By Andrea Davis
In First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently, authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman discovered that no matter what companies do to attract and retain the best employees, an employer that lacks great front-line managers will suffer. Based on a survey of 80,000 managers across different industries, Buckingham and Coffman noted that the front-line manager is the key to attracting and retaining talented employees. Perhaps one of the most interesting conclusions drawn by the authors is that people leave their immediate managers, not the companies they work for.
So in these tough economic times, what’s the relevance of Buckingham and Coffman’s findings? With so many people out of work, do companies need to be worried about attracting and retaining the best employees? Is retention really an issue when unemployment is at 9.7%? Many employers would say the last thing they need to focus on is retention, let alone attracting the best employees. They would say most employees are happy to have a job and given that there are few job opportunities out there, retention is a non-issue.
Great companies, on the other hand, are concerned with retaining key employees in a down economy. When the economy is tight, employers realize that the brightest talent can give the organization a competitive advantage. So how do employers ensure that high-performing employees remain engaged and committed? The answer is great managers.
Arguably, the best managers know that everyone is different, and if you want to motivate employees, you’ve got to understand what drives each person. One of the fundamental tenets of the First, Break All the Rules is that to be a great manager, you’ve got to meet the employee’s basic needs. Employees need to feel a sense of worth, that someone cares about them, and that they are appreciated.
Companies that are practicing one-to-one management have figured it out. They know that no two employees are the same. By focusing on what drives each employee on the job, these companies are creating high performance cultures. One-to-one-management employers are sensitive to the desires of individuals. Rather than trying reward employees with conventional perks that the company thinks most employees want, companies that practice one-to-one management offer creative, employee-tailored perks that range from kosher meals at the company holiday party to flex hours. What’s important is that the right benefits are targeted at the right individuals. But it’s not just about perks and rewards; it’s really about understanding what makes different people tick.
A company’s successes can almost always be traced back to motivated employees. One-to-one management is only one among many ways to motivate people. There are many other ways to motivate employees, but it starts with great managers who take the time to get to know what their employees want and find ways to give it to them or to enable them to earn it.
