Retention and Talent Management following a downturn
Following fairly severe economic slowdown across global
economies, cost reduction efforts naturally took centre stage as
organisations sought to maintain profitability and remain
competitive.
A shift is underway, however, because organisational reactions
to the downturn have had major unintended consequences for the
relationship between organisations and their employees from both a
brand and talent management perspective.
It’s important to recognise that the decisions you make in regards
to talent management this year have far reaching consequences,
often setting the tone for the relationship with potential
employees for years to come. Basically, the only thing more
worrisome than the prospect of too much change is too little
change, especially in a downturn where many competitors are chasing
too few customers and dollars.
Talent Management and Development
When looking at the challenges employers faced as a result of
reducing employment costs in an effort to increase competitiveness
and profitability, there’s no doubt that many decided to sideline
Talent Management programmes and Leadership & Development
training. Visionary companies, on the other hand, carefully
reassessed their talent management strategy to ensure their biggest
asset, their team, was being used as effectively as possible.
By now, we know that neglecting talent in a downturn has a
significant negative impact over the longer term. Given the past
knee-jerk reactions from CEO’s and Finance Managers when faced with
gloomy outlooks (i.e. slashing jobs, mothballed training and talent
management programs) these actions having rippling effects.
Thankfully, however not all organisations repeated previous
actions. Strategic companies regarded this downturn as a perfect
opportunity and time to seize market share, build a stronger
organisation for the future and view their talent management as a
top priority. True talent management is selecting and managing key
groups of employees with high potential to develop, learn and grow
in the organisation.
The correct training will provide more value than it costs, and in
terms of talent development during economic instability, the
following guidelines are best applied:
- Who would benefit most from training or development
activity?
- What are some alternative methods of training and development
which are readily available?
- And, if we don’t train, develop and manage our teams, will they
continue to be motivated, committed and stay with the company?
Employees value the ongoing development of their own skills and
with talented employees this is even more so. Cutting back on
training, leadership and development is likely to act as a
de-motivator, reduce morale, and for some, may even prove enough
reason to leave. Key staff retention is making certain that the
talent you wish to hold on to are motivated, engaged and have high
morale – all usually potential problem areas in times of economic
instability.
Employee Engagement
Following recent periods of workforce rationalisation, instability,
non-communication and cost cutting, it’s clear that current
strategies to maintain and develop employee engagement are not
receiving anywhere near enough attention. It’s now worth taking
stock – has your organisation considered measuring its Employee
Engagement? Valuable strategic insights can be derived from a
simple exercise such as this.
Looking to the future and upon emerging out of this downturn, it’s
quite possible, strange as this may seem, that retention of key
staff could well be a much more pressing issue in year 2010,
especially for the heavy industrial realms of Oil & Gas, Energy
and Infrastructure. Employees lose momentum as the recession drags
on and on, and they continue to do more with less. Top talent
especially is at risk – if Leaders don’t build bridges to them,
you’ll risk losing them as the economy improves.
Key management factors identified as important to employee
engagement include how your organisation is viewed by the community
in which it operates (important to staff), as well as the values
that exist within your organisation, not just those corporate
values by which the organisation strives to achieve.
Communication and empowerment essential
The crux of this is that the recession, cutbacks etc have damaged
trust between all stakeholders of the brand. Communicating with
employees must be seen as crucial, covering factors such as reward,
ability to progress in terms of career, personal skills,
empowerment etc. Factors such as these are often waylaid in
economic downturns and the CEO must continue to communicate to
rebuild this trust with the team, empowering their talents for a
better chance to exit the downturn successfully with new, evolving
leaders.
A recent survey* stated that 76% of respondents ranked ‘building
trust among employees, customers and management, as the criteria
executives most needed to develop, second only to the need to
‘guide their companies and people post-recession’. Interestingly,
the least-favoured way for executives to move their organisations
forward was by developing a higher media profile.
Instead, we advise company leaders to focus upon their internal
brand, by inspiring, communicating with, motivating and engaging
their employees. Your team knows their qualities, and with
the potential and possibility to develop their skill base and
competencies, they’ll naturally look for the opportunity to show
their potential and shine. The CEO’s task, along with the HR team,
is to support these talent management programs and employee
engagement as much as possible to ensure longevity, retain existing
key talent, foster innovation and ultimately the profitability of
the business.
- Survey of 148 businesses, Suzanne Bates, Author of Motivate
Like a CEO: Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to
Act
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