Talent Tips: Organizational Success

Talent Tip #87: Embrace the Power of Markets: Pay Your Best Talent Well or Risk Losing Them

February 19, 2017

Talent Tip #87: Embrace the Power of Markets: Pay Your Best Talent Well or Risk Losing Them 

If you are on this email list, you are a big believer in the power of free markets.

(And if you are not, let me know so that I can mail you a copy of Free to Choose and then we can have a little chitchat.)

Since you are a big believer in markets, you no doubt treat your employees accordingly when…

Talent Tip #83: Culture Matters: Cultivating a Culture That Attracts and Retains Talent

September 20, 2016

Talent Tip #83: Culture Matters: Cultivating a Culture That Attracts and Retains Talent 

The following was written by a friend in the liberty movement. This description of why culture matters is better than anything I could have written; so, this month I’m giving my friend the floor. 

In the U.S., studies have shown the most depressing time of the week is early afternoon on Sunday. Can you guess why?

For some, maybe it’s conviction after a Sunday morning sermon. Maybe…

Talent Tip #79: Two Solutions for Our Fundraising Talent Shortage

June 6, 2016

Talent Tip #79: Two Solutions for Our Fundraising Talent Shortage 

Last month I donned my Captain Obvious hat and wrote of our need for fundraisers. But I’m not a fan of pointing out problems without also providing solutions. So, this month, with a little help from numerous friends I heard from in the interim, we’re going to address ways to correct the problem.

As I see it, there are two main solutions to addressing our fundraising talent shortage.

Talent Tip #78: O Fundraisers, Fundraisers! Wherefore Art Thou Fundraisers?

April 19, 2016

Talent Tip #78:  O Fundraisers, Fundraisers! Wherefore Art Thou Fundraisers?

If I meet another recent college graduate who tells me he wants to go into a policy career, I’m going to curl up in the fetal position and weep uncontrollably.

It’s not that I don’t want to see more policy talent in the free-market movement (I do!); it’s just that I really, really, really want to see more fundraising talent.

And why? Because that’s our biggest…

Talent Tip #75: Field of Dreams: Job Descriptions That Attract Talent

February 16, 2016

Talent Tip #75: Field of Dreams: Job Descriptions That Attract Talent

If you write it, they will come.

That’s the Kevin Costner-esque attitude many hiring managers employ when it comes to authoring job descriptions.  They believe a carefully crafted job description will result in talent appearing.

I know what you’re thinking.

Right….and Shoeless Joe Jackson is going to pop out of the corn field and play baseball with them, too.

Actually, I think these hiring managers are onto something.…

Talent Tip #73: Turnover Turnaround: How To Keep Your Best Employees

November 17, 2015

Talent Tip #73: Turnover Turnaround: How To Keep Your Best Employees 

Last month we talked about the six most common reasons for staff turnover in the free-market nonprofit movement. Apparently, we struck a root.

My inbox was deluged with responses such as “Your list was spot on. I recently left my job for reason #4.” and “My best friend just quit his job for reasons 1, 2, and 5.”

While it was disheartening to read some of the emails, I…

Talent Tip #72: Employee Turnover: Why Good People Leave

October 20, 2015

Talent Tip #72: Employee Turnover: Why Good People Leave

Last month at the always-amazing State Policy Network Annual Meeting, I had the pleasure of connecting with nonprofit CEOs about some of the common reasons employees leave and strategies for preventing turnover.

It was a daunting task — to stand before a room of accomplished CEOs and tell them what they  might be doing wrong. I had nightmares of being pelted with rotten fruit or heckled (remember the Seinfeld episode…

Talent Tip #67: The Key to Employee Retention: Convoluted Algorithms or Simple Communication?

May 22, 2015

Talent Tip #67: The Key to Employee Retention: Convoluted Algorithms or Simple Communication?  

The Wall Street Journal recently featured an interesting article about predicting impending employee departures based on complicated algorithms.

It turns out some large companies such as Wal-Mart and Credit Suisse are hiring human resources analytics firms to develop intricate formulas that identify which employees might be getting antsy. These company-specific formulas involve a variety of data points, including “job tenure, geography, performance…

Talent Tip #68: Ask the Magic 8 Ball: Why do Employees Leave?

March 20, 2015

Talent Tip #68: Ask the Magic 8 Ball: Why do Employees Leave?  

Do you remember those Magic 8 Balls? You pose a yes/no question and then turn it over to reveal the answer. My childhood friend and I used to ask the Magic 8 Ball whether the handsome and oh-so popular neighbor boy would ever give us the time of day.  We would turn that puppy over 100 times until it told us what we wanted to hear: “All…

Talent Tip #66: Hotel California: Stuck in the Big City, Declining Mobility, and a Reminder to Consider Hiring Virtually

March 17, 2015

It turns out many young adults are sticking around the big cities longer than before. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, young folks have historically descended upon the country’s largest metropolitan areas “to build careers before taking their talent and spending power elsewhere to raise families.” Now, thanks to an overreaching government induced recession, that trend is slowing dramatically and many people are “stuck” in the big cities.

As one Los Angeles writer put it, it’s like…