The Engaging Brand

audio Message makes my day

I was thrilled that Kumar - one of the readers of this blog - left an audio message using the MyChingo recorder. It was great to get feedback and I will be playing the comment in the next podcast. Anyone who wants to join the conversation through voice check out the mychingo recorder on the right hand side of this blog under the google ads - I just LOVE it when you take the time to give me feedback.

To me this shows how for all the emails in the world that you may send to you team - nothing, I mean nothing is better than the human voice.

Employee Feedback

Invariably you always have people who leave for one reason or another. For me the exit interviews are invaluable. One question to ask as a manager is "What problems do you think I am unaware of?" This is a great way of allowing people who are leaving, and don't want to blow their relationship, to open up on potential problems. Too many companies don't tap into this feedback tool. They have easy get outs in the reasons like...personal reasons, general!....don't lose out on this great communication channel. People are leaving because their needs are not being met. Someone else is offering a new employment brand promise. What is that promise? Can you meet that promise? Replacing talent is expensive - on average £9,000 minimum but that does not include the loss of experience.

Another area is keeping in contact with talented leavers afterwards. Send a personalised letter after a month and say how sad you were of losing their input. Ask for their thoughts on how to retain future talent.....ask for ideas they have found at their new company which they believe you could benefit from.... don't be too proud, they are leaving YOU for some reason. Respect confidentiality but use it as a free 360 degree feedback tool. Talent is the difference in a competitive market, you need this feedback.

Resigning is great Feedback

In Personnel today there is a quick survey on what is a reasonable turnover for employees. The private companies are saying 10.5% and the public companies 8.4%. For me it is not about the level of turnover it is about who you are losing. If you are losing 10% of your stars or potentials then that's a problem. I am amazed at how many people either don't measure turnover or are in denial of the true reasons why people are leaving. Ah well we couldn't satisfy their aspirations, ah well its good to have fresh blood, ah well there was nothing we could have done , we couldn't match that salary level.

You need to be honest, and look at why people are leaving the organization. To do this you need to dig deeper than personal reasons( In fact take it off the form - it is meaningless), or career enhancement ( Is this about the manager or the lack of coaching within the org?). People, as they leave, are not in a position to often tell the truth - they want to leave on good terms. But if people are giving general reasons or ticking a checklist then you are not getting to the core of the problem. Dig, this is vital data that you cannot afford to lose. When a person leaves their needs are not being met in some way...you need to see people leaving as a method of feedback, a method of communicating to you. Engage with people, don't give up on them. Follow up after they have left, keep in touch with them if they were stars, contact them if opportunities arise. The fact that you are showing that you care and are sad at losing them, illustrates that you value them. I think people too readily let people go, people are your competitive advantage and you need to value the talent that you have. Losing people means losing knowledge and experience, so if they do leave you need to learn the true reasons and then ACT on them before you lose someone else.