In today’s aggressive business environment remaining competitive is “top of mind” for most executives. To remain competitive, you have to hire truly talented people and then you have to keep them. Turnover is not only costly in terms of replacement expense; it impacts productivity, and it’s demoralizing to other team members when they see good people leaving the organization.
The Cost of Turnover
Most team leaders are unaware of the total disruptive and financial nature of the loss of a valued team member. Hidden costs and impacts are often overlooked. For example, a team member doesn’t normally just up and leave an organization. A team member actually considers leaving three to six months before resigning, and productivity declines because the individual is no longer a committed team member. This impacts other team members and team morale.
Also, most team leaders need to realize the significant leverage that they have to combat turnover. Retaining Winning Talent helps team leaders accept that, in the majority of situations, team members quit their team leader, not their organization. Then Retaining Winning Talent helps that leader take productive steps to retain team members.
Program Description
Retaining Winning Talent is an 8-hour workshop that focuses on one of the most important assets of any organization – its team leaders and their impact on retaining key team members.
The program provides skills, tools, and a research-based approach that helps team leaders rate the attrition risk of each team member, surface individual team members’ retention needs, increase the level of commitment from each team member, and, most importantly, develop and implement a Retention Action Plan designed to increase retention for the entire team.
Impact to Your Organization
Managers and team leaders will be able to...
Describe the scope, severity, and cost of turnover
Determine the risk of turnover for each team member
Identify which retention factors motivate each team member
Increase each team member’s engagement and commitment
Apply the STARS research to build and implement an effective Retention Action Plan for their entire team
Workshop Overview - More Detail Below
Why Worry About Team Member Retention?
Who’s at Risk? How to Identify Individuals at Risk
Identify Retention Strategies & Tactics
Surface Team Member Retention Needs
Create a Retention Action Plan
Workshop Overview - Detail Summary
Why Worry About Team Member Retention?
Answer these 3 questions to get started:
What is your Attrition Data?
What are the Annual Turnover Rates?
What are the Reasons for Employees Leaving?
One of the very first interactions conducted in the workshop is a group activity around "Why Worry About Team Member Retention?" It gives participants a chance to meet one another and promotes interesting discussion about the “What’s in it for us?”
Uncover the hidden costs associated with attrition such as:
Loss of Productivity– the departing employee leaves a hole, work that must be done, backfilled by others
Processing- the employee leaving - all the paperwork and time associated to insurance, 401K etc.
In the Retaining Winning Talent program you will find a section that allows you to calculate the attrition cost. And that is an eye opener!!!
Example:
The Saratoga Institute 1999 Human Resource Financial Report average revenue per team member (total sales divided by number of Full-Time Equivalent People) was $293,000.
So here is an example for you:
Based on a Customer Service Specialist; Full-time position; Salary - $30,000. If this position leaves within 3 months the total attrition cost is $28,750. If this position leaves with in 6 months the total attrition cost is $57,500. The BOTTOM LINE...RETENTION pays for itself.
Who’s at Risk? How to Identify Individuals at Risk
Parallel Retention: There is an intimate connection between team member retention and goal achievement. Why, you ask?
The more you hold on to the valued team members, the greater the continuity of productivity and retention of your intellectual property. Bottom line business issue - focus on keeping those employees who contribute to the company's success.
Reasons People Stay or Might Leave
Who's At Risk of leaving the organization. In this segment you will explore and rate your top performers on five risk factors. These risk factors are the most common and identifiable - when you know what to look for.
Your Critical Organizational Goalsand Selective Retention - you will be asked to select three team members on whom you will focus your retention planning for the remainder of the workshop.
Selective Retention - the objective is not to retain all team members, but to retain selectively. One way to make Selective Retention decisions is to classify team members into one of four categories:
Top Performers
Fully Competent
Functionally Adequate
Wrong Job
Assessment Exercise on Selective Retention Vulnerabilities and Time Allocation Risk Rating - the team leader will be better equipped to look for behavior indicators on whether or not the team member may be thinking of leaving.
