(reprinted from Technology Digest, June, 1998)

How do you attract, and then keep, your most talented people committed, loyal and motivated? The question has frustrated and even bewildered a growing number of companies in past year or two. The work force and pool of resources of highly skilled, highly trained talent is shrinking.

This is not a new problem, but it seems to be ever more critical. The question of attracting brightest and best is a key issue for successful companies. Today with large signing bonuses and very attractive salaries and benefits, more perplexing question is how to best build loyalty of our talented people. The more talent we retain, more talent we'll attract.

Your company may have recently been through a rash of significant changes, like introduction of entire new product lines, mergers, or acquisitions. Your company culture may be rapidly changing which compounds problem of building loyalty and retention. Loyalty generally builds over time. And, we don't have luxury of extended time or stability to build loyalty. We have to quickly catch attention of our talent, give them an exciting vision of company's future, and show them how they are an essential part of success.

When people feel they are contributing to an exciting product or worthwhile service, their level of commitment increases. People want to be excited about their work. Loyalty also increases when people feel respected and acknowledged for what they do. People want to feel valued and that they are making a difference. Leaders need to recognize each person’s need to feel like they count.

Do you let each member on your team know how he or she fit into your company’s success and ever-changing environment?

Do you know what each of your people wants and finds most important? A recent study of exit interviews found that money was not reason good talent was leaving. They wanted to be part of a worthwhile enterprise, be influential in decision-making, and create and contribute to mutually agreed upon objectives.

Check your leadership effectiveness in skills needed to retain talent: Rate yourself 1-5 ( 5 being outstanding)

1. Do you fully cooperate with all of your staff to find win-win solutions?

could add 1 2 3 4 5 after each item.

2. Do you give credit and acknowledgment without fail to those deserving? 3. Do you regularly encourage, support and contribute to your staff's success? 4. Do you often increase your staff's responsibilities and opportunities? 5. Do you frequently provide training and learning opportunities for staff? 6. Do you treat all staff with dignity and respect as you do your best customer? 7. Do you encourage creativity and seek candid feedback from staff?

Top talent remains loyal when they believe there are chances for professional growth and challenge. Leaders should invest more time planning for these growth opportunities. You might identify cross-functional team projects where your talent can effectively network and work with different teams.

High achievers want to be in contact and dialog with colleagues they respect. Identify ways to bring best minds together. Successful people relish opportunity to learn from each other and communicate on deeper levels.

When you set your quarterly goals, try a goal alignment process. Ask your team to identify key stakeholders who could either support or impede their progress. Facilitate some meetings with other groups to seek creative ways to align goals and develop improved solutions.

Build An Attractive Culture through Open Communication

One way to build an attractive company culture is through effective and open communication. Make your company a place that people want to join and stay. Continually identify ways to keep people in loop. Even when there are setbacks, rumors of an acquisition, or anticipated changes in environment, people want to know what's going on. As leaders, we may be tempted to keep information guarded until we have full implementation plan. However, most staff want to be a part of planning, want input into decisions, and don't like surprises anymore than we do.

Top talent is attracted to and wants to work in open learning environments. Most enjoy being part of a creative team doing collaborative projects. Actively seek these opportunities.

Marilyn Manning, Ph.D., Speaker

“Always do right. This will surprise some and astonish rest”, Mark Twain

“Thousands of businesses will be shaken and even shattered by their inability to render effective customer service,” say Davidow and Uttal, authors of Total Customer Service, The Ultimate Weapon. Quality service is defined as, “building customer loyalty and goodwill by exceeding expectations and needs”.

From my observation, organizations that consistently deliver outstanding service practice same level of service with employees. Inside customer service is a critical foundation often neglected. And, building employee loyalty can pay big dividends. A recent MCI-Gallup poll of CEO’s said they named most important sources for a competitive advantage is quality, service and responsiveness. Why not begin on inside to insure employee and customer loyalty?

It is surprising how easy it is to take other employees for granted. Do you and your staff always apply common courtesies to each other? Does your team or organization have clear behavioral expectations or an effective “code of conduct”?

At Brook Furniture Rental’s annual leadership conference, we set team code of conduct based on our core values: Service, Value, Speed, and Integrity. Our team ground rules include: Always give feedback directly to person; never speak negatively about another team member behind his or her back.

When employees treat each other with respect, courtesy and goodwill, studies show that productivity and positive morale increase. An organization working together more effectively internally, is more skilled and consistent in external service.

When I design customer service programs for my clients, I recommend certain steps. First identify your core values like leadership of Brook did. Next, have employees define customer-centered behaviors. What behaviors do they associate with exceptional service? For example: “listening without interrupting,” “offering to help,” “asking enough questions to identify real needs and concerns.” These should be same behaviors we expect co-workers to use with each other.

Bob Crawford, CEO of Brook, models and coaches core values. One value is “integrity.“ Managers and employees avoid negativity, fix problems immediately, deliver what they promise, and follow through. All staff spend time discussing values and expected behaviors.

Building employee loyalty can be challenging when we have a “difficult” person on board, someone who seems cold and uncaring. The tendency is to treat him in an impersonal way since he seldom responds. What if we could adjust our thinking and see him as a customer? We’d likely be more patient and accepting. We might see him as shy and insecure rather than aloof. With this new frame of reference, we would probably have more compassion.

Changing our attitude changes our response. In turn, this could change “difficult” person’s responses toward us. Why not give co-workers same consideration we give an external customer, thus building loyalty both inside and out.

Brit ? of Arden Realty, Los Angeles, says to capture customer’s interest at right time. Anticipate what they need before they do. How powerful this would be if we also applied this to our employees. Meet their needs and build loyalty.