Hey GirdleyWorld!
Hope you had a great week. We’re having a ball and busy around here (see the big announcement below!). Here’s what I’ve got for you today:
- 13 easy habits to keep your best employees
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Concrete Ways to Keep Your Top Employees
Great staff are worth their weight in gold. One person that really drives your business forward is worth 10 people that don’t give a crap.
So it’s worth investing in them.
But how?
It’s easy to get wrapped up in HR platitudes. All the “company values” in the world don’t mean anything if you don’t live them out daily.
It’s what you DO that matters.
So here are some simple, concrete tips to keep your star players around.
1. Be proactive around pay increases
Money talks. For a great employee, fair pay is table stakes.
But word gets around about great people. Others will try to recruit them.
When you come to them before they come to you, you’re showing that you value them and are actively thinking about them.
Feeling valued goes a long way.
2. Get together
If you’re remote, bring people together 1 or 2 times yearly.
Or visit your employees in person.
Every business can afford this — a few plane tickets are nothing next to the cost of replacing people.
3. Say thank you
Everyone wants to feel appreciated.
But many bosses never say thank you.
It seems simple, but you’d be amazed at how many people just… stop saying it.
Remember: different people want to be thanked differently.
Pay attention. (More on that below.)
4. Ask them about their lives (and remember the answers)
Your employees are not objects to be used. Treat them as people, and show that in your actions.
Learn and remember the names of their spouse and kids. Find out what their personal life goals are.
Care about them as people.
5. Make the job fun
Sometimes, boring work has to get done. But do what you can to make it fun or exciting.
If there’s no choice but to plow through a dull job, give them something to look forward to when the boring stuff is finished.
6. Ask what makes them feel appreciated
Everybody’s different.
Some people like awards. Others like private words of affirmation.
You don’t have to read minds: just ask them what makes them feel appreciated. Then do that.
7. Get rid of C-players quickly
Strong employees don’t want to be around low performers.
Keeping them on sends a message that performance isn’t important. And they add friction to everybody’s day-to-day.
Checked-out coworkers kill morale.
8. Share the big picture
People WANT to hear the vision/mission.
So share it and bring them along.
Give them something big to buy into.
(That’s why we’re so public about Girdley Media’s 10-year plan — it lets people know what kind of ship they’re climbing aboard.)
9. Keep a 1-1 reserved for quarterly career check-ins
Dedicating space for this shows you care. (This is a great place to bring up those proactive pay increases.)
Come away from that meeting with concrete next steps so everybody knows how to succeed.
Make sure managers document these meetings.
10. Measure engagement regularly
My favorite system for this is Q12 from Gallup.
Their 12 questions are free on their website, and they break down the science behind each one.
This gives you regular insights into engagement, productivity, and obstacles.
Keep tabs on this.
11. Encourage skip level meetings
Have managers and leaders skip levels to talk to people throughout the org.
This can be VPs calling their reports’ employees every quarter, or CEOs having candid chats when visiting offices.
A star employee can suffocate under a bad manager.
12. Keep a Super Star list
Track the rock stars in the organization, and discuss these people at C-level meetings regularly.
Go above and beyond at the executive level to keep them.
13. Do real exit interviews
Don’t wimp out here.
This is a huge opportunity to get honest feedback.
Ask with honest intention why they’re leaving, set your feelings aside, and really listen.
You might learn something that keeps the next A-player.
That’s it! If you’re a manager and you didn’t see something you could act on right away… you’re either TERRIFIC already or you should reread this list.
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Three things from this week
And the dinner course that represents them…
- Appetizer: Our SMB Peer Group has a #wins channel. One person is fending off repeat break-ins at their biz…
- Main: In 1995, Charlie Munger made a now-famous speech about how people trick themselves into making terrible errors of judgment. My buddy Andrew Wilkinson listened to it every day for a year, and made a great abridged version of it with animated video. Worth checking out! Watch it here.
- Dessert: My take on the dumb/smart quadrant meme going around — I’m an equal-opportunity idiot.
Thanks to everyone who wrote in last week. I read all your feedback, so let me know what you think!
Wishing you a fantastic week full of A-player retention,
Michael