Team Member Commitment vs. Early Warning Signals -signs that a team member is committed:
Demonstrate enthusiasm and confidence in the work they do and go the extra mile versus trying to just get by.
Are dedicated to not just their own personal success but to helping others succeed and achieving overall organization goals.
Additional examples are reviewed.
Early Warning Signals that a team leader can pick up on and address before the team members concerns or thoughts turn to defection:
A noticeable change in behavior pattern; loss of enthusiasm.
A drop in productivity.
Stops volunteering for projects/tasks.
Additional examples are listed.
Attrition Triggers That Increase Risk - Attrition Triggers are events - either at the corporate or team level - which may cause a team member to consider leaving.
Macro-Triggers that increase risk can be:
Downsizing/Reorganization
Industry Up or Downturn
Reduction in Pay Benefits
Micro-Triggers can be:
Project Cancellation
Passed over for promotion
Respected team leader or team member leaves
Ripple Effect- understand the chain reaction attrition can set off in your team.
Business Impact of Attrition. Clearly, the impact of a team member's departure on you and your team can be significant. But don't overlook the significance it may have outside your department and the overall impact of the business.
Rate your team members' Business Impact through an individual assessment.
Business Impact Departure Checklist:
What to Think About
What Priorities to Set
What to Say to Whom
Identify Retention Strategies & Tactics
Begin by having participants develop retention strategies.
Step #1:Job Factor – Individual Rating
There are several Job Factor to consider - let's highlight one:
Professional Growth: Getting continuous training and development, as well as learning on the job via new assignments and feedback.
How demotivated would you be if you did not have professional growth opportunities over a short period of time?
How motivated would you be if you had ongoing opportunities for learning and professional development?
Step #2:Job Factor - Team Rating
Are team factors a motivator or a demotivator?
Step #3:Job Factor – Influence Rating
For all the Job Factors you will decide who has the most control over the situation - the team leaders or the organization?
Complete two individual assessments:
Corporate Retention Factors
Individual Retention Factors
The five key areas that will positively impact team member retention - the STARS Model:
S – Selection
T – Team Effectiveness
A – Advancement & Development
R – Recognition
S - Success
Surface Team Member Retention Needs
Retaining top talent requires that you clearly understand what each individual finds most motivating in the workplace. Do you think that most managers are able to answer this question?!?!?
In the absence of high levels of motivation, team member retention is difficult (if not impossible). Since the strength and attractiveness of various motivators are different for everyone, the only way to find out is to ask.
In this section the program outlines a five step guide for discussion prompting you to use the skills that you have learned thus far and incorporate the STARS Model.
Skill Practice Exercise - pull together everything learned in the workshop using real-life situations.
Repeat this Skill Practice Exercise with the twist that you are responding to an Early Warning Signal.
Create a Retention Action Plan
Begin the Action Plan by making specific commitments in two areas:
What you will do to enhance your own general retention management practices
What you will do with the three individuals you selected earlier
Blue Sky Practices - the goal of this activity is to start thinking “outside of the box” in terms of the types of strategies and activities that the organization can do to support you, as a team leader, in retaining your best team members.
Complete instruction on how to conduct the workshop
Explanatory text for the trainer
Sample trainer narrative and facilitation notes
Facilitator Resource CD-Rom containing PowerPoint presentation, forms and additional resources
Participant Workbook pages integrated into the facilitator material
Complete Retention Action Plan worksheet available
Participant Workbook
Exercises, forms and skill practice aids
Plan to create Retention Action Plan
Workbook for future reference
Memory Jogger Card providing a handy reminder of the workshop’s skill points
The Publisher
Vital Learning Corporation’s award winning programs have successfully helped organizations develop supervisors, leaders, and front-line managers for over 20 years. Vital Learning offers the most comprehensive and practical curriculum for building the management skill set required by 21st century managers.
Our customers tell us that VL training works so well because it enables team leaders to make the changes in management behavior and improve business results.
Retaining Winning Talent is an outstanding course on its own. Partner it with Hiring Winning Talent of the Leadership Series - Leadership PLUS -and your organization can have the complete package for making the right hiring decision AND for holding on to that talent.
