PIHRA Scope - Spring 2008 - (Page 20) SHORTAGE continued from page 19 Is your workplace one where people want to work? Is your lunchroom bright and pleasant? Do you make small gestures like providing snacks in the break room? Welcoming workplaces are celebratory environments where people are the focus. Birthdays and other significant events should be remembered and acknowledged formally or informally. These are the small things that have big payoffs. When people know that their managers care about them and their lives, they are more willing to invest in the work and the company. Welcoming workplaces are characterized by open communication that flows up and down. Employees want to be able to voice their suggestions, bright ideas and concerns. Companies that have regular staff meetings where employees have time to question, discuss and share are typically more successful than those that do not. These companies emphasize what is most important—listening and learning from the people who do the work. Strategy #5: Coach and mentor Coaching and mentoring are performance management tools that should be used with all employees, new or old. Use these tools with new employees to get them in sync with the work and the workplace. Assign a mentor to new hires to help them learn about the job, the industry and the company. Making people feel welcome extends to providing them with a mentor as soon as they come on board and using this mentoring system immediately connects new hires to the company. They have an instant support system that they can turn to with questions and concerns. This is a simple retention strategy that keeps human connections growing in the company. Coaching helps employees, regardless of their tenure with the company, to reach their fullest potential. It cannot be assumed that managers know how to coach—most need to be taught. The DRAW Model is an easy-to-use approach. The first step, “Distinguish & Define,” focuses on creating clarity about the relationship. 20 PIHRAScope 323077_HR_Contract.indd 1 Spring 2008 3/13/07 2:03:34 PM In this step, the coach identifies who will be coached and why. Coaching should be used to reinforce positive behavior and correct negative behavior. In the second step, “Relate & Route,” the employee and his (or her) coaching mentor begin to build bridges with one another. Creating a human connection is vital to successful coaching relationships. The more the coach and the employee can relate to one another, the better the relationship will be. During the third step, “Address & Assess,” the coach gets to the nuts and bolts of dealing with performance issues. When the coach is using this model to reinforce, this step is used to highlight best practices that the employee can use to continue making great strides. When the coach is using this model to remedy performance problems, the issues must be clearly defined and a plan must be created to address them. The final step, “Work & Weigh,” occurs as the employee works on the plan created in the prior step. The coach is there to support and guide as the employee works on improving performance and productivity. Coaching and mentoring establish sustainable partnerships. They create a higher level of connectedness that keep people invested in the work and workplace. They also create more opportunities for dialogue throughout the enterprise. The effects of the labor shortage are becoming evident. There are fewer wellqualified people for the available jobs. We have a large graying population rapidly nearing retirement. These realities make it important for employers to use creative staffing strategies. They must also be focused on retaining talent within the company. These mandates make it essential for leaders to be conscious of culture and environment as they are determinants of employee satisfaction. Wise leaders will put forth the extra effort to create a welcome workplace that attracts and keeps the very best talent. ■ Joanne Smikle is an author, consultant and speaker specializing in leadership development. Visit www.smiklespeaks.com to read more articles on current business topics. Smikle can be reached at (301) 596-3140. http://www.hrcs.com http://www.smiklespeaks.com
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