Page 80 - FDI Alliance International Magazine Summer 2020 Digital Interactive Issue

IT IS WHAT IT IS

Tired of hearing about the “new normal” yet. I like to call it, “It is what it is!” → Solution: Talent Engagement Cycle
A coaching buddy of mine introduced me to the concept. Today Matters! Is your talent engagement cycle flawless? Will it attract the right talent?
Will it attract entrepreneurs? Do you even have a talent plan? How is your
→ Failing Forward plan impacting your corporate culture? How would employees define your
My point is that every minute, hour, day, week, month, and year brings us a culture (NOT your vision/mission—NOPE)? How are you engaging with up
new normal. Those same timeframes also give us a new opportunity to have to five generations in your workplace?
a fresh start. Of course, if you overuse your fresh starts, you start spinning like
a tornado. It’s okay to fail, fail fast or fail forward, but failure is not a goal or The five stages in the cycle are self-engagement, pre-engagement, on-
direction to go. Certainly, the businesses and site selectors represented in this engagement, in-engagement, and re-engagement. Prospective employees
magazine know that all too well. It is what it is! and current employees can come in and out at various points along the
way.
Let’s be honest. How many of us have successfully carried out a New Year’s
resolution to its satisfactory conclusion? I’ve heard some research say that The talent engagement cycle I’ve developed begins with self-engagement.
the vast majority of resolutions are blown out of the water by January 21. One of my key themes for my speaking engagements is “Put YOUR Oxygen
So, we’ve all failed. Fortunately, we have many opportunities outside of the Mask On First”. If your employees are not growing in their leadership,
new year to find out if “it is what it is.” Just do not overuse those re-starts. regardless of where they fit on the food chain, you are doing a dis-service
to your business and your employees. Corporate culture relies heavily on
→ Can we “birth away” a workforce shortage? employee engagement and their desire to come to work every day with
An “old normal” that could very well come back into our lives and haunt passion for what they do. Simon Sinek in his two “Why” books, Start With
us again in the next six to twelve months is talent attraction and retention Why and Find Your Why, helps us to better understand that why. Are you
challenges. Remember those?!?! Incredibly low unemployment across playing just to win or are you elevating to a more worldly view and focus?
the international economy combined with lower birth rates is a recipe for Has your business developed their why?
catastrophe. That’s what we were talking about as recently as February
2020. Once you have established an “inside-out” philosophy with your team (i.e.
employees) we move into pre-engagement. Essentially that is defining and
In my community, even if all of the graduates stayed, we would not hit the living your corporate culture. Your “why”, as Simon Sinek would say. Why
employer needs with the silver tsunami taking place. That retirement rate do you exist and why do employees even care to come to work? Then
may even be increasing as people tire of this mess and leave the workforce how does that shift into expressing your brand to the people who don’t
earlier. What will the “new normal” be like then. Right now, “it is what is it” even know they want to work for you yet? How are you communicating
and we need to re-establish the talent conversation again. your why, corporate culture, vision, mission, and values? If you are a tech
company, are you finding the gaming organizations and recruiting those
Businesses and site selectors are focusing in on these demographics and talented folks?
trends now more than ever. The numbers seem to be pretty basic. Get me
people and I can get you a business. Simple and not easy. Those people Now that you’ve found that employee, the work really begins. On-
need skills, but what skills are most relevant. Does our education system engagement is how you treat that employee after they have “signed” and
need to train people on widget production or relational production? Is it during their early months of employment. A tool that I have found exceptional
hard vs. soft skills? for engagement is DISC. The John C. Maxwell Team has developed an
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