We’ve all heard the stories – in this day and age, students are pouring out of universities, adding to the long list of job seekers looking for work in an already competitive market. However despite this perceived excess, top talent are still hard to find. What’s more, once you’ve identified your best applicants, hiring and keeping these people within your company can be just as tricky. It’s up to you to provide a workplace environment that attracts and retains great talent. Business success relies on having exceptional people. In a world where money really is talking, your business needs to have a clear strategy for encouraging good staff to stay. Start off by knowing your high-potential employees expectations: What learning and development opportunities are they looking for? Is there a clear career pathway for them within the business? Are they challenged in their role? Is there enough variety? When your staff feels supported and cared for, there is a greater incentive for them to stay than just their monthly paycheck. Company culture is another aspect your business should be focusing on; it’s what inspires and motivates your employees to come to work each day and put their best foot forward. It’s also what job applicants are looking for. Ask yourself:

Are your manager’s good leaders who coach and mentor their team?Is there flexibility for your staff to work anytime and from anywhere?Is there a sense of community amongst your employees?

These are just some of the things that could be contributing to a positive culture in your workplace. Get your company culture right, and the sense of loyalty and belonging that employees will feel in your business will encourage them to stay with you long-term. In the words of Richard Branson: “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to”. Focus on providing your staff with growth opportunities, and a company culture they are proud to be a part of, so that exceptional talent not only want to work for your company, but they never want to leave.

Performance management is an issue that is not going away, in fact it is more important than ever. Finding and retaining good people is imperative in this highly competitive market. The cost of recruiting, managing and training staff is very costly and even more costly if they up and leave. In a market where 90% of businesses are SME’s we have an issue with management working in the business rather than on it. They are time poor and therefore leave performance management till there is an issue. Their over achievers go unrewarded and their non-performers unchecked. The majority of these SME’s have grown organically and employee numbers have increased. They suddenly realise that they need to put some processes and procedures in place to ensure they achieve their required goals and manage their growing staff numbers appropriately. So how are companies currently appraising their employees? Most of the employers that we speak to either chat to their people on the fly, don’t have any formal performance management process or complete a form manually that is placed on a file and doesn’t see the light of day till the following year.So what can we do about it? First of all a good induction process needs to be in place. All new employees need to have a rough idea how they will be spending their first couple of weeks and what is expected of them. A number of employees move on from their position as a result of a bad induction or no induction at all. Once the induction is completed a meeting should be held with the new employee to ensure they are fully aware of the specific goals or key performance indicators (KPI) they will be measured on. KPIs reflect how the employee’s day-to-day actions are aligned to the strategic business goals. If there is no direct link between the individual’s performance and the company’s strategic objectives this can result in a waste of time and resources. How can an organisation be successful if their people are flying blind unaware of how their particular role assists in the organisations overall performance? Employees also need to feel they work within a culture where open communication is encouraged and this will then provide the platform for improvements in both individual and company results.Regular catch-ups Performance management is crucial to an organisation. It should be part of an ongoing process where regular weekly/fortnightly and quarterly catch-ups are essential to ensure employees are on track to achieving their goals or KPI’s, and any potential issues or misconceptions are identified and resolved. Some smaller companies feel it’s not necessary to have individual performance meetings as they see each other all the time. What they fail to realise is that seldom will employees discuss any issues in an open plan office or on the fly. Often they want a more private and confidential place to discuss concerns, issues or workload. All meetings should be documented as this creates a paper trail for comparing the performance of branches, departments and individuals over time and against company objectives. It also provides documentation for support should there be any future legal disputes. None of these steps will categorically prevent a disgruntled employee from taking a Personal Grievance should the relationship come to an end. It will, however, strengthen the company’s position if they have a clearly documented process for recruiting, inducting, managing and developing their employees. The Employment Relations Authority want to see a fair and reasonable process has been followed and the more documentation to support this, the better. The one point that we always highlight for clients is that it is so important to put the time in to manage your employees appropriately from the beginning as it will cost you less time and money at the end. Armed with this information you don’t have to run for cover the next time you hear the words “employee appraisal”. Take a look at the following checklist and see where your business could improve their performance management process.Performance Management Checklist

Do you have a robust recruitment and selection process?Do you have a robust induction process?Do you have clear strategic goals for the organisation that have been communicated to all employees?Do you have specific and measurable goals or KPI’s for employees?Are you both in agreement they are realistic and appropriate?Do you have regular one on one catch up meetings with each of your staff?Are these meetings documented?Do you know who your high achievers are and your poor performers?Have you lost staff recently you would like to have kept?Have you had a personal grievance that could have been avoided?Do you have adequately trained managers on how to performance manage their teams and how to identify measurable KPIs for all of their direct reports.

