Re-enlistment Bonus

While many leaders lament the difficulty of recruiting new talent for their team, I often think we neglect the equally important task of retaining those we have. We tend to put so much into recruitment pitches, job fairs, job announcements, headhunters, etc. -- but we forget the people that we already have -- and watch them go out the door.

Some estimates put the cost of replacing an employee at 150% of that employee's salary (see Cost of Employee Turnover). Factors such as lost sales, recruitment costs, training, and decreased efficiency all add up -- big time. This can be even higher for management, sales, or very technical positions.

The Army recognized the importance of retention in its balanced approach to increasing troop strength to meet the demands it faces around the world. Recruitment of new troopers (see the Army Strong campaign) is critical. We must have new Soldiers committed to service and willing to join the Army at its lowest ranks. We must also have those that are already in uniform -- stay. And they must stay at a higher rate in order to meet the goals of the larger force.

How is it going? The pictures at the top are from the largest military re-enlistment ceremony in history. General David Petreaus presided over this ceremony on July 4th, 2008 at Al Faw Palace in Baghdad, Iraq. Thousands of young (and some probably not so young) troopers raised their hands and said, "I'm committed to what I am doing...I want to stay."

What does it take to ensure that capable talent stays?

-- A sense of purpose. People want to be a part of something important. If we can convince them that what we are doing as a team is important...and that their contribution to the mission is valued...they will stay.

-- An opportunity for growth. Teammates want to know that their is a pathway for them to progress in the organization. They want to know that they can expect to be trained, to have opportunities for promotion and development, and that there is no limit to the potential for their advancement. If they believe it...and see it in role models around them...they will stay.

-- Good leadership. More than half of our employees will leave because they don't like their supervisors. This should be enough for all of us to strive to be the role model, the mentor, the leader that will be the reason people will stay. We must also ensure we are providing adequate training to our supervisors to help ensure they are not the reason people leave. It should be no surprise that this many troopers wanted General Petraeus to personally re-enlist them. Good leadership will make a difference...and they will stay.

-- Help people find the right fit. Many people will re-enlist if they have an opportunity for a different job. One of the options in Army re-enlistment is to select the assignment or the specialty of choice. Leaders must recognize that often we must be flexible in meeting the needs of good people. To borrow from author Jim Collins -- if they are on the right bus, but not in the right seat...help them move.

-- Use incentives. Note that I put this last in this list. Incentives are important but generally not enough to tip the scales and prevent someone from leaving. But it is something to keep in the tool kit and be able to apply for those who are close and help push them over the top. Incentives such as a re-enlistment bonus, education opportunities and benefits, considerations to help meet work/life balance, adjustments to salary, are all available and are generally going to be considerably less costly than finding and training a new hire.

While I have been pushing my HR staff to recruit new employees to meet our increased work load, I have been working this retention piece even harder. I tell my staff that it is my intention that they stay with us for the rest of their lives. I make it clear that I will never, never, never let them leave me! I will do anything I have to do to help them decide to stay. (The exception to this, of course, is if they are not worth keeping...then I will help them pack!). I believe the result of these efforts is a workforce that knows they are valued, who will work their tails off to see the organization succeed, and when faced with the decision to stay or to leave...they will stay. That's the re-enlistment bonus. And that's Leader Business.

Battlefield Circulation (Part III)

Battlefield circulation is regular movement within the leader’s area of operations designed to improve communication and enhance the situational awareness of the leader and those he or she leads. It is a combination of random visits and a well-planned, disciplined travel and meeting schedule that positions the leader, in the right place and at the right time, to influence the battle. Battlefield circulation is Leader Business.

This is the third in a series about battlefield circulation. Part I introduced the concept, Part II showed what it looked like and what could be gained – both by the leader and by the rest of the team. (BTW -- the man in the picture above is General Lynch, who I described in Part II as the best "battlefield circulator" I have known.) Part III will highlight some key techniques and considerations for making battlefield circulation part of our daily routines.

-- Get personal. Find out what makes people tick. Ask about their families and outside interests. Ask about their goals and dreams. Know what problems your teammates face and try to help overcome them. Connect with people and let them know that you care.

