynolds

“I never saw it coming.” That’s what many executives and managers say after they’ve lost their job. “How did it happen?”—“Well one day they called me into the front office and told me I didn’t want to work there anymore.”  And now they’re just another statistic. One of the current 15.1 million people  in the United States who are unemployed. 

 Just another casualty in the job market

Losing a job is incredibly stressful: you have to spend your savings to pay for your living expenses, your self-esteem takes one on the chin, and many people feel depressed and powerless to take control of their lives…, making it even harder to concentrate, to be on your game, and to find the job that’s perfect for you.

It’s a wonder then, why don’t more people take proactive steps to safeguard themselves from losing their job in the first place? Many managers and executives simply don’t understand the importance of a local network of professional contacts. They think they are too busy to acquire new skills, or to attend workshops by local professional associations.

They didn’t have the time, they didn’t take the time, they felt guilty when they did take the time, and now they’re right-sized, downsized or restructured out of their organization. And without a network of professional contacts, they have to start from square one building their reputation.

Start thinking of your career growth and development like a product manager. You are the product. What are you going to do to enhance yourself so that you are “in-demand?”

Whether you are between jobs,  or feeling secure in your current position, managing your career growth and development like a product manager is going to be like an insurance policy against job loss, and to catapult yourself to the next level of your profession.

Here are some simple strategies to help you stay ahead of the curve:

1. Build your personal brand

  “It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you…, and more importantly, and what they think about you.”

 Creating and maintaining a personal brand, and working continually to promote it, are vital to your career growth.

What makes you unique? What makes you stand out?  How do you position yourself as the “go-to expert” in your field? Is this reflected in your resume, your business cards, your online profiles?

Wherever you are professionally, think big and make yourself visible. Make sure to build your profile internally and externally by highlighting your skills in presentations or workshops, writing for publications, and volunteering for committees or panel discussions at a trade conference.

Start small and build from there.

Make sure your message is consistent. Remember that everything you do or choose not to do contributes to your personal brand, from the way you speak to someone on the phone, to the way you conduct yourself at meetings, or how you compose your emails.

And don’t forget that the way you do things is often as important as what you do. Do you speak concisely? Do you command attention? Do you look the part? 

2. Acquire relevant new knowledge and skills

Life-long learning is essential to growth and empowerment.

To stay relevant, professional development is, or should be, an essential component of your career growth and plan: “Professional networking events, trade association meetings and professional development seminars, updates and briefings are not niceties, they are career necessities”. 

Start attending regularly. Is there a class at a community college that can help you strengthen your skills?  Enroll in the class.  To remain proficient in your professional, improve or strengthen your work performance you constantly need new skills and knowledge – now and in the future.  

3. Build your network and expand your horizons

Networking is not only for those actively seeking employment.

You can use networking to meet new customers and prospects, to conduct market research and gather market intelligence, and discover the skills that will be most valuable to your employer or your clients.

By networking you can: 

• Raise your profile by becoming an established and regular networking member of a group, getting your face and the business known, 
• Meet new people and build mutually beneficial business relationships, and 
• Expand your opportunities meeting new business contacts with potential customers, suppliers, and business partners.

To avoid being a statistic, you need to be proactive and take control… work every day on becoming distinguished in your career

Savvy professionals view their own career growth and development like a product manager… “what do you need to do every day to stay competitive and ahead of the curve so you stay relevant?”

Networking activities and professional development functions as excellent opportunities to hone their professional skills and expand their professional network, which will increase their value to the organization and help them grow in their career, which is a safeguard against a job loss. 

Time is of the essence. Tomorrow it might be too late. Start working on your personal brand, acquire some new skills, and get serious about networking today.

You are your own product manager – for YOU 2.0

Greg Reynolds is the Director of Client Development for Dise & Company. You can contact Greg directly at the Pro People Page on Diseco.com.

You must take action 

By Ralph A. Dise Jr.

When I was growing up, my Dad worked for US Steel, where safety was always a key issue. In fact, my Dad’s annual bonus was conditioned on the annual safety record of the plant he managed.

On occasion, I’d visit Dad at his office. There, I saw yellow signs and stickers all over the place that read: “Knowing’s not enough.”

As a kid I used to wonder, what the heck does that mean…“Knowing’s not enough?”

Steel mills evoke images of strenuous, hot, and dangerous work. But, it’s not enough to know that a work place is dangerous. Your every day behavior must reflect your awareness of that deadly danger too. 

Mammoth machinery and molten metal can be hazardous, unless safety procedures are rigidly observed. Hard hats, safety shoes, protective eyeglasses, earplugs, and fire retardant clothing are a requirement in steel mill production areas.

So knowing is absolutely not enough. It’s the “doing” that counts. To keep accidents to a minimum everyone must wear safety equipment and follow safety rules, every minute of every day. Getting the entire team to behave in a way that keeps it productive, and safe from harm, so each member can return home to his or her family is an important job of plant leadership.

It occurred to me quite recently that this idea of “Knowing’s not enough” is a universal truth in business. For instance, executing strategy is the doing all the things that you must do to make your company succeed.

Here’s a critical question: Do your people, from your top management to your working-level people, know how to execute your strategy? It’s easy for everyone working in a steel mill to understand the need for safety, even so, accidents happen. Your senior staff may be able to recite your strategy, but do they know what to do, how to do it…and are they taking the actions necessary to do it? Do they enlist their people in the strategy every day?

What if you’re trying a new strategy? What if you’re trying to launch a new product Line and cross-sell into existing accounts? Or trying to identify your greatest supply chain risks to avoid predictable loss? Are your people doing what they need to do?

Time and time again, strategic implementations fail.  And when they do, it’s because somewhere in the organization, people aren’t delivering on crucial tasks. They may “know” what is to be done, but they’re not doing it. Someone may have told them. There may have been a lot of heads nodding up and down. But deep down inside, they really don’t know how or why their job supports the strategy and they’re not motivated to take action.

The tactics they’ve been called on to execute don’t compute, and don’t translate into what they’re supposed to do between 8 and 5 (or burn the midnight oil to get the job done).  So everyone proceeds full speed ahead with business as usual –whatever that means to him or her. And the strategy sputters out and dies.

Implementing a strategy, whatever strategy you choose, requires the right culture, the right structures, the right systems, and the right processes. But most of all leadership focused at every level of the organization, committed to the daily work it takes to make the strategy happen.

It’s not about having the best ideas. It’s about executing ideas—even mundane ideas—like hardhats, safety shoes, protective glasses, earplugs, and protective clothing…but making sure they get executed without fail.   

At the end of the day, it’s not about what you know; it’s about what you do and how you behave on a daily basis.  

Don’t tell me you know – show me you know.  Because “knowing is not enough.”

Ralph A. Dise, Jr. is the President of Dise & Company, the Presiding Director of Lincolnshire International, and has worked in the field of Human Resources his entire career. You can contact Ralph directly at the Pro People Page on Diseco.com.