In a world of opportunities, talent will be where the talent’s heart is. Having built a company with 40+ senior software engineers with less than 3% turnovers yearly, we have learned from experience on how to retain skilled and clever professionals, bringing in what is necessary to create a shared sense of purpose and mutual evolution. This article presents four simple good practices to keep the flame burning and avoid undesired losses.
Practice One – Learn together
In the 90s, Peter Senge brought to life the concept of a learning organization in the book “The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization.” At that time, Senges’ work was profoundly influential, and several organizations adopted his approach. Besides all evolution since the good old days, sharing knowledge within the organization was always relevant but unfortunately forgotten by many. Creating a knowledge base and making it available is essential for talent retention. Nowadays, combining applications like Notion and Slack can provide accessible, comprehensive, and affordable ways to share knowledge with small, medium, and large teams.
Moreover, sharing learnings and lessons must be part of your company culture. When was the last time you invited someone relevant outside your company to share knowledge with your professionals? Do you have a weekly or monthly activity to share positive team member experiences pertinent to your organization? Here at Bitboundaire, we do all these activities and organize knowledge in an accessible way, making all the difference. Adopt this practice; you will create a perfect environment to keep teams hungry for knowledge sharing.
Practice Two – Act as one
There are always better opportunities elsewhere, which is one of the main reasons why talents leave a company. Lack of growth opportunities, poor management, inadequate compensation and benefits, toxic work environment, and lack of work-life balance also play an essential role. But the grass is always greener on the other side, so better opportunities elsewhere are always at the top. Creating a supportive environment where you can rely on the guy by your side and stand together using strengths and not weakness is crucial for talent retention. If someone has a problem and can not solve it, the entire company has a problem and needs to act together to address it. Supportive culture makes the grass less green on the other side and boosts the individual perception of value and belonging.
Practice Three – Raise the bar
Motivation sometimes means a new mountain to climb every day. Nothing is worse for a skilled and talented person than repetitive and unchallenging tasks. Constant knowledge acquisition and application pave the way for a challenging environment where tedium is never part of the equation. It is crucial for talent retention to provide adequate challenges for everyone, and have eyes open for lack of motivation. If you do not challenge a talent, it will seek defiance elsewhere.
Practice Four – Truly care
The truly care approach is in Bitboundaire’s DNA and our best talent retention practice. It involves creating a space where people are valued, appreciated, and given opportunities to grow and develop. This approach involves actively listening to talents’ concerns, providing support and resources to help them succeed, and valuing their contributions to the company. It is important to remember that professionals are not just tools but individuals with unique talents and needs. It is necessary to understand what seems not to work for each individual and find ways to improve their experience.
By prioritizing the personal and social aspects of the work, businesses can create better functioning environments that is constantly evolving with quality and agility, but this will only be possible with the same approach on the client’s side. Exceeding clients’ expectations with a long-term relationship based on trust and transparency is crucial to show the team genuine commitment and purpose. Talents are always observing everything surrounding them and demand coherence in every situation.
These four practices can bring light to help solve retention challenges, and I hope it motivates you to adopt what you consider better for your organization. Sometimes, positive transformation is just a matter of taking the first step and evolving gradually. So try it.