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#Leadership : #EmployeeRetention – Plan your New Hire’s Next Job from the Moment they Start… Here’s how Here are Three Ways to Start Preparing your #TeamMembers for New and Different Roles Inside the Company (before they find other opportunities outside it).

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Remember when staying in a job for less than a few years was considered a stain on your resume? That’s no longer the case. By one recent estimate, the average length of time people now spend in a given role is just a little over two years among workers ages 25–39. And who can blame them?

Baseless millennial stereotypes notwithstanding, it’s people earlier in their careers who tend to fill lower-level positions, which typically involve at least a few unexciting tasks. I’ve noticed entry-level employees at my own company getting anxious to take the next step in their careers even sooner than they’d used to. Many of our sales reps now start eyeing their next internal moves after just six to eight months.

So lately I’ve had to think creatively about ways to keep new hires engaged while extending their professional lives inside the company. Here are a few methods we’ve come up with.

BREAK ROLES INTO TIERS

The most employee movement we see here at Vidyard is in our sales department. As with a lot of front-line jobs, it’s hard to keep this area dynamic because sales isn’t necessarily a role where you can rotate people through varied projects, like we do with our developers. So instead we’ve introduced tiers to certain sales positions, transparent step-ups that come with added responsibilities and pay. Importantly, these aren’t promotions out of a role that somebody has only started to master. Rather, we’re building discrete new functions into that role.

A higher-level tier might include new responsibilities like mentoring newer hires, taking on bigger accounts, or shadowing more senior team members. Yet each new level comes with commensurate pay increases to reflect the advancement.

Having clear tiers for sales jobs lets our new hires see from the outset that they’re never “stuck” in an entry-level role, and it shows them exactly what they need to do to make it to the next level. They get the support and encouragement to add to their skill sets while also getting better at selling–the critical function they were hired for. For now, we’ve limited this “slice-and-dice” approach to sales, where there are clear, repeatable duties. But it’s not hard to see how it could be useful elsewhere.

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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ASK AMBITIOUS EMPLOYEES TO SELF-ASSESS

As any manager knows, dealing with an employee who’s pushing for a promotion before they’re ready can be a tricky (and common) situation. The challenge is to be realistic without dismissing their desire to advance. Simply telling someone they’ll have to stay put will only breed resentment and accelerate a move–likely outside your company.

So we’ve tried to develop what I think of as a readiness pulse-check. Flip the tables and give eager team members a chance to assess their own readiness for a promotion (or lack thereof). A little while ago, one new hire joined Vidyard as a “concierge,” helping direct customer inquiries to the right place, but his heart was set on getting into sales. When he pleaded with me after just a couple months to make the move, I assigned him some homework: I asked him to spend some time with other leaders in the company to learn exactly what his dream job entailed.

He soon realized he still had some work to do, but he now knew exactly which skills and qualifications he’d need to move forward. Within little more than a year, he successfully made the switch and has continued to move up the ranks. In fact, using this same approach, he went on to segue into a product manager role, where he’s in charge of bringing our tools from ideation to market.

Putting the onus on your ambitious employees to figure out whether they’re truly ready for the next step is a great way to give them some control over their career paths. Some may resent the perceived roadblock. But those that rise to the occasion will be doubly dedicated to their jobs, and double their value to you by learning more about how the company works.

EXPERIMENT WITH SWAPS AND LOANS

Indeed, sometimes the best ways to keep team members happy is to encourage internal mobility across functional areas. Jumping to a new role or department can revitalize enthusiasm and preserve institutional know-how while also busting up silos.

We recently began experimenting with a loaner program to let employees cross departmental lines in their work, something that other tech companies have been doing for years. Right now, our initiative is admittedly small and operating on a four-month trial, but I’m excited to see where it leads in the future. Other times a change of scenery is all it takes to renew someone’s enthusiasm for their job. We have a satellite office in another city on the West Coast, and we’ve had a few team members request to make the move. While this doesn’t always entail a change in job description, the shift in setting is often a welcome change, with the added benefit of strengthening our company culture through cross-pollination between offices.

In my opinion, keeping a good employee for many years is important; it’s the goal of every great leader I know. The key is to creating a climate where people hungry to amass new skills can genuinely see a path forward. In the end, a stifled, inflexible workplace only leads to the exodus of your best and brightest. The earlier you start thinking about where your newest hires might be headed, the sooner you’ll start seeing them maximize their potential and make your organization stronger–no matter how long they’re there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Litt is cofounder and CEO of the video marketing platform Vidyard. Follow him on Twitter at @michaellitt.

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FastCompany.com | July 20, 2018

#Leadership : What To Do When A Key Hire Quits…TAKE A DEEP BREATH. It Always Hurts When a Key Contributor Leaves, But There are Ways to Deal with it That Can Ease the Pain.

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A great member of your team just came to you with an unexpected resignation. I’m sure you’re somewhere between being upset that you’re being deserted and worried about what you are going to do to handle that person’s contributions. Maybe you’re even more concerned that this will be the start of an avalanche—how many more people are thinking about leaving?+

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I know it’s a big loss and a big hassle to have to deal with a key hire departing, but, it’s totally normal and manageable.  Get through the pain quickly and elegantly, and get yourself back  as fast as possible.

TAKEA DEEP BREATH. If you’re successful, this is a scenario you’ll experience many times in your career. It always hurts when a key contributor leaves, but there are ways to deal with it that can ease the pain.

Here are my recommendations for when you hear that you’re about to lose someone who means a lot to the organization:

Find out why they are leaving.  Are they running away from something or running toward something?  Do they have their heads on straight regarding the situation?

Are they salvageable?  If there is something wrong, can you fix it?

