The video for this blog post can be found on YouTube, and audio can be found on Spotify!
Welcome to the debut episode of Claire Shares! I’m thrilled to have you here. In this series, I’ll be providing you with high-energy, bite-sized videos on all things talent attraction, talent acquisition, and talent retention. These areas of HR and People Ops are my passion and expertise, and I can’t wait to delve into them with you.
Before we dive into our topic, I want to take a moment each time to introduce more of myself as an HR Pro. Many of my fellow HR professionals often ask me about upcoming events, the tools I use, and the organizations I collaborate with. So, I’ll kick off each episode by sharing a piece of this information as well. I love curating and sharing resources, so please reach out to me if you’re looking for anything specific! I’d love to share it.
Today, I want to introduce you to Honest Jobs and the planner I’m using for 2024. I’ve been jokingly called an HR Dork, and I embrace that title wholeheartedly! I have a collection of branded HR swag, particularly t-shirts like the one I’m wearing today. Honest Jobs is the top fair-chance hiring platform dedicated to rebuilding lives through employment. If you’re open to hiring individuals impacted by the criminal justice system, you can start posting jobs for free today. Visit honestjobs.com for more information or feel free to message me directly.
You also loved my time management and planning blog, which I shared on my website and LinkedIn in December. I rely on an Erin Condren (*affiliate link) hourly planner to stay organized, and I follow a specific process to set it up for the entire year. It’s a relief knowing that nothing will slip through the cracks when it’s all laid out and written down. Then, I can just focus on executing day to day! I’m a planning and organization enthusiast, and I’d love to hear about your tools and methods too.
Now, let’s dive into today’s talent topic. To kick off this series, I want to talk about the importance of organizational mission, vision, and values in talent attraction, acquisition, and retention. Every other aspect of talent attraction and retention I’ll be taking about in future episodes in this series is going to be rooted in your organization’s specific mission, vision and values. It’s important for business leaders and HR Pros to review this first, before implementing new attraction and retention initiatives.
I’ve worked for organizations that have up to 9 core values. They’re posted in the lobby and on the walls of the company, but they were never explained to me in detail. Have you been there too? It can be overwhelming and confusing as a new hire to learn what is actually important and how I’m expected to behave and carry out these core values in my work.
Nine was a lot to remember, but even if you have that many core values, they should still be easy to understand and kept top of mind, especially in recruiting and retaining top talent. Let’s talk about how you can emphasize your core values as a leadership team, get clear on what behaviors and these values in action really looks like, and how they can help you inform talent strategies. I’m sure you’ve had this concern, or at least heard about it, that people will go across the street to the next company for a dollar more. Having to replace your best people is expensive. Developing a talent retention strategy informed by your mission, vision and values can help you keep your best people.
Here at Lighthouse Technology Services, our leadership team recently conducted a workshop to refresh our understanding of our mission, vision, and values. We defined them, and talked about examples and stories of our team members displaying them in action. We even went a step further by examining our purpose, value proposition, and the feedback from our clients and community. Getting all of us on the same page is key to crafting effective communication and initiatives for talent attraction, acquisition, and retention. We want to attract, engage and reward people based in what’s important to us as an organization. For example, one of our core values is to follow the golden rule and treat others the way the way we would want to be treated. Based in this value, we cover our employee’s paycheck deductions for their health insurances. We ensure to communicate on an ongoing basis the value of those benefits, and how to use them. Another example is our core value be a lighthouse, which means we serve as a guide to others’ on the journey to their destination. In every business interaction we have, it’s important to us to help and guide others based on what is best for them, which may not always be our services. We connect people and make intros we think would help make them more successful. We know timing is everything, and building real relationships based in trust and inspiring each other is what creates successful business opportunities long term. When was the last time your leadership team got together and refreshed on what your mission, vision and values really mean?
I often hear from my HR community about the challenge of employees leaving for better offers, low engagement, and the ease at which their best people are poached by other companies. When facing these concerns, it’s important to ask ourselves some questions. Do people truly leave just for more money? Why is it so easy for them to be lured away? It could be they don’t understand the full value of the company’s benefits package, or communication about organizational goals and objectives coming from the top isn’t clear, or their role isn’t clear, or the team dynamics need some work. It could be a number of things. I typically find that communication plays a vital role in talent retention, and embedding your mission, vision and values into the information you share and how you share it can help strengthen employee retention, as well as overall attendance, performance and behavior. We also know that managers play the biggest role in retention, so it’s also smart to include them in training as well on the values in action, how to coach people and how to reward them. Starting with a clear understanding or refresh of your mission, vision, and values will help you create strategies and communication techniques that attract and retain your top talent.
Now, let’s explore some examples and tips that you can implement in your organization. For instance, once you have a clear vision of your mission, vision, and values, review the language used in your job postings. Are you speaking directly to your ideal candidates? Remember, your organization isn’t for everyone, and that’s perfectly okay! Crafting job postings that go beyond a list of responsibilities will help potential candidates identify if they’re a good fit for your organization and generate excitement about applying because they can feel a personal connection. Don’t forget to highlight your mission, vision, and values on your job postings, website, careers page, and social media posts. It’s your identity.
Here’s another example. Once you’ve attracted those candidates, are your company’s core values integrated into your interview process and interview questions? How do hiring managers and interview teams effectively communicate and inquire about the company’s mission, vision, and values to candidates? You’re teaching people a lot about the company by how you treat them in the consideration process. Furthermore, how does your mission, vision and values guide your onboarding process? If two of your core values are customer service and innovation, how are you differentiating yourself in every step of the talent process using those. Retention starts with onboarding!
As a leadership team, regularly discuss and recognize employees who exemplify the core values and serve as role models within the company. Offer them positive reinforcement to further motivate and inspire.
This has been fun! Thank you for being here with me. Again, I’m going to be sharing with you high energy, bite size videos all about all things talent attraction, talent acquisition and talent retention. These areas of HR and People Ops are my favorite and specialty, and I’m so excited to dive in with you.
This work is what I do, if you need help with the tools, technology and process around how you attract, acquire and retain talent, don’t hesitate to reach out to me and let’s have a conversation. My team and I would also be happy to run a mission, vision, and values workshop for you and your leadership team to bring these back front and center if it’s been a while! I truly believe this is a great starting point before putting in place any employee engagement and retention initiatives. Everything you do for your people should be rooted in what’s most important to the success of the company and what makes you unique.
I can’t wait to further explore together. See you next time!
(Check out Lighthouse’s full suite of managed services here)
Claire is Coaching 