It’s no secret that we have now exceeded all reasonable expectations for what living in a Volatile,
One area of immediate and potentially catastrophic concern for many business organizations is how to retain their best people during a volatile change in the business. Volatile changes could include mergers, spinoffs, mergers then spinoffs, new start-ups, entrance of a new disruptive competitor to your market, or any other change that radically alters the way you go to market. In my opinion, the skills and tools required to be successful are based on strong Business Acumen and Business Leadership skills. Based on years of research, observations, and talking with thousands of leaders and contributors of success, here are three ideas of how to leverage Business Acumen and Business Leadership skills to make sure your company, business unit, and team is retaining your great people in times of uncertainty.
1) Share the vision of your new business model
The absolute most important first step is making sure you are sharing the vision of the new business model to the entire company. The worst thing your organization can do in terms of retaining talent is to keep the new business model a secret or “release it” after a long period of time where only a few select people know what it is. A value proposition statement can be as simple as sharing, “After the merger, the new company, called XYZ, will strive to become the Product Leader in our market through investments in R&D, discovery of new technologies, and a commitment to launch new products that satisfy the needs of our select early adopter customers.” These 43 words are the baseline. By sharing this new company direction with your internal team, you can create help excitement and develop the motivation for them to stay.
2) Communicate what’s in it for existing employee
The second step is to communicate what’s in it for the employees you are targeting to stay. As we all know too well, good employees have an infinite number of options to pursue at any moment. It is your job to communicate and share what’s in it for the key talent to stay. I suggest two different types of communication messages:
a) The new business model presents opportunities to pursue what motivates them
No matter what function your key talent is in – Sales, Marketing, R&D, etc. – you can offer them a unique opportunity to pursue advanced opportunities in the areas that interests and motivates them.
b) The new business model presents opportunities to learn and gain experience
A significant and volatile change presents a unique opportunity to experience something new and different. Even if it’s on a project that ends up failing or not working, they still gain an experience that can be leveraged for career advancement inside or outside of your company.
3) Manage expectations
The third tip is to manage expectations in a realistic and authentic way. The worst thing you can do as a leader trying to retain talent in times of volatile change is to tell people things that are not true or are misleading. Making false promises about how “great” things are going to be after the change is not going to be productive. The only thing that you can do is be authentic and manage people’s expectations. The realistic expectation is that things will be good in the beginning, but then will start to get more difficult as the realization of the complexity of the change and the amount of work needed to accomplish the change becomes more apparent. It’s at this point you must share the light at the end of the tunnel including what’s in it for the employees you want to stay.
In summary, retaining talent in times of volatile change is extremely difficult. However, there is a science and strategy to making it happen; share the vision, communicate what’s in it for them, and manage the expectations during the entire process.