Page 47 - Retaining Top Employees

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The Secret’s in the Swing 35

Review Your Image
Gather an assortment of messages that the public could get
about your organization—brochures,product literature,
press releases,advertisements,articles,and so on. If you have a Web
site,print out sample pages. Use a search engine to look up references
and links to your organization.
Next,sit down somewhere quiet where you won’t be interrupted
and immerse yourself in those messages.Try to put yourself in the
shoes of the general public.What overall impressions are you getting
about the organization?
Now,look at the materials again,this time as a potential employee.
What messages are you getting now? If you were starting work next
week,what assumptions,suppositions,and expectations would you
bring from all those messages?
If it’s hard to be objective about the materials you’ve gathered,ask a
friend who doesn’t work for your organization to do the same exer-
cise with those materials and give you feedback.

Effective retention begins with these very first impressions.
Inconsistency between the messages you give to the world and
the messages employees receive within your organization is one
of the root causes of employee turnover—and it’s too late to do
anything about it after you’ve hired .
In Chapter 8 we’ll examine the key messages your organiza-
tion sends to potential employees, how they interpret those
messages, what to do to ensure that those message have a pos-
itive effect on retention, and how to harmonize what you’re say-
ing to employees pre-hire and post-hire.

Point of Impact: Making the Difference
with Orientation
Something interesting occurs at the point of impact between a
golf club and the ball. If the face of the club is aligned improper-
ly, even by just a millimeter, the ball can easily end up 10, 50,
or 100 yards from our target.
So it is with retention. Once you’ve set your goals, selected
the right tools, and communicated effectively before hiring, the