-- Visit teammates on their “turf.” Assess performance, productivity, and working conditions first-hand. Look for emerging leaders. Conduct performance counseling and give feedback. Determine for yourself if projects are being completed on schedule and within budget. See if team members have the tools to do what is asked of them. Rather than asking people to come to your office to make a presentation, tell them you will come to their area instead. Go sit in a few classrooms. Spend some time in the kitchen or behind the register. Go out on the road with the sales staff. Move out of your comfort zone and into theirs.

-- Conduct a “Vision check-up.” Ensure everyone on the team understands your “big picture.” Assess whether goals, objectives, and individual tasks are aligned with what you are trying to do. See if people “get” what you are trying to do – and if they do so with the same passion that you have when you share it.

-- Meet with key customers. As a school principal these may be 10-20 students representing the demographics of the student body. As a church leader consider your members as customers - get out and meet them, again on their turf. In business these may be board members or major shareholders. Take some time, if you have not already, to put together a list of current and prospective customers and include them in your circulation pattern. Are you satisfying them? Are they thrilled with your product and your performance?

-- Spend some time with the lowest private, the new team member, and the rank-and-file workers. How is their morale? Do they have what they need to do their jobs? Ask the line workers for feedback on your “great ideas.” Few will hesitate to tell you exactly what they think. Gauge for yourself how communication flows in your organization. Ask the new employees what they know about where you are headed organizationally.

-- Take someone with you. While there are often good reasons to meet with people one-on-one, balance this by including others with you while you visit with the team. You are not the only one who needs enhanced situational awareness. In the military, there is no substitute for taking the supply officer down to the front lines to hear directly from the troops what they think about the “chow” or the flow of ammunition to help them understand the importance of their staff function. Who can you take with you to the field on your next visit? Whose professional development can you enhance by getting exposure to your leadership and seeing what you see when you circulate the battlefield?

-- Don’t do all the talking. Ask questions but listen intently to the answers. Write down what you learn and share it with the rest of your team. Your situational awareness is best enhanced by letting your customers, stakeholders, subordinate leaders, and employees talk about their needs and their accomplishments.

-- Stay balanced. Don’t take battlefield circulation to the extreme. If you are always on the road and never sleeping in your own bed - watch out. Maintain balance between your time in your office and out walking around. Keep a pulse on your physical, mental, spiritual, and family health. Many are the potholes that threaten the “road warrior” doing well-intended travel across the battlefield. Be where you need to be, when you need to be there, to influence key events and key leaders and to enhance your own situational awareness - but keep it in balance.

-- Always have a few briefings “in the can” and ready to go. Be ready to meet with a new client or customer while on the road. Have your vision, quarterly and annual performance reports, and future plans stored in your laptop and ready to go for use during employee town hall meetings or discussions with key leaders.

-- Catch people in the act of doing something good. So much of leadership is about who we can influence, who we can motivate, who we can touch in a positive way. Keep some small tokens or on-the-spot awards in your briefcase or “ammo pouch.” Spend time saying “thank you,” “well done,” or “you’re doing a terrific job.” One small “attaboy” from the boss down on the line, on the shop floor, in the classroom, or in the heat of battle, will not only influence the morale of your “troops,” it may determine the outcome of the battle.

Battlefield circulation is a disciplined activity. It is too easy to get sucked into the office and never leave. Leaders must be disciplined to prioritize where they need to be and to know when they need to be there. We must be conscious of how much time we are spending behind our computer versus quality time out with the troops. Note that in the business world it is commonly called management by “walking around,” not “wandering around!” Some of it is random. Most of it is deliberate movement based on a sense of where presence is required, where communication can be enhanced, and where direct influence is needed.

There is no substitute for being seen. Leadership is about influencing people, inspiring them to levels of greatness that they never thought possible. It’s about being genuinely interested in people and investing the time and energy in enabling their success. This sort of thing does not happen by email. Nope – we’ve got to be there. Let's all make a point to get out of our cubicles and get out with the troops. That’s Leader Business!

----------------------------------

***If you want to learn more about the business of leaders or want to be a regular reader of Leader Business, please go to the section marked "Receive Leader Business Updates in your Mailbox" in the upper right corner of this site!

