Mountain State University LeaderTalk

The time is now to develop a strategy for retaining employees

by Rosa Cassell

So, you feel you are a good leader. You are self-confident, flexible, sensitive to others; you score high in emotional intelligence; you are a person of integrity; your followers respect you as a leader, a human being. You would never think of asking your followers to perform tasks you would not do; therefore, you practice participative leadership, motivating your followers as you lead your organization to become a recognized competitor in the industry. Your followers are loyal to you and the organization. Don't become too comfortable – that is not the end of your responsibilities as a leader. Leadership success is three-fold: managing tasks, leading people, and leading yourself are interrelated, interconnected, and absolute must-haves to remain successful.

You are confident your followers appreciate working in the healthy environment you helped create. Everyone embraces teamwork and there is little disruption to your daily routine. But what if some of your followers aspire to progress beyond their current status? What if they need more challenging tasks? Are you prepared to meet the needs of your most talented workers to ensure they remain with the company? Keeping talented employees is a challenge that all organizations must face, but many wait too late to give it serious thought.

Experts agree that solving the mystery of how to retain valued employees could determine the lifespan of your organization, department, or project. In their book Clever, Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones (2009) introduce clevers as exceptional employees with higher-order needs than your average employee. They are the followers who stand out in the crowd. They seem to need more opportunities to think critically, to uncover new truths. The challenge for the leader then becomes finding suitable ways to harness the energies of these clevers to encourage them to remain with your company. Fact is, once boredom sets in, they will make a quiet but certain exit from your organization in search of more exciting challenges.

Goffee and Jones (2009) offer valuable information that may help you remain the super leader you know you are. Remember, clevers need the organization as much as the organization needs them. What does that mean? Clevers need sociability, infrastructure, credibility, and resources as fuel to reach their full potential. Goffee and Jones believe the leader's role is to identify clever people with potential to reach the summit, connect them with others, and help them get there.

The complexity of today's work environment demands interdependence. In growing other leaders, everyone wins. Everyone will be motivated to return to work for the next challenge. Still think you have what it takes to be a good leader? The fate of your organization may well depend on your answer.

Rosa Cassell has been an Organizational Leadership facilitator for Mountain State since 2003. Currently, she is a second-year student in MSU's Doctor of Executive Leadership program. Rosa has two daughters, two sons-in-law, and is the grandmother of three future clevers.

Enchantment as a Leadership Tool

Post by Dr. Elisebeth VanderWeil. VanderWeil works as the Director of Organizational Leadership at Mountain State University and holds a PhD in Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University. Her seemingly disconnected yet thematic work experience has provided her with the skills and experience to remain curious, flexible, decisive, and knowledgeable in many realms.

Guy Kawasaki's book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions, is a great manual for the budding evangelist. Kawasaki shares techniques he has used to bring success to both Apple and himself in an engaging, well-written book that outlines specific behavior and intentions for getting people to agree with you – and act on your recommendation.

Enchantment is ultimately the art of social engineering, a practice quite popular – and successful – in the world of technology. Social engineering is about influencing people based on social relationships that are strategically constructed and deployed. As outlined by Kawasaki, "enchantment" includes how to achieve likeability, achieve trustworthiness, prepare and launch, overcome resistance, sustain enchantment, and use technology to accomplish getting people to share your view. All of this is in service of persuading others to perceive your product, service, organization, or idea as meaningful and wonderful and that they need to take action on it.

Enchantment is a powerful tool for leaders, but it is not leadership. An enchanter is not a leader, any more than a popular celebrity or successful salesperson is a leader. Similar to the difference between management and leadership, "enchantment" and leadership share some overt behaviors and goals, but leaders are oriented quite differently. Here are some examples of how "enchantment" and leadership mirror each other and are qualitatively different:

Enchantment and leadership are about long-term relationships, not short-term exchange. 

• Enchantment is hyper-focused on forming relationships that benefit one product, service, organization, or idea.
• Leadership is focused on forming relationships that connect diverse products, services, organizations, and ideas.

Leadership and enchantment emphasize self awareness.

• Leaders are self aware in order to show up as authentic, to gain clarity about their strengths, weaknesses, and goals, so as to align themselves with work and colleagues that complement them.
• Enchanters are self aware in order to be liked and trusted by their target audience and to align themselves with work and colleagues that compliment them.

Enchantment and leadership focus on getting groups of people to do something.

• Enchantment gets people to act through modeling and communicating complete commitment to and confidence in their product, service, organization, or idea. (This behavior is darkly referred to as "drinking the Kool-Aid.")
• Leadership gets people to act through nurturing awareness and alignment so that people can make clear and accurate decisions about whether they want to follow.

Leaders and enchanters want to change the world.

• Leaders work for change through passionately holding a vision for what is possible for people. 
• Enchanters work for change through passionately offering a vision for how great the world would be if everyone bought in to their products, services, organizations, or ideas.

Enchantment is a book I cautiously recommend for leaders. It is a good toolbox and Kawasaki holds the banner of enchantment and evangelism high in cautioning people to work for others' benefit and to act ethically. Like leadership, "enchantment" is basically a neutral power that can be used and abused. Pick this book up to enhance your leadership, but don't mistake it for the ultimate answer to your leadership challenges.

Empty Seats

It's not enough to fill the seats on the bus.

But if you've ever worked in an organization in which key positions remained unfilled, you know the strain those empty seats can cause.

When seats are empty, it is very difficult to maintain your organization's previous level of service, quality, or output. 

We might make excuses: We're shorthanded here. I'm doing two jobs right now, so... This is a time of transition for our department. We're catching up to our growth.

When positions are open or leaders make plans for expansion, they make sure they have talented people in place before they start new initiatives or move forward. 

Leaving those important seats empty can be costly to the health of the organization. Of course, hiring and training new employees is also a time-consuming and expensive process, so it is important to fill positions thoughtfully, ensuring a proper fit between the person and the position. 

Here are some questions to consider during personnel transitions:

How will you reorganize your department to ensure that critical tasks are completed?

How will this transition effect other team members? Your customers?

What can you do to minimize negative consequences for your team? For your customers?

What effect do those empty seats have on your organization's ability to fulfill your mission? To the bottom line?

Leaders cultivate talent within their organizations with a plan of succession for key positions so to ease the strain of personnel transitions. Also, leaders communicate with their team about how responsibilities will be shared during transitions.

Join the conversation!

How does your organization handle personnel transitions?

What other factors are important for leaders with organizations in transition?