  • I always use additional compensation as a last resort, as it’s usually not compensation that makes them want to leave.
  • If you can fix it, is the person mature enough to re-commit and be wholly engaged? You only want people onboard who are fully engaged.

 

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If you decide they are salvageable, still do a gut check and make sure you’re not getting gamed. Sometimes people use the threat of leaving as a way to angle for more money. Unfortunately, people sometimes do disingenuous things.

Be very careful not to build an entitlement culture where people think if they threaten to quit, they become eligible for a promotion. That makes costs go crazy and makes you powerless. Reserve the times you are willing to get gamed for one percent of the employee population—the true talent—not 30-50 percent of the people who are trying to get a better offer. Only go through heroics for the true stars. Everyone knows what’s happening and you have to be careful about how they see you responding. If not, soon everyone will be at your door with a counter offer and request for a raise and promotion. How can you tell what’s what? Probe where they are going, then tell them that it sounds like a great opportunity and that if it doesn’t work out, they are welcome to come back.

If they will definitely be leaving, can you negotiate a transition plan that is beneficial for both of you?  Can you get their agreement to help out in a pinch even if they are in a new job?

Treat them with respect and dignity on the way out.  Celebrate their contributions and let them know they are welcome back if things don’t work out where they are going.

But remember, you need to celebrate the people who stay and do good work as much as—or more than—the folks that leave.  Several times I’ve heard people say they only received recognition when they left (the squeaky wheel gets all the oil syndrome), which leads to very bad cultural dynamics.

  • Make sure the team knows that the departing person will be missed, but talk about the actions you and they can take to ensure that the company will still achieve its dreams.
  • Recognize that this is a great opportunity for someone else to step up and get a promotion.

Finally, look back and assess whether this was a surprise. Did you see it coming?  Make it a point to proactively know where all your key talent’s heads are and work hard to keep them motivated and in the game.

I know it’s a big loss and a big hassle to have to deal with a key hire departing, but, it’s totally normal and manageable.  Get through the pain quickly and elegantly, and get yourself back to terra firma as fast as possible.

 

Forbes.com | May 3, 2016 | Maynard Webb

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#Leadership : 3 Steps That Make A Real Difference In #Training Your #Team…Your Company’s Training Process Doesn’t Have to be Highly Structured or Complicated. Instead, try Creating a Framework that Evolves Organically from your Culture & is Flexible enough to Work with Any New Addition to your Team.

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For any growing business, hiring is always a process that must remain top-of-mind. There’s no doubt that hiring the right person from the onset is immensely important, but many overlook the impact that training has on the long-term success of any new employee.

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Training is one of those things most managers/entrepreneurs don’t pay much attention to during the early days of the business. After all, you and your key team members are too busy creating a product, process and culture on the fly to institute a formal training program. It’s only after your hard work begins to pay off and the business begins to scale that the need for a formalized approach to training all of your new hires becomes acute. I experienced this firsthand earlier this year, when it became clear that our team needed to expand significantly to keep up with increasing customer demand.

Initially, my team and I dove right into the process of getting new hires up to speed on our immediate needs. Often, very little attention was paid to helping the new team members understand the larger initiatives at play. Naturally, this approach led to problems. Our new hires were confused about the bigger purpose behind their work, and the established executive team grew frustrated with projects misaligned to their needs and expectations.

We had to change to successfully navigate this period of rapid growth. We needed a framework that was flexible, robust and quickly implemented. To solve for this, my team and I developed a 3 step process for onboarding and training new hires.

Start with culture.

The level of skill that someone brings to the table is incredibly important, but it isn’t necessarily what makes someone successful. Specific skills can be learned and honed over time, but the need to mesh with a company’s culture comes up almost immediately. That’s why we spend the first few weeks on the job helping them acclimate to the culture that make our company unique. Rather than force someone to sit through a presentation about mission and values, we try and have new hires experience them firsthand. They spend time with our customers, partners and founding team. During this time, we reinforce the idea that we want to work with people we trust, respect and admire — setting the stage for long-term success.

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Assign a mentor.

Team members get a mentor who is tasked with making them successful. This way, we’re able to foster strong relationships across the organization and create an environment where people are invested in each other’s success. Mentors are responsible for not only tactical training, but also long-term career development.

When it comes to assigning a mentor, we often try to pair up employees who have had minor conflicts in the past. It seems somewhat counterintuitive, but I’ve found that if a leader has a problem with another team member, the best thing is to create a situation where each person is forced to make the other successful. More often than not, this structure resolves any existing conflict and forms a much stronger bond over time. This process of setting aside issues and moving forward positively help to create a much more balanced, open, and successful team across all levels.

Follow up early and often.

Finally, we follow up with new additions to the team early on and continue meeting on a frequent basis thereafter. This high-touch approach ensures that no one ever gets too far off course at any point in time. I personally set aside a scheduled time each week for an open conversation with each of my direct reports and require them to do the same with theirs. These follow-up sessions don’t have to be time-consuming. Often, they happen while making a coffee run or over lunch. The important thing is that problems and questions are never allowed to fester. By being insanely proactive in this manner, we’re able to make sure people receive the feedback and support they need, exactly when they need it.

Your company’s training process doesn’t have to be highly structured or complicated. Instead, try creating a framework that evolves organically from your culture and is flexible enough to work with any new addition to your team. If you ensure that your new hires understand the company’s culture, are partnered with mentors who are deeply invested in their success and have frequent opportunities for feedback, you’ll find that you’ll develop a more balanced and successful team.

Chris Myers is the Cofounder and CEO of BodeTree, a web application designed to help small businesses manage their finances.

Forbes.com | August 8, 2015 | Chris Myers