Unless you�re living on an island without any form of communication, you know you�re in for the battle of your professional life, right? -  What battle you say?  Oh, just a little skirmish to find, hire and keep employees that consistently perform.  And, since some of you missed reveille, this little sortie is getting hotter by the hour.

Okay, already,  everyone�s reading the same great books on leadership; paying big bucks to attend �cutting edge� seminars and learning sessions, teleconferences and motivational speakers by the dozen, hoping to get a leg up on the competition, create a superior work environment and stable the best talent available.

Repeat after me  - Recruiting - Recognition - Retention.  These are arguably the three most critical components of business as more and more markets experience unemployment rates below  5%, with some major cities reporting much less.  Yes, it�s an employees market and they know it. The tables have turned and the available workforce is singing loud and clear - �what does your company have for me?�

By now, most of you have read how to rub the Genie�s lamp, super selection tactics, power training through employee action teams, create substantive relationships through workplace bonding, morph the normal workplace into an employment environment experience, install a new culture at high velocity, increase top line revenues by capturing greater market share in the new economy (which really hasn�t been defined just yet), reduce expenses to produce more at the bottom, coach, teach, mentor and every other market buzzword, strategy, program, initiative and performance-improving mantra of the present age.  Gee, I wonder why it�s not working?

Well, I hope you�re like me - I�m mad as a hornet and I�m not going to take it anymore!  The hospitality industry reminds me of a guilty smoker - they know what it takes to kick the habit, they buy all sort of programs and systems designed to help them get an edge, reach their objectives and yet, most fall miserably short - and all the while keep getting sicker, all by their own hand.  For Pete�s sake, take a stand on something and continue to stand there -especially when you know it�s good for you!

Well I�ve been thinking, (a process not limited to level 17 microbiologists), there are answers out there to Recruiting, Recognition and Retention, the �Triad of Trouble� for our industry and they�re not as difficult or painful as we�ve conjured up in our heads - but they do carry a price.

Riddle me this -

Recruit like major college sports 

They �put it on� for the record holding running back from �Who Caresville� - why don�t you?.  Recruiting is an essential component of developing and maintaining your business - get used it.  Recruiting has to be an �experience� you continue to employ and develop for the rest of your professional life - the process never stops.  You want loyalty and excitement?  Try �growing� some from moment-one with some fanfare, personalization, open arms and ears and a commitment to help someone else get what they want from their career.  Make them feel they�re special - they are and you�ll be surprised at their performance when you land them.

Keep your culture simple

Because there is no one right culture that�s going to turn everyone in the organization on the way you want it to.  Look at the demographics: WWII-ers, Boomers, X-ers, Millennials - why can�t they all just get along?  They can.  Stick with some fundamentals (block and tackle) like: Integrity, Diversity, Sense of Urgency and Ownership, Innovation and focused on Results.  Add a few more but make sure that your leaders can model the core values of the culture reflexively, without too many contradictions; anything else will only erode the culture at the very core. 

Creating �super sentences� for a Mission Statement, Vision and Core Values or Guiding Principles is a colossal waste of time if what�s written isn�t translated into consistent action.  In other words, walk the talk.  Besides, the collective value of a culture is expressed in the thoughts, actions and deeds of your employees - not posters, rallies and speeches.

Hire for talent and fit

Because you can�t teach true talent, and if the person and the job/environment/boss don�t fit, a separation is eminent.  Commit to consistently using a proven selection process - otherwise,  you�re hiring your own problems.  Interview for talents, personality, style, aspiration, behavior, skills, and whether the needs of both parties (the job and the candidate) fit.  Use someone who hasn�t been involved in the interview process to check references because they are less likely to be biased.  Treat the candidate like they�re   the only candidate - even if they don�t get the job, they�ll speak highly of the process, the company and actually help recruit by relating the experience to others.

Train your people to do their jobs

And try documenting the results rather than the steps or procedures to get to the results for each job .  True performers will find the quickest path to those results and they may well do so better and faster than by using the procedural steps of conventional Standard Operating Procedures and manuals that have been written and rewritten way too many times.  Yes, they may actually get there faster than you did - isn�t that what you want anyway?  Measure the effectiveness of your training and for everyone�s sake, don�t do it just through a written test.  Talk to your employees, role play, use customer assessment programs and,  �watch with your ears - listen with your eyes�.

