Engaging and Retaining Talent - Has your company got what it takes?

The Risk - A Fossilized Worldview

7 Signals that indicate an over reliance on what got you to success 

1. Research is considered to be a waste of time. " We have been very successful and our experience speaks for itself."
2. Lack of critical thinking. "That may work well within such and such an organization, but we are different."
3. An inability to take constructive criticism and lack of respect for varied opinions. "We are teh originators of this method/product/theory. Who are they/you to question us?
4. Maintaining a positive image at all costs. "What would poeple think of us if this didn't work as expected?"
5. Lack of effective practise. "We have been advised by the best minds in the business. We can skip the experimental phase."
6. Blind faith in experts and top executives. "how can we go wrong? These people have worked with the top companies around the world for years."
7. An aversion to introspection. "We don't need that fuzzy self-examination of feelings, thoughts and motives around there. We are practical people."

- From an article by Dr. Charles Ehin - www.unmanagement.com

Risk - An inability to see talent based on outmoded belief of what talent looks like.

Out of 80 employers contacted by a company specializing in placing 'disabled' workers only one accepted to interview the candidate. That company hired on merit; not on looks. The candidate was a perfect fit. The fact that she had no arms has not impeded her ability to serve effectively as a para-legal secretary in a law firm.

Our workforce has never been more multi-cultural, more mobile and connected. Youth, aboriginal, immigrant professionals/workers, Gen X, Y and Z all bring different world views to performance.

So how will the other 80  companies find candidates when their mindset is attuned to an image and not to seeing talent ?

Face it. The employer of choice will not be able to hire like crazy and then cross their fingers and hope for the best.

They will have to have a working environment that fits the employee, not expect the employee to fit the working environment. This does not throw out the right fit; right person formula but it does say that employers must be able to be flexible enough to 'see' differently. For that the mindset must expand to embrace different worldviews that youth, aboriginal, immigrant, and disabled talent bring to performance. And you must also be able to provide work that actually engages their talents, not just fulfill your expectations. Creativity and innovation are highly sought after but not supported out of fear of losing control. If you and your company are afraid of losing control - you will.

Employees have a choice. They can vote with their feet.

And they will. Right over to the next company who has grasped the value of seeing the world with a wider set of eyes and removed limiting beliefs that impede the view.

Expanding your mindset requires getting out of your mind and letting go of control. You can not think your way through it. You must change how you see. Unless you see differently at all levels you will create false expectations and lose the employee within the first year or less.

Developing Flexible Mindsets

Seminar Objectives

1. Employers will grasp the significant change in thinking required to position their company globally as the best place to work for domestic and foreign workers.
2. Employers will experience how to shift world view to work with different perspectives, values and ways of communicating.
3. Employers will leave with a deeper understanding of their role in creating a working environment that engages and retains talent.

Who Should Attend:

• Those who hire in the company and managers who the hires report to.
• The senior executive or formal/informal leaders responsible for the working environment.
• CEOs and their senior corporate planning executives.
• Middle managers who seek to increase their effectiveness with employees and who see themselves playing a leadership role.

Program Benefits: The learning is whole body, it is experiential and demands your commitment to expanding your success.

1. Identify areas where you, as a leader or manager, have limited view; know what to do about it.
2. Expand possibility thinking and see opportunity where you previously saw limitation. Shift silos into cooperative, dynamic interaction.
3. Systematically develop the flexibility required to lead in rapid change.
4. Gain sensitivity to how to strengthen working relationships, and team effectiveness.
5. Expand capacity to see the big picture and its component parts.
6. Gain a better understanding of your personal role and contribution to creating effective relationships; strengthen adaptive leadership skills.
7. Know how to intentionally create a working environment will inspire collective and sustained contribution for the diverse range of employees.
8. Understand the kind of mindset required to utilize apparent conflicting views to higher advantage.
9. Be more present in communication – improve the quality and effectiveness of personal and professional relationships. High performance leadership skills.
10. See current reality through a clearer lens. Sense the context behind each situation. Know when to wait and when to act.

If you want to learn how to see the world flexibly, best that you learn from someone who does....a horse of course!

It is said that a horse is a mirror for your sub-conscious. You can choose to learn or decide that the truth is too hard to face. Either way, you have yourself clearly in front of you.

This is a 2.5 day program with a full day of learning from the horse, a master of non-verbal communication.  

Why a horse? If you were in front of a human, you would both pre-judge each other and that would be that. A horse does not judge...only waits for you to understand. Simple.

The next day and half is dedicated to applying the learning to working with the changing face of the labour force. We close by reflecting on how to support the cultural adjustments necessary to keep the talent that you company require.

Call Dawna Jones to discuss your goals. All programs can be custom designed to fit your sector and your needs. Call  604.605.0589 or email dawna@FromInsightToAction.com