As the economic sun shines, organisations are unzipping their leadership development wallets and investing in training programmes. This follows the short-sighted reaction that occurs during market downturns where training budget’s are stripped back until once again, the sun starts shining. jane-d-smal-smalUnfortunately, a by-product of this stop/go approach to training is the emergence of capability gaps inside organisations, so the cry for leadership development programmes can be heard in board rooms, meeting rooms and cafés across town. According to Davis, the message ‘we have just got to get through’ makes perfectly logical sense at the outset of tough times, but before too long, the feeling of falling behind starts to niggle, comparisons are made and unrest occurs. As well, another phenomenon that comes with a buoyant market is the increase in the number of people turning their hand to leadership development and coaching. The dilemma: how to choose the right leadership training programme? Given this can be perplexing and potentially expensive we asked Davis to outline current thinking about leadership training and development to help employers decide what programme be right for their company. According to Davis, the first decision that needs to be considered in the leadership training equation starts by thinking about the leadership team and assessing if all team members have the same generic training needs or require specific needs. “It’s best to start with the end in mind,” says Davis. “What are you trying to achieve? Is this a pipeline for future leaders or are you using career development for retention? What will success look like?” Current thinking suggests a combination of generic and specific training is effective initially. The next step is to delve a little deeper and consider; what’s the gap? How could we fill it? This leads to the ‘make versus buy’ decision. For example, you may be lured into buying a best practise programme but is this right for your organisation? Leadership development managed externally has benefits such as a broadened view, access to other organisations problem-solving methods and creating a new network. Another option to consider is the ‘leader as the teacher’ model? Given the no.1 method of developing an individual is on-the-job, don’t forget the teacher has to design, deliver, motivate and above all, have the desire to teach others! No matter what, Davis believes that a vital component in the success of any programme is making sure the participant’s manager is involved in the development process. “Being briefed at the outset and setting goals will ensure you achieve a maximum return on your training investment.” And Davis hastens to add: “If this becomes a ‘tick the box’ exercise with little sharing or support for change, watch participants fall back to their old ways and you’ll have wasted your training dollars.”Biggest Areas of Leadership Development:

Dealing with change and ambiguity in a fast paced worldHow to you lead in a challenging economic climateDeveloping your peopleAgile and flexible leadershipTeamwork and collaboration

Traps to Avoid:

Thinking a one-size-fits-all model will workLack of manager’s involvement means it won’t be impactful

Final thoughts: All too often the promotion cycle goes like this. People get promoted for their technical ability and find themselves in a strategic role which is where they come unstuck. The skill set needed in this type of role includes being able to collaborate, participate, negotiate and influence their peers in order to get work done. Here is where the training is needed!

‘People leave managers, not companies’

One common complaint we hear from job seekers when we are deciphering their ideal working environments, is that they often feel unsupported by their managers. As we dig further, it becomes all too apparent that in many organisations, newly appointed managers are not receiving the support they need in order to be successful in their role. This creates a knock-on effect of employees not feeling supported and before you know it – you have a vicious cycle on your hands. Thinking about promoting one of the team into a managerial position? Getting to the nub of the issue, success starts right at the beginning of the promotion phase with several questions that need answering:

Are the right people being promoted?What qualities should a good manager have?What ongoing support and training should the organisation offer?

Before going any further, consider the following to ensure you are fostering a collaborative environment for the entire team.Q1: Does your employee actually want to be a manager? This question may seem very obvious but for some reason, all too often, it is overlooked in the wider scheme of workforce planning. But the reality is … not everyone wants to be a manager. And that’s okay. Success lies in promoting employees who truly want to lead and can handle all the responsibilities that come with their new job title. Great managers believe that the goals of others are as important as their own and as such, make the time for others. They build meaningful relationships that can then serve to achieve results together, as a team. So, does this person enjoy helping others achieve their goals? The impact of poor managers can be catastrophic. Decreased employee morale, increased staff turnover, increased absenteeism, reduced market share and a reduced bottom line – so finding someone who actually wants to manage and understands what it means to be a leader, is essential.Q2. Is the manager a communicator and listener? We all know that communication is the foundation of every successful relationship but the fact is; ‘the soft stuff is the hard stuff’ for most managers. Managers need to communicate with all employees in a way that they understand as well as being open to hearing about ideas, suggestions or concerns that their team have to offer. And here’s how simple it can be… in a study of 85,000 adult workers in the US in 2014, a high percentage admitted they would work harder if they simply received more praise for their efforts. That’s it! Wrapped up in communication skills, a successful manager will have solid people skills which are the essence of leadership. Being able to relate to others and for others to be able to relate to you is critical in earning trust and building a foundation of respect.Q3. Can they motivate the team? As mentioned, many employees feel that they do not feel supported by their manager, so when selecting an employee for promotion, it is important to assess that this person can focus on the success of the entire team. It means having a genuine understanding of what employees need to feel motivated and valued. It’s about the ability to connect with the team in a truthful, sincere and genuine way so that team members feel they are being listened to and understood. Insincerity is sniffed out so quickly in the work place – it’s not something that can be faked – it has to be real. Employees want to know that their bosses see their efforts and truly value it. This connects to a feeling of job security, well-being, and opportunities for development. And it affirms that the whole team is seen as being trustworthy, dependable, creative and resourceful. In short, by ensuring employees feel motivated, recognised and rewarded, the platform is set for a positive working environment, increased productivity and skyrocketing results.Now what? Provide training! Now that you have assessed this is the right candidate for promotion, it is essential to develop and implement ongoing support for the new manager. Contrary to popular opinion, learning to be a good manager takes time because good talent management skills are not intuitive to most. Training is about:

Giving effective feedbackCoaching employeesTracking employee performanceSetting clear goalsDeveloping employeesRecognising and rewarding good performanceDealing with performance issues

There really is no excuse not to provide training. There are loads of excellent books, podcasts, blogs, webinars, training courses, mentors and coaches, articles, seminars and short courses available to help your managers develop or hone a basic talent management suite of skills. Your investment in developing strong employee performance and talent management skills in your managers will pay off in terms of high employee performance, employee engagement, satisfaction, retention, and ultimately, improved organisational results. Feedback is vital Receiving performance feedback from others is one of the best ways for a manager to learn. Identify people who can help your managers identify their strengths and areas that need development, without judgment or condemnation. The best way for an organisation to support their management is to provide ongoing support and training, just as you expect managers will do for their teams. Open lines of communications between managers, their supervisors or the business owners are needed as is a willingness to foster a whole company environment that is supportive of the needs of its employees. This creates an ideal knock-on effect and before you know you have a virtuous circle in place. For more information on promoting new managers in your organisation, or information on recruiting management for your company,

contact us today.