Retaining Top Talent Is Hard Work—But It’s Possible!

Retaining top talent requires a well thought out strategy with perfectly aligned tactics that seamlessly integrate with and drive both your culture and your business plan. Bottom line: retaining top talent is hard work!

A Retention Retreat

Here is a great story from one of my international clients, the leading prepared salad maker in England and one of the Top 100 fastest growing companies in the UK. Their President, after hearing one of my keynotes on finding and keeping great employees, asked me to help his executive team create a strategic people plan that was as powerful as their business plan. Retaining top talent is critical for him since the unemployment in his operations areas on the southern coast of England hovers between 1.2 and 1.3 percent.

We agreed that the best attack plan was to have three of his top executives to come to Florida for a brief “holiday” and executive retreat—an easy sell to his team! After two days of deep thought and emotionally spirited analysis, we created a one-year schematic of key goals and outcomes on staffing, retention, and organizational excellence.

The “Retaining Top Talent” Plan

• Presentations to their Board of Directors (multiple)
• Creating a great employee profile by key area through conducting intensive great employee interviews with top staff
• Training current managers in effective recruiting, leadership, and retention techniques
• Ensure rewards and recognitions align with and drive the culture
• Create and record a company hero’s and story’s board
• Embrace and drive the new competencies model, ensure alignment to business outcomes
• Draft a “Jargon Dictionary” for all employees that highlights and explains all the jargon used within and between operations

At their retreat, this company created 30+ strategies in a plan towards employee retention. The preceding list includes just a few of the highlights.

A Key Investment