Battlefield Circulation (Part II)

Battlefield circulation is the regular movement within the leader’s area of operations designed to enhance situational awareness -- both of the leader and those he or she leads (see Battlefield Circulation Part I for an introduction to this topic). It is not random visits (although these have a place in maintaining contact and regular, open communications within the team) but rather a well-planned, disciplined travel and meeting schedule that positions the leader, in the right place and at the right time, to influence the battle. Battlefield circulation is Leader Business.

General Rick Lynch was the best I’ve seen at battlefield circulation. He entered his headquarters early in the morning for an update on the current operations and the events of the evening. Each subordinate staff representative briefed him until he had a complete understanding of the friendly and enemy situation. He then spent an hour or so with his planning staff, discussing future operations, at his level about 48-72 hours in the future. He gave them guidance on how he wanted to fight the next battle and how he envisioned the battle after that, outlining very clearly his vision, his intent, and specific tasks that he expected to be completed prior to his return.

With that complete, he was free to circulate. He moved from subordinate unit to subordinate unit, talking to leaders one and two levels below his and spot-checking with the privates and sergeants down where the rubber met the road. “How is your family? What’s on your mind? How was the current battle going? Do you have all the troops and equipment you need to be successful? What do you think about the plans for the next battle? Do you understand the big picture and how your unit’s success contributes to the overall organization vision? Have you heard about the successes and failures in the unit on your flank? How can you apply their lessons learned? What additional guidance do you need from me while I am here? Do you have any heroes I can personally recognize for their contribution while I am here?”

When he was done and before he moved to another unit he would call back to his headquarters. “Any updates? Here is what I learned from this unit - please share this information with the rest of the team. This is the feedback I got from their leadership about future operations and how I think we should modify our plans to include their recommendations. Do you have anything for me? OK - got it.”

Wow! Look at what is gained from just this brief period of interaction with the team:

· Teammates who know that their leader cares for them and is working to maintain open communication channels.
· Immediate decisions, made closest to those who will have to implement them.
· A full understanding of personnel, equipment, and other resource issues.
· A true learning organization.
· A shared vision.
· An empowered staff, armed with enough guidance to accomplish their tasks and with enough situational awareness to make their products relevant.

Does this sound like something you need in your “outfit?” Is it time to get out of your office and start circulating the battlefield? What is stopping you? Take action – today!

Battlefield circulation is…Leader Business!

Battlefield Circulation (Part I)

The leader goes where he can best influence the battle, where his moral and physical presence can be felt, and where his will to achieve victory can best be expressed, understood, and acted upon.
Army Field Manual 100-5

Routinely while serving as a trainer at the Army's National Training Center (NTC), otherwise very capable combat leaders would express to me their challenges with maintaining good situational awareness about what was happening on the battlefield. They would be especially frustrated that subordinate leaders were not communicating to them what they needed, when they needed it and that critical issues were elevated to their level when it was too late to influence the outcome. These leaders consistently felt like they were not connected with their troops and knew they were not effectively leading their unit.

Their problem, shared by so many leaders, was that they were tied to their command post. They allowed themselves to be bound to their desk and tried to lead through email and secondhand information, instead of directly influencing leaders and their actions. They lacked an understanding of their area of operations and the challenges that their soldiers were having -- information that should have been gained first-hand through direct observation and face-to-face dialogue.

What they lacked, in military terms, was an understanding of the importance of “battlefield circulation.” In business circles it is often referred to as “managing by wandering around.” I have found that it is that essential leadership activity of getting out from behind the desk and getting out in the field that so often is the difference between effective and ineffective leaders.

Routinely, I saw leaders at the NTC struggling with issues such as why their plans were not completed as intended, why their troops could not embrace and execute their vision, and why it was so difficult to communicate critical information in a timely manner. And yet these were the leaders who were unable to separate themselves from the comfort of their headquarters. In business or in combat, regular “battlefield circulation” is guaranteed to enhance productivity and increase every leader’s probability of success.

Very few combat leaders are successful without regularly moving to a vantage point with a clear view of the battlefield, close enough to gauge first-hand the sights and sounds of warfare, talking to subordinate leaders and their soldiers, looking them in the eye, finding out, for one’s self, answers to questions such as: Are they afraid? Do they have what they need to be successful? Do they understand the plan? Do they understand their opponent? Have they accounted for risks? These are personal observations that cannot be gained from a PowerPoint presentation, in a conference call, or in an email.

