Strategic HR

Recruiting, Retention and Employee Engagement

Strategic HR people know that it’s a waste to pretend toward a recruiting strategy without a retention strategy … and that both are driven by the fundamental character of the organization and it’s leaders.

This becomes a problem because of change: changing attitudes of young workers, globalization and competition, aging work force with changing work/life demands; volatile economies, etc.

Strategic HR has now become, in many ways, social marketing, branding the organization as an Employer of Choice. This involves a view of HR marketing as engaging a person and valuing the buy-in decision for an employee’s engagement.

All purchase is risk. Just as the hiring decision entails risk, buying-in to a job is a risky commitment. To minimize risk, perfect relationships involve matching expectations and commitments – do your commitments to me match my expectations of you; do your expectations match my commitments. Managing the relationship involves attending to this getting-giving compact continually.

One change I’ve seen in my work: it was common to see one-way top-down client communications: inform, educate, persuade and reassure; now sophisticated clients understand effective leadership involves practice intended to: engage, listen, dialogue and synthesize.

Focus group research with your people allows you to develop an integrated picture of your staff, their commitment, their engagement. Focus groups use depth interviewing to probe the meanings and motivations that shape the attitudes and behaviors that drive your organization. The group process helps bring out and articulate conflict and consensus. The objective, independent interviewer has no bias to bring to these proceedings, creating a safe place to bring up trust issues and other potentially dangerous matters.

Focus groups are about the stories that make up your collective working life. Stories matter.

My job is to build on your strength so that your story matters most.