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     KEYZINE: An e-zine for LEADERS:
   ABOUT THE PEOPLE PART OF BUSINESS
             Volume 17, August 2002
    Publisher: © Key Associates, LLC, 2002
           http://www.mkkey.com

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This Issue is on "Keeping Good People"

Contents:

• What's Hot in Leadership
• Maintaining Yourself as a Leader
• Frequently Asked Questions from Leaders
• Educational Opportunities
• Useful Websites
• Articles/Publications

    
"Nothing happens until something moves."
                                        -Albert Einstein

"What do you have without pride of workmanship?  
Just a job, to get some money.  There's not much 
joy in that."
                                      -W. Edwards Deming

"Have a mind that's open to everything but 
attached to nothing."
                                       -Wayne Dyer

"Life without meaningful work quickly 
collapses into the other aspects of life."
                                        -Goodwill Industries

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WHAT'S HOT IN LEADERSHIP
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RE-RECRUIT THE PEOPLE YOU'VE HIRED.

ASK EARLY; ASK OFTEN--HOW ARE WE
DOING (AS AN EMPLOYER)?

PAY PEOPLE AS WELL AS YOU POSSIBLY 
CAN, THEN GIVE THEM MEANINGFUL 
WORK TO DO.

BECOME THE EMPLOYER-OF-CHOICE,
BY CREATING A CULTURE OF COMMITMENT 
TO CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT.

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MAINTAINING YOURSELF AS A LEADER
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Rather than "fill positions," continuously recruit 
talent from within and without.  Diverse, creative
people that stimulate your thinking and challenge
the status quo.  Go to events and work the crowds.
Pair a potential recruit with a current employee, 
as a cultural mentor.  Ask for employee referrals--
which result in the highest first-year retention rate.  
Create a website with listings.  And stay in 
conversation with employees,  to learn about 
sources of dissatisfaction when it's possible
to remedy them.  Surround yourself with capability
and commitment, and work will be the pleasure
it's meant to be.

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Why continually recruit?

Turnover, not growth, is usually the reason
behind most recruitment pressures.  Turnover is 
very costly--the average company loses $100K
for every managerial employees who leaves.  
Some poor hiring decisions can cost as much as 
five times an employee's salary, in lost productivity,
poor morale, search fees, time to rehire, training
time and alienation of co-workers and customers.  
Best also to re-recruit continually from your internal
labor market. 

Lay-offs are a traumatic experience for everyone.
What are the alternatives?

In my experience, organizations who turned to
their employees for answers when faced with this
decision, came out ahead.  Besides cost-cutting 
ideas, here are some of their alternatives:

-Reducing workweek hours
-Temporary leaves
-Job sharing
-Retraining
-Internal Transfers
-Transferring staff to other companies
-Early retirement with preferential conditions
-Reducing executive compensation
-Voluntary turnover
-Employee buy-outs of the company
-Partnering with government agencies and professional
societies to find jobs for displaced employees
-Not renewing temporary contractors or consultants
-Providing seed funds for new business ideas

What about poor performers?

Provide feedback and ask WHY.  Create an
action plan that gives them a way to improve
and take action if things aren't working.  Give 
them help in finding a FIT, even if it's outside
your organization.  What's in a FIT?  Values,
work ethic, strengths, interests, and personality.

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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
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CAN YOU NAME THE FACTORS THAT RANK
HIGHER THAN PAY, IN EMPLOYEE 
SATISFACTION SURVEYS?

-The opportunity to produce quality work.
-A sense of accomplishment, performing well.
-The chance to accomplish something worthwhile.
-Recognition from peers, senior management.
-The opportunity to learn new things, develop new skills.
-The amount of freedom.
-Career advancement.
-"Feeling my work is important."

Join us in learning how to Create an Environment
for Success by Architecting Culture.
(http://www.mkkey.com/Key Associates/ArchitectingCulture.htm)

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OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES 
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Do you know what attracts people to your organization?  
And why they leave? Study your unique qualities as
an employer.  Visit Employee Attraction & Retention Analysis.
(www.mkkey.com/Key Associates/EmployeeAttractionRetention.htm)

Visit www.shrm.org - Meetings, seminars, publications 
from the Society for Human Resource Management.

Before you recruit, visit http://hr.monster.com.au/articles/7126/.

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ARTICLES/PUBLICATIONS                              
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(These are recent, highly-rated books from Amazon.com.
I have provided links--you be the judge on content.)

Alrichs, Nancy S.  Competing for Talent: Key Recruitment 
and Retention Strategies for Becoming an Employer 
of Choice, 2000.

Branham, F. Lee.  Keeping the People Who Keep You 
in Business: 24 Ways to Hang on to Your Most 
Valuable Talent, 2000.

Carter, John & Schreyer, Ray.  Recruit & Retain The Best,
2000.

Kaye, Beverly & Jordan-Evans, Sharon.  
Love 'Em Or Lose 'Em: Getting Good People to Stay,
1999.

Harris, Jim & Brannick, Joan.  Finding and Keeping 
Great Employees, 2000.

Harvard Business Review.  Harvard Business Review 
on Finding & Keeping the Best People, 2001.

Herman, Roger E.  Keeping Good People: Strategies 
for Solving the #1 Problem in Business Today, 1999.

Herman, Roger E.  & Gioia, Joyce L.  How to 
Become an Employer of Choice. 2000.

Michaels, Ed,  Handfield-Jones, Helen, & Axelrod, Beth.
The War for Talent, 2001.