Battlefield circulation is regular movement within the leader’s area of operations designed to enhance the situational awareness of the leader and those he or she leads. It stems from a desire to be with the troops, to be near the action, to be in the fight. Battlefield circulation, when done correctly, is not just random movement but a series of well-planned, disciplined movement and meeting schedules that position the leader, in the right place and at the right time, to influence the battle.

In business, battlefield circulation means going down to the shop floor, talking to the maintenance and production crews. It demands that leaders get out in the field with the sales staff; spend some time with the men and women in Research & Development (R&D); see what the marketing folks are up to; meet teammates on their turf; talk to customers. It means getting off our butts and getting out there with the troops!

Is this a common practice? Unfortunately it is increasingly less so. Too many leaders never leave their office or cubicle. We do too much email and too little direct communication. We let things come to us instead of intuitively knowing where the action is...and being there to help. We become slaves to our schedules instead of purposefully scheduling movements that will increase our interactions with others and enhance our situational awareness and increase our effectiveness.

Let's start to turn this around. Let's get out and start circulating the battlefield. This is Leader Business.

---------------------------------------------

For more on this discussion read Part II here (see what it looks like and what can be gained from battlefield circulation) and Part III here (some techniques and key considerations).

***If you want to learn more about the business of leaders or want to be a regular reader of Leader Business, please go to the section marked "Receive Leader Business Updates in your Mailbox" in the upper right corner of this site!

Pain at the Pump

I paid $4.50 for a gallon of gas today. Depending on where you live, and when you read this post, this may be high or low compared to your own experiences. But we can be sure of one thing: the cost of transportation to and from work is becoming an increasingly important factor to our employees. And they are making decisions accordingly. That makes it Leader Business.

A recent article in the Vancouver Sun gives some insights to the concerns of American workers. Read it here and consider that this data likely applies to your teammates, especially if your workplace is in a high cost of living area or one in which the drive to work has a major impact on quality of life.

Some of the statistics that jumped out at me included:

-- 44% of respondents to a recent survey have changed their work arrangements or commuting habits.
-- 33% have chosen to do more telecommuting
-- 30% are looking for work closer to home
-- 26% are working fewer days

I am confident that this data represents a cross-section of my own workforce. And thus nearly a third of my team may be looking for work closer to their homes! That is definitely cause for concern.

I have informed my leaders that all options for improving employee quality of life and helping employees deal with these high gas prices are on the table. I have empowered them to make decisions on alternate work arrangements, as long as it does not impact on mission accomplishment. Those decisions about win/win alternatives (win for the employee / win for the organization) are left to the supervisor.

Granted, all options regarding flexible work are not available for everyone (steelworkers won't be able to work from home, for example!), but there likely is something that can be done for every worker to improve their quality of life and lessen the impact of high fuel prices. Some of these measures include:

-- Options for telework or work from home
-- Alternate work schedules
-- Alternate work sites
-- Subsidies for mass transit
-- Scheduling shifts around rush hour to avoid wasted time in traffic
-- Ride sharing programs
-- Increasing mileage reimbursement rate
-- Increasing salaries

Know that these are the thoughts going through our employees' heads. They are talking to their friends and comparing options. Eventually they will tell us that this is important to them. We just don't want to hear it for the first time during the exit interview! At that point, the cost of hiring and training someone new will pale in comparison to what could have been done to retain a good worker during these difficult times.

Be flexible, be creative, and look for ways that accomplish the mission while taking care of the team. Look for win/win. Empower leaders to make decisions regarding these things, at their level, consistent with company policies. Be proactive and have this discussion with your employees. Let them know you are willing to listen to all reasonable options.

That's Leader Business.

Photo courtesy of www.urbanadventours.com/blog

Diamonds in the Rough

I saw this on a great blogsite that I read and thought it should be shared for its leadership lessons. Watch this and think about those "diamonds in the rough" that you work with:



This guy ended up winning the competion (Britain's Got Talent)! Amazing!

Now...who on your team is waiting to be discovered? Who just needs someone to believe in them? Who has potential that perhaps is just waiting to break through?

My guess is that we've all got these sorts of "diamonds in the rough" in each of our respective organizations. Use this as an opportunity to invest in others...and to see them not only as they are...but as they could be! Hooah!