Keeping Your Best and Brightest

by Marcus Ollig

This is the time to focus on your best and brightest:

If you are a leader, the following inexpensive common sense ideas will help you keep your best people engaged and at your organization through even bad times.

Communicate your law firm's or company's goals, strategy and current financial performance openly. Include information about what options are being considered to safely steer your organization through these turbulent times and why. Uncertainty will lead to people filling the information gap with rumors. Every day I am made aware of a new rumor - in most cases these have no basis in reality, but result from the current climate of fear and driven by the uncertainty created by poor information flow.

Involve your top performers in this discussion. Ask them how they feel about your organization and its future, solicit input about possible courses of action, the firm's strategic direction and their personal satisfaction. Besides having great ideas, it is more important than ever that people feel part of the solution. Working together creates an atmosphere of loyalty and ownership.

Clearly communicate your expectations and the specific reasons you value your best employees. Whether entry level or senior members of your team, in uncertain times it is more important than ever to show people why and how they matter to you and your organization. Spend more time highlighting outstanding performance, make it part of your culture through official recognition programs and remember to praise both publicly and privately. Also remember to set goals and manage poor performance privately.

Compensation: I am amazed by how many people I speak to that do not feel their commitment, loyalty, hours collected, or originations were properly valued. In many cases this is unjustified, but it seems that weekly I am hearing from people I know are high performers, whose compensation or bonus decisions did not in any way align with their performance.

Cost cutting: Communicating the reasons for making cuts is important, but so are the items you decide to reduce or eliminate. This is another great area to solicit input. Generally, cutting compensation, especially any performance-based bonus compensation, or other incentives (for top performers) can have a negative effect. Of course, these are only paid when warranted by performance, unless you are a major bank or investment company. There is a lot of cutting that can be done with minimal effect on employee loyalty or morale. Solicit your people's input at all levels, let them know the goal of the cuts, and ask them to pitch in.

Be positive - I know it sounds trite, but this is important. We are deluged with negative news daily. This is an incredible drain on people's energy, motivation and outlook. The more you stay focused and positive, the more you help your people while creating an environment they won't want to leave.