If someone asked you what the number one most important
indicator is for recruiting and retaining top talent, what would you say? Good
pay? Great benefits? Time off? Flexible schedules? While these are all
contributors to a great overall package, the number one necessary element is actually
meaningful work.
At the LinkedIn Talent Connect conference I attended in San
Francisco, this was a theme that continued to appear through the course of the
three-day event, and I found this concept to be really interesting to explore,
so I chose if for my #5 big take away from Talent Connect. You can see my
previous Top 3 take always on my blog at www.highgearcareer.blogspot.com
I wanted to write specifically about this topic because I
think that meaningful work can happen in a few different ways, and sometimes I
think that people can find it challenging to connect their day job (manager’s
included) to something that would be
meaningful or inspiring. So, below I have listed a couple different ways to be
able to create meaningful work regardless of what your day job is.
1. Create meaningful work by setting specific
learning objectives with your job.
Co-founder of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman,
recently authored a talent management strategy he calls The Alliance. In this method he addresses how to keep your
employees engaged for periods of time or “tours of duty” by openly discussing
their long-term goals, which may not be inclusive of a long-term career with
the company. However, in order to keep them engaged in achieving the goals of
the company, the manager and employee discuss what professional development
goals can be achieved during the designated tour. This is a great tactic
because the company wins the loyalty and productive efforts of an employee for
a designated period of time, and the employee gets to create new opportunities
for themselves by exploring new skill areas: win-win for everyone.
2. Create meaningful work by leveraging your company’s
resources to achieve your personal goals.
Matthew Kelly explained how a waste
management company effectively used company resources to help employees achieve
personal goals in his 2007 book, Dream
Manager. After realizing the significant challenges and expenses accrued
with the high turn-over rate in his company, the team in his company conducted
some research around why people were leaving. When they discovered that the
reason people left could easily be remedied with a minimal investment by the
company things started changing.
It all started with a simple survey and a
bus. By alleviating the cost associated with the drive to the plant by
providing a bus to shuttle employees in, the leadership learned they could
retain workers who were otherwise put out by that expense. First the company
providing a bussing service, then financial counseling. Before too long,
employees were achieving personal goals like homeownership. How was this
possible? The management in this story noticed that through the investment in a
full-time employee (the Dream Manager)to help employees achieve their personal
goals that retention improved, turnover reduced, and productivity sky-rocketed.
While not every company may have a dream
manager on their staff, this story has become widespread in talent management
circles, and employers are becoming increasingly aware that offering this type
of benefit provides massive returns on the investment.
What if your company does not offer a dream
manager? Well, then it leaves more responsibility on the individual to seek out
resources. If your company is not in the habit of offering these types of
programs, see if there is an opportunity to mentor underneath a manager who
could unofficially provide you with the right guidance to help in a similar
way.
In my career I have been fortunate enough
to connect with some incredible talented professionals, but it has never been
as a result of my working for a company with a Dream Manager type of program,
but rather it has been as the result of my persistence to learn more and be the
best at what I do. People want to help hungry people. It doesn’t matter if you’re
hungry for a sandwich or starving for information, people want to help others,
and if you reach out, I promise you will find people interested in sharing.
3. Create meaningful work by connecting to
your company’s mission.
This is kind of a no-brainer, which
is why I saved it for the last point. While, in theory, it’s ideal to only
accept jobs in organizations where you share a mission or common vision, let’s
be real. Sometimes in life you accept jobs for other reasons: maybe it’s for
the money, maybe you are geographically tied to an area.
When I lived in San Diego, I spent
some time working for a health clinic, and there were a number of people who worked
there who conveyed the importance of the work we did as an attractor for
employment. Many long-term employees had been recipients of care at the clinics
as children, and several times when people left, they would immediately want to
return.
Sharing a mission has the direct
benefit of essentially finding joy in your work because you understand that
while your role may not be directly deploying the mission of the company, it
contributes to that greater work being accomplished.
I hope you’ve been able to find a way to create meaningful work
for yourself or your employees. If you found any recommendations useful, please
feel free to let me know.
Check back tomorrow for Take Away #6
