Page 43 - Retaining Top Employees

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The Secret’s in the Swing 31

ple stay where they feel at home. Now it’s time to get down to
building a retention culture, a place where people want to stay.
The rest of this chapter outlines the steps we’ll be taking and
points to the appropriate chapters for details. From here on,
we’ll be talking less about employee retention in general and
focusing more specifically on retaining top employees.
I’m not a great one for sports analogies—and I’m not that
great at golf—but over the years I’ve noted something about
successful golfers that underpins the successful approach I’ve
used in working with top employees. Retaining top employees is
very similar to developing a winning golf swing. There are five
very separate phases:

1. Picturing the Shot. Great golfers always know where
they’re going to hit the ball; they don’t just close their
eyes and hope for the best. Similarly, for an effective
retention strategy, you need to start by establishing your
specific goals.
2. Club Selection. Next, it’s essential to choose the right golf
club to achieve the desired result. Effective retention uses
the most appropriate tools to achieve realistic goals.
3. Backswing. After picturing the shot and selecting the club,
it’s time to hit the ball. The action begins with the back-
swing. This equates to an organization’s recruitment activ-
ities—everything that happens before the hire.
4. Point of Impact. This is when and where the club head hits
the ball. It’s like the point of hire—the crucial first few days
that an employee spends with the organization.
5. Follow-Through. After hitting the ball, the golfer continues
the swing to provide accuracy and distance. The follow-
through in retention is the ongoing managing, mentoring,
and coaching of the employee.
Let’s look at each of these five phases in turn.

Picturing the Shot: Envisioning Your Retention Strategy

The fundamental prerequisite to a great golf shot is to visualize it