Every year, for those who follow sports, there ae key dates on the calendar that fans of college football or basketball get excited about.
Signing days!
That is when coaches who have been enticing a young athlete and their family to commit to their school find out who is coming.
Athletes across the country choose a school and are celebrated on sports talk radio…
They are applauded on ESPN for their choice of a new place to work…
It is very exciting.
What is less exciting is the everyday grind of activities that follows the celebratory signing day festivities.
The expectations placed on those same athletes of classes… and workouts… and getting tough feedback while being coached… often comes without the spotlight and applause that they received when they first joined the team.
And it is the same for your team members.
Onboarding and recruitment are exciting – and most organizations take time and make effort to ensure their NEW people feel appreciated and valued and special.
But sometimes in our pursuit of quality new teammates to grow our organization, we neglect to remind those who are already there – the ones putting in work each day – that they are still tremendously valued and appreciated.
And I have shared with many team leaders the same lesson learned as a young coach –
You have to continue to recruit your current people if you want them to stay and feel important and valued.
Even in high school basketball, there were kids (and parents) who would look elsewhere for a “better opportunity” if they didn’t feel they were being developed.
In college, now there is a TRANSFER PORTAL for the same reason.
And in the workplace, the has been a great resignation – where millions of workers have left their job to seek employment where they felt more valued.
SO, how do you recruit your current people to keep them on YOUR team?
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Compensation
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Connection
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Curiosity
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Coaching
Compensation is the easy one that most leaders default to – but it is not always the determining factor for why people stay!
Connection is about two things – connecting them to a compelling common goal that they feel aligns with their values as a meaningful mission… and connecting with and caring about the people they work with every day. That is where corporate teambuilding events can have a positive impact on creating deeper relationships and trust.
Curiosity is where YOU build a personal relationship with the team member to become more than just a faceless employer or manager. Learn about them by caring enough to ask.
You can emphasize that curiosity during one of the most important conversations you can have as a leader – 1-on-1 meetings.
And in those 1 on 1 meetings, after you connect with them personally, you can stay curious and learn about their perception of your workplace culture by asking…
- What do you enjoy about working here?
- What is something that has frustrated you recently?
- What new skill would you like to learn this year?
- If you could wave a wand and change one thing about our organization, what would it be and why?
Coaching is about intentionally developing them and helping them to acquire new skills that will serve them as they continue their careers. Being Coachable is the skill that will help them to build every other one!
And if you focus on those things, you have a great start.
I used to ask my players, and sometimes even myself, “If everything you took for granted was taken away, what would you be left with?”
Have you considered that?
Who on your team feels taken for granted?
The things we don’t appreciate often go away from us…
If you want to continue to grow yourself as a leader – and build a more positive and profitable workplace culture, consider taking 3-5 minutes to take the Effective Leader Team Culture Survey – and find out how YOU might rate your current performance and environment.
It is completely free – and you’ll get the results back immediately ; )
