Do you ever sense that things are too complicated? I do. And two things make
the feeling even worse:-
- The increasing frequency with which it occurs; and
- The conviction that we are the ones who make
things over-complicated.
That is why I so enjoyed Steve Roesler’s recent blog “Employee
Retention: How About “Thanks!”? As
always he makes things so simple. Here he quotes research that nearly 20% of us are
never thanked at work, and over a third of us only hear the words once or twice
a year. In other words more than half of us do not get adequate thanks for our efforts at work. Thus Steve does not find it a coincidence that roughly the same percentage has no loyalty towards their
employer!
By juxtaposing this with the fact that a Google search of “The War for
Talent” results in 138,000,000 hits, he suggests that optimising people is clearly
a massive concern and that we are
looking in the wrong places.
If you think that is a misinterpretation of the Google results, a similar search
of “Employee Engagement” returns 40,400,000 hits. So it would definitely seem that we are
over-complicating the issue. And, possibly even worse, we may be misrepresenting
the problem.
In fact misrepresentation may be an even bigger issue: not least in the
depiction of a war for talent. After all, unless human intelligence is
declining (and evidence suggests the opposite), a world population that is
greater than it has ever been means there has to be more talent than ever
before. So why should there be a shortage of talent and a war over acquiring it?
The very suggestion is either an indictment on our education system or our
management systems, or both.
Think about that for a moment and do not be lured into thinking of either
the problem as a war or getting involved in the destructive thinking that
results from metaphors of war. Remember the KISS principle: Keep it simple and
sincere, and you will be far more likely to have engaged employees who develop
and manifest all the talents you need. After all as Bertrand Russell said, “War
doesn’t determine who is right – only who is left.” And the best way to ensure
that you are left is not to get into the war in the first place!