A few weeks ago my scientist friend Marlene called me.
She was about to make an
offer to a candidate to join her toxicology team and
she wanted to know how to
proceed. She was very excited about the unique
contribution to their research
that this young scientist stood to make.
“Should I let the human resources
manager make the call?” she asked.
“No,” I replied, “why
let her have all the fun. You do it. People love to be
told they are needed
and what better time than now when you’re
making him an offer.” Marlene
did make the offer (in person - the best strategy when
you can) and it was accepted.
Both employer and employee feel great about such a
good start.
Feeling good about Marlene’s new hire, I
was left with my own words ringing
in my head
“People love to be told
they are needed.”
They just don’t need to be told when
they’re hired, they need
to be told frequently. That’s right! There
is nothing you can do
to hold on to your employees that is more effective
than sincere words of praise
when appropriate (and that’s probably
more times than we think!) These
words make people feel appreciated and wanted, a
crucial reason to stay with
your company.
Besides rereading your tattered copy of
“The One Minute Manager”
(see below), here are some tips you can employ right
away to get the message
to your staff. . .
Constant
contact
I had a manager once tell me, “You will
never have to wait for a
performance review to see how you’re
doing. You’ll get constant
feedback from me on what’s going right and
what needs to be improved.
You’ll always know where you
stand.” And I did always know.
His criticisms were prompt and constructive
and his praise was sincere
and oftentimes shared with fellow employees. He
was a very good manager and
I enjoyed every minute of working on his team. I got
many calls from recruiters
while I was with that company but I was never even
tempted to jump ship.
Praise for the little
things
You don’t have to wait until your sales guy
hits his quota levels or
makes President’s Club to tell him
he’s doing a fine job. If your
staff have a great phone technique or a special way
of getting prospects to
engage in the sales process, tell them. If
your Director of Marketing
is constantly coming in under budget and on-time
with marketing projects,
thank her for her diligence.
A note of
thanks
When was the last time you picked up pen and
paper (and maybe even used a
stamp!) to thank someone for something. If you
write it, I guarantee it won’t
get tossed in the trash. We have notes from clients
and candidates on our
bulletin board that go back years. Committing
yourself to the written word
is a great thing!
We often write here about the mechanics of
finding and hiring great employees,
and absolutely, process is important. But, all of your
hard work in bringing
quality people on board can be lost in a
heartbeat if you don’t
pay attention to the human side of the
equation. In all the years I’ve
been recruiting, I’ve never had a candidate
say to me, “The people
I work with love me and the work I do, and they
thank me constantly. I feel
very appreciated. Can you help me find a way out of
the company?”
Above
all, remember “you’ve gotta have
heart—miles and miles and
miles of heart” Words of praise and
recognition have to come from
inside and ring sincerely. For most of us, we feel it
but don’t say
it. Or, we think we can’t say it right. So
we just forget about it.
Don’t do that. You may feel awkward but Nike
has the right idea –
JUST DO IT! You’ll be surprised how
easy it is (and, it gets easier!).
When it comes to holding on to your staff,
there’s no stronger glue
than steady appreciation.
Do you have something special that you do to
recognize your employees? Click
here and share it!