Ask your employees for feedback - especially during the first 60 days

To find out if they�ve received the training and got the job they thought they were getting when they signed on.  Most leave in the first 90 days - because of inadequate training, or an incompatible manager.  Commit to conducting exit interviews with each and every employee - you�ll see inherent trends that need to be fixed.  Petition the opinions of your employees; not just through an annual survey.  And most importantly, take action on what they tell you, or don�t ask.  Failure to follow up on their feedback will result in a loss of credibility and create dissention and dissatisfaction.  Employees are not your most expensive cost, they are your most valuable and variable asset and you need to know what they�re thinking about you, their job, the company, everything!  Besides, what�s the judge going to say, �I sentence you to life at hard labor for over-communicating?�

Create a network, a series of exciting rewards and rewarding experiences

Be vocal, showy, flamboyant and most of all, be genuine - and do these things often.  Reward your employees with things that matter to them.  This means you�ll have to do a little digging, be creative and innovate all the time.  Doing an excellent job is a choice (providing the training and tools to do so are there) and those who consistently demonstrate excellence should enjoy rewards that others do not.  They are elite, they produce more, they model your culture and reinforce the things you want reinforced.  So why aren�t  you going absolutely nuts over them?  You want loyalty, excellence and longevity from them?  What level of investment are you willing to make to ensure that they feel invaluable, wanted and needed?  If you want to get and keep the best - you�d better think about the best possible investment in them.  It is nearly impossible to implement too many recognition and rewards programs as long as they are meaningful to the recipients and commensurate with performance - don�t tell someone they hit a homerun when they know they only hit a double; they know the difference and won�t respect you for augmenting their performance.

Compensate your performing people 

If you want cutting edge performance, you�d best be prepared to offer cutting edge compensation.  If you don�t - there are a lot of companies out there that will.  Heck, just considering the volatility of the diminishing labor force alone is a compelling enough reason to �secure� your best and brightest.  There is virtually no occasion where providing superlative compensation for superlative performance does not produce on-going superlative results in all areas of the organization.  This is perhaps the most obvious component of getting and keeping your industry�s best, yet there still seems to be a good number of dinosaurs out there that think it�s a mark of a shrewd leader to try and get the best for less.  There is no model out there that supports this thinking!  You pay more for quality, quality lasts longer and performs better - what�s the mystery here?  And by the way, should one of your best hit the ejection seat, a counter offer only sends two regrettably untimely messages: you�ve undervalued them for some time now and their value has increased now because someone else wants them.  Isn�t that sort of like the jealous partner that wants you back because you start to see other people?  There are other important repercussions of retention besides the expenses tied to turnover (which are increasing substantially).  Every time you lose someone, you�re losing a piece of your culture.  And, depending on the person and position, it can be a very big piece.  If this isn�t clear enough, you�re better off to hustle over to Carnivores-R-Us and mingle with the other remaining dinos before the next meteor hits.

Lastly

Remember, all of these initiatives take time and commitment, not just lip service - your time and the time of your leaders and employees if you want to create something special.  Time may be the single most critical ingredient to a successful enterprise and relationship.  Short-cuts, cut-backs or �convenient suspension due to budgetary constraints� of these initiatives always result in loss of cultural credibility, company image and integrity - which ultimately translates into turnover.  Some of the most successful leaders and corporate gurus spend more than 70-percent of their time simply interacting with their employees.  Why?  Because they sincerely care about them; they want to know what their employees need and how they�re doing.  It takes time to coach, teach, train and mentor.  You can quote me on this one - �Profit is the optimized balance of People, Product and Process� - and it takes time.

Like I said, I�m mad!  We know what we�re doing is bad for us. We know how to kick the habits and we know we�re in the fight of our professional lives.  You want better revenues, reduced expenses and elevated profits?  Stop reading about how and why and start really investing in your performing people. 

The Stranger is a freelance writer with more than 17 years of hotel operations experience.  You may contact him at [email protected]