• Print

Train And Treat Your Talent Well

Richard Branson is often quoted as saying that we should "Train people well enough so they can leave; Treat them well enough so they don’t want to". Like most wisdom, it's simple. At least simple to say. But it's far from simplistic. The real wisdom comes from actually doing it. And if you've been fortunate enough to have the experience of being well trained and well treated you'll know first-hand how sage Branson’s advice is. If you're fortunate enough to have great talent on your team, you’ll know first-hand how valuable it is.

Train And Treat Your Talent Well "Talent is the edge," write Bill Conarty and Ram Charan in their book Talent Masters. "No talent, no numbers." Talent, they argue, is the only real sustainable competitive advantage an organisation has. They quote Ron Nersesian, CEO of Agilent's Keysight Technologies, one of the talent developers profiled in their book. "Developing people's talent is the whole company at the end of the day. Our products are all time-perishable. The only thing that stays is the institutional learning and the development of the skills and the capabilities that we have in our people."

In his new book, Attracting and Retaining Talent: Becoming an Employer of Choice, Tim Baker writes about the problems associated with workplace cultures that fail to actively engage in the development of their people. "Instead of learning from their mistakes, employees cover up their mistakes: they stop learning ... I believe it boils down to the nature of the relationship between the boss and the worker. The 'us and them' mentality ... This type of culture is entirely unsuitable for meeting the challenges of the modern marketplace."

So how can we put into practice Richard Branson's "Train them so well they can leave and Treat them so well they don't want to" advice so that we attract, develop and retain great talent?

Three practical operational strategies to help achieve the goal

  • Talking

    How we train people and how we treat people is aligned to how we talk with people. (Even online and manual based training requires pre and post-conversation.) Explaining the value and purpose of training is an important indicator of how we treat people. 'You have to do this' versus 'Here’s why this will be of value to you ...'.

    The way we speak to one another is one of the most powerful ways we experience one another. How you speak is a primary way of influencing how people feel treated - by you, your team, your organisation. How we speak, what we speak about, who we speak with (and who we don’t speak with), communicates the interest, concern and respect that translate into how people feel treated.
  • Time

    Talking takes time just like training takes time. Which is why sometimes we skip it. "We don’t have time" (interpretation: "talking to you / investing in your training and development isn’t actually that important / don’t bug me / try to work it out for yourself and don’t screw it up").

    Time is a precious commodity and we all value our time. Especially in our leadership roles, people notice whether or not we have time for them or we are perpetually 'too busy'. (Of course, being 'too busy to spend time with someone is immediately compared to what we aren't too busy for.)

    How we treat people can also be seen in how we respect their time (meetings, punctuality, appreciation for effort) versus taking it for granted. It is also experienced in whether or not we provide adequate time for them to complete tasks and whether or not we encourage time for sharing information - formally and informally.
  • Trust

    This is the biggie. Trust is the essential component that enables us to get stuff done with and through other people. And one of the challenges of organisational life is managing how and when to appropriately extend trust.

    Trust should be extended on the basis of competence and reliability. Organisationally, that's a two-way street. We expect employees to trust their leaders, trust processes and trust the organisation. But that’s a tougher ask if:

    • a) we don't demonstrate organisational / leadership / procedural competence and reliability
    • b) we don’t extend trust to people in even the most simple human ways such as how they manage their tasks, their time, and their professional discretion.
    Micromanagement tends to communicate a lack of trust. If poor performance suggests it's required, then maybe some training is in order. If it's just poor management then a different sort of training is in order. Because it's not sustainable to treat people that way.

"Training people so well they can leave; Treating them so well they don't want to". It’s a great goal. An entirely reasonable one. And one that can be achieved in the ways we talk, the ways we invest our time, and the ways we trust.

Author Credits

Aubrey Warren is Australia’s Situational Leadership® master trainer and an experienced corporate educator. Used with permission. For more information about leadership and team development, communication training or executive coaching visit www.pacific.qld.edu.au/ or call 07 5553 6060 / 0412 756 435.
  • Print