At your next management retreat, begin by asking your leadership the following question:What question must we answer correctly to significantly increase our odds for dramatic business success?
Give them about five minutes to write down their question. Ask each manager to present her question to the group and the reasons for choosing the question.
The questions you receive will provide insight into your individual leader’s psyche and a baseline for some interesting conversation for the remainder of your meeting.
My guess is that your managers will identify questions that relate to tactical as well as strategic initiatives. The questions will vary from the basic to the sophisticated. Hopefully none of your managers suggests that the question most needed to be asked is “What is the meaning of life?”
So what question is the right answer? Sounds like quite a riddle, but it’s pretty simple.
Every management team should be asking themselves, “Are we committed to attracting and retainingonly top performers?”
The answer is a simple “yes” or “no.” But answering “yes” suggests the organization is prepared to manage its workplace quite differently from traditionally run organizations, because top performers expect nontraditional workplaces.
I have run into CEOs who believe hiring and keepingonly top people is impossible and unrealistic. Achieving that plateau is a bit idealistic, but trying to achieve that goal is doable. And the ongoing attempts can yield dramatic, positive organizational results.
If you and your team are interested in pursuing the cause, consider the following seven workplace attributes desired by top performers.
Flexibility: Top performers want the flexibility necessary to properly address concerns inside and outside the workplace. This might include flexible work schedules, liberal paid time-off policies, a nontraditional bereavement leave policy (take as much paid time off away from work to grieve for a loved one until the employee is ready to return to work), sabbaticals and employee benefits such as convenience services.
Opportunity: Top performers want the opportunity to advance within the organization and utilize their abilities to affect the organization and the community. They want challenging and interesting work and the opportunity to be engaged in the success of the organization. Examples include promotions from within, succession planning, suggestion systems, employee surveys and community service.
Recognition: Top performers want to feel appreciated. They want to be adequately compensated and rewarded for their efforts and their accomplishments. Examples include pay-for-performance programs, bonus plans, incentive pay, internal and external equity, ad-hoc cash and noncash rewards, a well-aligned compensation philosophy and public- and peer-recognition programs.
Development: Top performers want opportunities to further their professional and personal development. They want feedback about their performance and about how they can improve. Examples include training and development programs, training needs assessments, nontraditional performance appraisals, tuition reimbursement and career coaching.
Security: Top performers want to work in a healthful and safe environment free from accidents, violence, harassment, layoffs and discrimination. Organizations that support a safe, secure and healthful workplace focus on emergency and safety training, wellness programs, workplace-violence prevention, disaster-recovery programs, harassment training and policies, and cultural awareness training.
Support: Top performers want benefits that help support their physical and mental health and help them address other issues in their lives outside the workplace. Examples include medical, dental and vision insurance; short-term and long-term care; adoption assistance; child and elder care; wellness programs and convenience services.
Talent integrity: Top performers want to work in an environment where they can relate to, get along with and be challenged by their co-workers. They want to be surrounded by other top performers. Organizations working toward hiring and retaining top performers utilize hiring assessments, behavioral interviewing, exit interviews, succession planning, nontraditional recruiting methods and mentoring programs.
Hiring and keeping top people means developing and maintaining a great workplace — one that integrates many of the characteristics highlighted in this article. And, it means throwing out some archaic policies and programs designed eons ago for poorly performing or problem employees. It takes some guts and will definitely challenge the status quo.
If you want to expedite developing your workplace to attract and keep the best, there is an easy way to start.
Just ask your top people how to proceed. Now, those will be the most important answers.