Seven Ways to Find and Keep Good Employees

These survey findings were reported in the magazine Fast Company, in its War For Talent edition. McKinsey & Co. surveyed 6,900 corporate officers, senior executives and mid-level Gen-X managers. These findings were summarized by Fast Company as War For Talent II: Seven Ways to Win

1. Develop a ‘talent mindset’
…at all levels of the organization, that is. You need, across the organization, a deeply-held belief that having high-caliber people in the most value-creating jobs is critical to achieving the aspirations of the company. To do this you need to develop a rigorous and candid review process to identify high and low performers, outline individuals’ strengths and weaknesses, and identify specific actions to address ‘under-performers’.

2. Create extreme Employee Value Propositions (EVPs)
… that deliver on your people’s dreams. There are four keys to this mechanism for capturing more than your fair share of talent: a great company, great leaders, great jobs, and attractive compensation.

3. Build a high-performance culture
…that combines a strong performance ethic with an open and trusting environment. Company culture is a critical element of the EVP. The combination of these two elements – highly competitive and open – is most satisfying for ‘talent’ to work within.

4. Recruit talent continuously
The most aggressive companies are always on the prowl for talent. They have a keen sense of who they are looking for, and they do their looking in new ways and in new places. (Where? Click on the list of Fast Guide headlines – use the blue links on the left of this screen to call the list up’- and look for Tom Peters’ guide to where to find talent).

5. Develop people to their full potential
Every company leaves a tremendous amount of human potential untapped, because its people are inadequately developed. Effectively conceived stretch jobs coupled with informal feedback, coaching and mentoring are enormous developmental levers.

6. Be ruthless with non-talent
Act on the negative influence of under-performers. They make you unable to attract top talent, do not develop the people below them, block opportunities for those around them, undermine the morale of the group, and ultimately cause better performers to leave the company

7. Re-recruit your top performers
‘Retention’ as a concept is boring. So, think of it as ‘re-recruiting’. Beyond the EVP, companies must demonstrate that they value and appreciate their people. Simply helping high-potential people feel connected and vital to the future of the business can be a powerful retention tactic.