The BIGG Successs Show
Engaging Your Employees
The three R's of employee engagement: recruitment, retention, and recognition. We talk with Karen and Larry of Leadership & Organization Solutions. Find a written summary of today's show, and a link to Karen & Larry's site at BIGGSUCCESS.COM.We have an exciting announcement – we have our first product! After
many months, we have a CD available to help you find and keep great
employees. It’s our first installment (but there will be more) in The Bigg Success Show Expert Sessions.
>> Welcome to the Big Success Show. Today, we'll talk about engaging your employees. >> The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. >> That sounds pretty engaging, Mary Lynn. >> Shall we engage? >> Well, we were engaged, then we got married. >> That's true. >> We know we're doing something new here at the Big Success Show today. We actually have a product available now. It's part of our Big Success Show expert sessions. >> That's right, and in just a little bit, we'll tell you how to get your hands on this fantastic session. We talked with Karen Evenson and Larry Kameen, the owners of Leadership and Organization Solutions, a consulting firm that focuses on strategic leadership and organizational development for both small and large businesses, nationally and internationally. Karen is also the author of Redefining Fear, maximizing limited resources with unlimited ideas. >> And Karen and Larry, they're amazingly bright. They've got a lot of fantastic ideas, and what we want to do today is just share a little bit of the conversation that you can hear on the CD. They talked about the three levels with which you should engage your employees and the three R's of employee engagement. >> The first R is recruitment and Larry emphasized that you can't wait until you hire a candidate to engage them. Here's a clip from the CD. >> What Karen and I talk about is the fact that that engagement process starts at the very beginning from the very first interaction with that potential employee, with that candidate that you're bringing in, and the engagement works from both sides. It's about the company engaging that employee and/or that potential employee, and that candidate being engaged by the company as well. So we do that from a company perspective by being honest up front about job requirements and what the expectations are going to be and really laying those out for that employee so that they know when they come in, what they're stepping into. And so that that job is exactly what we told them it was in that interview process. >> Boy, that's a great point, Mary Lynn. And on the CD, Larry goes on to give a great tip to get candidates involved in your organization even before you make the hiring decision. >> Like we said, these two are bright. And the second R is retention. Karen stressed the importance of questioning your employees and really listening to them. So let's listen in. >> One of the first things we say with retention is that we have to be honest, how many people are going to be long-term and short-term. A lot of the younger employees don't feel necessarily that once I join a company, then I'm going to stay there for life. But what we know is for retention, we want to get the best from that person for whatever amount of time that they have. So really with retention, I think the two words that stand the most are, ask your employees what it is that they're looking for, listen to it, then respond to that. You can't give them everything all the time. But if you're not even listening to what it is that is meaningful to them, what motivates them, what skills and talents that they have, you're not going to be very good at keeping those highly productive employees. So in the retention, it's really utilizing talents and skills appropriately, getting input and then the other big part of it is empowering people to do their jobs, allow them to make the appropriate decisions and really engaging them throughout their entire work history with you. - You can check out the CD to find out what Karen and Larry have learned from talking to thousands of employees, and that will help you keep your valuable employees longer. - And coming up, the third are of employee engagement. - Today, we're sharing highlights from our first big success show, Expert Sessions. And our experts in this session were Karen Evenson and Larry Kameen, the owners of leadership and organization solutions. We've heard two of the R's of employee engagement. The third R is recognition. - In our session, Larry shared the problem with one size fits all recognition programs. And here's a little of what he told us. - The first key thing to understand about recognition and reward is that one size doesn't fit all. And we see many, many companies that put what they'll call recognition or reward programs in place. And the only problem with those programs is that there's a single method, typically, or two or three methods for rewarding employees. And what we know is that we don't all like the same things, that the same things don't make us want to do more or better work. So we need to ask people in those discussions that we're having with them in development discussions, when we have a chance to talk to people, ask them, what is it that motivates you? Ask them to define reward. Ask them to define being recognized, and then we can start to tailor that for them. - Now, in the full session, Karen and Larry discuss how to set up reward programs to help you meet your goals without, this is important, without, busting your budget. - What budget? And you'll also learn the most powerful motivator in recognition. - It's amazing. It's an intangible that's just surprisingly inexpensive. - Now, Karen and Larry, like we said earlier, have a wealth of information, and they've got wonderful personalities, too. We so enjoy talking with them. Find out how you can get them to present to your company or consult with your organization by visiting their site, betterLOS.com. - One of the biggest challenges that we often hear from many of the people in our audience who manage and lead employees is, it's just really tough to find and keep great people. And that's really the whole benefit, I think, of this expert session is there some invaluable thought starters on how to do it. - All in under 20 minutes. And we've got a link on our site today where you can get your hands on this fantastic CD. You'll find it a big success. That's big with 2G, success.com. That's also where we have a written summary of today's show. - Next time we ask, what do entrepreneurs have in common with toilet paper? - They're both squeezable. - We'll see. - All right, until then, here's to your big success. - The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com. (upbeat music) [Music]