How To Attract ( And Keep ) Your Industries Rockstars

I am an Executive Search Consultant aka The Headhunter! This means I specialise in seeking out the industries best talent and negotiating them away from their current boss, company and team mates. I do this by dangling an exciting new carrot in the form of a new role within a new company (usually a competitor).
Part of the time I am successful but for the most part I am not, I have learned to make friends with rejection. What I have learned from this rejection is that the companies these Rock Stars work for invest more time, more resources and are an all-round more extraordinary place to work. Why won't these people leave? 
Heres how to create a Rock Star culture in your company. 
1) Continual Advancement & Never Ending Opportunity 
Major reasons people leave your business:

1. The person above them has been in the role 10 years and shows no signs of retiring or leaving. 
2. The person above them owns the company and there is no way to advance their career. 
3. They have been an overly successful Sales Engineer (e.g.) for 10 years and the boss will not promote them because they do that job so well. 
4. The boss hires externally and brings that new person in above them. 
5. There is no succession plan in place and the Rock Star has no idea what is coming in the next 1-5 years. 

Don't get me wrong, most employees would not care about these factors but the outstanding achievers (the ones I am looking for) - The RockStars do. 
Solution: 

1. Create new roles internally for the high achievers, giving them more responsibility and more senior job titles. You can dissolve their previous role and develop a newly created role e.g. An Account Manager successfully developing their accounts and experiencing high levels of success could be told that if he achieves said KPI's he will become National Key Account Manager with the possibility of hiring his own support staff. This subtle change in title drives high achievers, who are very much driven by success, service and dare I say it… ego. 
2. If you are a family owned business do what ever you can to create senior roles in the company, roles that your family are not in. Promoting family values is one thing but valuing family promotions will drive your RockStars away. Promote or hire senior people to sit at the head of the table or at least at the table. This will show these high achievers that there is a possibility for them to develop within your organisation. It will irradiate the pay to pay mentality and see your business thrive. 
3. Hiring externally is unavoidable, I fully support ruffling feathers and pushing people out of their comfort zones. Unfortunately if not handled properly you can turn off your high achievers. One way to combat this is to include your team in the selection of the external candidate. Show them you value their input. Bring them into the second interview briefly. Make them accountable. 
4. Your company has goals, it must to keep the doors open but for havens sake please do not forget the people in your company who are helping to keep those doors open. Sit down with your people and show them where they can be in one year, in two years in five years. Make sure this excites them!!! ASK and LISTEN What they like about their current role? What they wish would be delegated elsewhere? Move towards that - show them they are valued. 

 2) Hey Company! It is not all about you! 
Managers, we know you have KPIs to hit…
We know because you keep telling us and we care because thats why we get paid. Honestly though, we don't care. We are trying to get our own needs met. Your employees have lives, partners, kids, mortgages, hobbies, goals. How are you helping them reach their personal KPIs?
Im not asking you to drive their kids to school, what I am proposing is more time to work on their personal lives. Google are arguably the most successful business culture in the world. It is 10x harder to get a job at Google than it is to get into Harvard University (Forbes) with 2 million applications a year. Why? They give their people the ultimate balance. They focus on mental health, physical health and treat their employees like professional athletes. One example is every Friday from 12pm Google encourages employees to work on their own personal projects. Google are under no illusion that employees switch off on Fridays. This cultivates a fun and positive atmosphere and stops your employees from sneaking off to handle personal business….or taking a call from a headhunter. 
3) Renumeration This is simple but so many companies get it wrong. 

• If a high achiever doesn't get a pay bump he will leave.
• If a person is offered a bonus but at the last moment the businesses discretionary policy comes into play and the bonus is pulled, your employee will become disgruntled. That where I sweep in and steal them away. 

Unfortunately due to the economic boom that occurred in Australia between 2008 - 2014 salaries are inflated, to the point that people are jumping ship for 5-10k more every 1-2 years to get their salary up.
That time has come to an end and your company cannot sustain inflated salaries with poor results. 
Rock Stars do not indulge in such behaviour nevertheless they will be pushed if they aren't fairly rewarded. 
Solution: The same way you create new roles internally, offer 1-3k salary bumps every year and make sure these bumps are in strict confidence, in line with performance. This small incremental shift will stop your best from leaving and will cultivate a team of high achievers who are not going anywhere.
4) Integrity 
ALWAYS!! Do what you say you said you would do in the interview, if you don't have integrity you have nothing.
Do you have any Rock Stars in your business? 
If Yes, what more can you do to keep them happy and productive?
If No? Take a look at what you aren't doing in the points above - Trust me your competitors are already doing it! 
Rock Stars! Im coming for you! 
​
Marianne Paterson 
Director 
Global Talent Strategies 
0459468898

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