Page 192 - Retaining Top Employees

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180 Retaining Top Employees

own targets: bring something else into the picture and there’s
often a “deer in the headlights” reaction.
As with making decisions, you must take responsibility for
helping your employees think outside the box about issues
that are not related to their functional goals. Here are some
suggestions:
• Hold regular “What’s going on in your world?” meetings.
These meetings should have only one rule: the employ-
ees can talk only about work issues that are not directly
related to their functional goals. This will help unearth
issues requiring outside-the-box thinking.
• Give each top performer a “buddy.” A very successful
response to this issue has been to assign a “buddy” to look
out for the top employee and help him or her deal with
non-operational issues. This can be a great training ground
for younger high-potential employees who get to interact
with a top performer and add value at the same time.
• Build a “parking lot.” Set up a notice board (physical or
electronic—whatever works for you) where top performers
can simply post a message regarding an issue that’s
bothering them. Encourage everyone to contribute sug-
gestions and advice. You may well be able to encourage
and develop a peer review process that will enable your
top employees to help each other.

The Manager as Work-Life Balance Indicator
This point is somewhat connected to the previous point: top
performers need help in achieving work-life balance and their
manager needs to help them do it. Burnout serves no interest
and certainly hurts retention.
There are three particular ways in which you can help
ensure that your employees are maintaining a healthy balance
between work and recreation:
• Set the right conditions.
• Monitor key relationships.