Pundits have been shouting form the rooftops bemoaning the current skills shortage and grimacing the temerarious Gen Y for what seems like a decade. But despite the jeremiads of some, few organizations have taken steps to develop a useful strategy to diminish the negative impacts on their business.
“70% of organizations cannot point to a specific strategy for long-term employee attraction and maintenance,” the CEO of Executive Wisdom Consulting Group, Ric Willmot observes, “There is no explicit strategy, let alone a budget for managing the people issues within their business.”
Management is always eager to execute a survey, or an analysis and examination every time there is a market correction, or sales figures decline. “The truly successful leaders over the next decade will be those that can see what the competition cannot.” Willmot states that, “If most businesses allocated any reasonable time into considering future people requirements and made it a priority to actually implement a system for attraction and retention, 2008 can be their best year ever.”
In December 2007, The Society for Executive Wisdom conducted a survey of 250 Australian businesses to uncover what, if anything is being implemented to combat the perceived skills shortage and generational challenges of managing employees. The good news is that in the past year 86% of those surveyed have acknowledged retention of staff as a significant issue for their business and have taken specific and identifiable steps to improve what Willmot calls, “people maintenance.”
The downside is that 55% claim to continue having problems in this area; and 68% state quite adamantly that reducing staff turnover is a major priority. Mr. Willmot makes the point of course, that not all staff turnover is a bad thing.
“The crucible for business is forethought,” claims Willmot. “Most businesses are not prepared for the departure of key employees, neither are they considering the true reasons as to why these people are leaving.” The HR Manager of an Executive Wisdom client presumed that people were leaving for more money, promotional opportunities offered elsewhere, or unsatisfactory relationships with direct managers. What Executive Wisdom discovered was something quite different:
1. Poor interpersonal relationships with work colleagues
2. Broken promises of management
3. Lack of cooperation between departments and people
4. Perceived unsatisfactory training and development
5. Boredom in the roles at work
6. Work and tasks that were uninteresting
Willmot advises businesses to:
1. Provide challenging work
2. Opportunities to engage in worthwhile and meaningful training and development
3. Regularly redesign roles to engage, stimulate and satisfy your people
4. Be more flexible in structuring job descriptions on an ongoing basis
5. Improve communication within the all sectors of your organization
6. Improve your induction process for new starts
7. Ensure you collect valid and pertinent data from exit interviews
8. Engage an independent third party to assess the health of your people strategies
Mr. Willmot concluded, “It is a challenge to quantify the adverse impact an unhappy or disenchanted employee will have on morale, customer satisfaction and business performance. However, a one percent decrease in employee attrition would reduce recruitment costs dramatically, as well as increasing overall business effectiveness.”
END END END
The Executive Wisdom Consulting Group
http://www.executivewisdom.com is a consultancy firm dedicated to maximising the profitability of businesses.
Ric Willmot is also the Founder of The Society for Executive Wisdom
http://www.executivewisdomsociety.com, an association of executives, business owners and professional practitioners from varied and diverse industries.
For more information or to obtain an interview, contact Ric Willmot at
ric@executivewisdomsociety.com, or (07)3395-1050.
The Executive Wisdom Consulting Group is holding the “
Psychology of Leadership & Management Program” from May 7-9 on the Gold Coast, QLD to assist business owners, managers and leaders make the most of their opportunities. This three-day program is only offered once a year in Australia and attracts attendees from Australia and New Zealand. Details are available on the website and by contacting the Executive Wisdom Consulting Group on (07) 3395-1050 or e-mail:
info@executivewisdom.com.
**********
Executive Wisdom Consulting Group Press Release
For immediate release
March 3, 2008
For far too long, too many experts have needlessly confused and intimidated novice and seasoned business people alike. Being in business is not about perfection; rather it is about achieving success. Business plans, force-field analysis, strategic planning (which is an oxymoron), and the ubiquitous SWOT analysis are the “holy grail” instruments diagnosed by many consultants, trainers and coaches as the panacea for business improvement.
Exploding the myths of business improvement, the CEO of Executive Wisdom Consulting Group, Ric Willmot observes, “Sophisticated Simplicity Succeeds! It is a clear case of setting a coherent priority for improvement. If everything is a priority, nothing is a priority.”
The amount of diagnosis, analysis and examination that is recommended by pundits causes the instantly recognizable, “Paralysis by Analysis.” Willmot states that, “If most businesses adopted any one or two reasonable steps and made it a priority to actually implement them, 2008 can be their best year ever.”
Here are some key suggestions:
Establish a comprehensive understanding as to why your customers buy from you. Knowing this information will greatly assist in deciding: what to market, to whom, and through which mediums at precise pricing points? And, it only takes ten minutes per day to accumulate this knowledge through having conversations with your customers as they do business with you. Knowing their buying motives provides useful support for strategic decisions.
Mediocrity has become the new benchmark. As customers, we experience it every day in dealing with small and large organizations. This mediocrity proliferates due to customer torpor. Establish high expectations of all internal stakeholders and your business will rapidly stand out from the crowd, providing an immediate and long-lived impact on business results.
Create a mindset of “Possibilities” rather than “Problems.” Many more opportunities will emerge when people within the business are continually seeking them. Business owners, leaders and managers must ask employees to identify and suggest the greatest new opportunities they see for themselves, their team, their clientele and the business as a whole.
Partnering with customers to initiate valuable customer service approaches will ensure transference from convenience of the business to beneficial outcomes and results for the customer. This paradigm shift will generate immeasurable goodwill, customer loyalty through repeat business, and recommendations and referrals to new customers. This will change the performance of staff as well, adding to the overall impetus of improvement for your business.
“Planning and talking do not substitute for action,” Willmot warns. “Meetings to discuss options for business improvement do not produce results. Many meetings end with good feelings, but nothing ever gets done because of them. Business owners, leaders and managers must take action and maintain accountability of themselves and of their employees.”
“Finally,” concludes Willmot, “relax about shortcomings and focus on strengths. No business ever grows substantially by correcting weaknesses, but rather by building upon its strengths.”
END END END
The Executive Wisdom Consulting Group
http://www.executivewisdom.com is a consultancy firm dedicated to maximising the profitability of businesses.
Ric Willmot is also the Founder of The Society for Executive Wisdom
http://www.executivewisdomsociety.com, an association of executives, business owners and professional practitioners from varied and diverse industries.
For more information or to obtain an interview, contact Ric Willmot at
ric@executivewisdomsociety.com, or (07)3395-1050.
The Executive Wisdom Consulting Group is holding the “
Psychology of Leadership & Management Program” from May 7-9 on the Gold Coast, QLD to assist business owners, managers and leaders make the most of their opportunities. This three-day program is only offered once a year in Australia and attracts attendees from Australia and New Zealand. Details are available on the website and by contacting the Executive Wisdom Consulting Group on (07) 3395-1050 or e-mail:
info@executivewisdom.com.
