Seven Ways to Retain Your Most Valuable Talent

In a competitive work environment, the best of your talent can be seduced by recruiters and others to go where the promise of the grass being greener attracts them.  You are left with your more average talent because they are less desirable to the headhunters.

What motivates the brightest and the best?  Surely it’s not the promise of more money – because they were smart enough to negotiate a good compensation package when you hired them.  So, what does motivate them?  

Here are some general ideas of what motivates talented people to stay in your organization:

1.     Ability to work with a minimum of instruction and intrusion from supervisors.

2.     Opportunities for creative problem solving in different areas/projects.

3.     Recognition and appreciation for their accomplishments.

4.     Flexible hours which enable them to find time for their own pet projects.

5.     Permission to use a portion of company time to develop new ideas or projects.

6.     A path to a promotion that ties in their careers with your succession plans.

7.     Respect – to be recognized as not one of the crowd but as someone who rises above the ordinary.