FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

How to keep your new employees after the “honeymoon period” is over:

Be the kind of leader who engages new employees and moves your organization forward … or risk high turnover.

Vancouver, BC (March 12, 2008): When employees take on a new job, only to quit and move on within a few months, employers should take a step back and try to understand why. Employers might be tempted to blame the current labour shortage, and in many cases there really is another job waiting across the street.

Nonetheless, it is essential to recognize that the quick loss of a new hire always tells you one thing: the employee was not willing or happy enough to stay…and a lack of leadership is often responsible.

“If employees are not engaged right from the get go, they will only be encouraged to look at other job options, so clearly the answer is to provide the strong leadership that moves your organization forward,” according to Eitan Sharir, expert on corporate culture and leadership and President of Vancouver-based Dynamic Achievement Group. “You can’t blame the labour shortage, and you can’t blame employees who find out the job is not exactly what was presented to them at the outset. Instead, ask yourself whether you are providing the strong leadership needed to create the kind of working conditions that will keep your employees interested and on the job.”

Sharir says it’s not a difficult thing, but leaders must embrace some key principles. The objective is simple – to move the organization forward:

Have the courage to break the mold - Don’t “do what others do” or keep “doing what you’ve always done” just because it’s comfortable. Take a moderate risk. Be innovative and creative in finding ways to better integrate people, systems, work flow and technology.

Be confident in your ability to help people be their best - Recognize their talents and skills, be firm but fair and do “the right thing”, despite what others may think.

Have clarity of purpose and be achievement oriented - Don’t lose sight of the mandate. Your organization was set up from day one to achieve certain goals, so work every day to align the thoughts, behaviours and actions of everyone on staff to the organization’s vision, purpose and values. Focus consistently on results and outcomes.

Maintain moral and ethical standards - Without a moral compass, how will staff trust you and know that you’ll treat them right? How do you do that? By encouraging everyone to check their conscience, or by demanding that everyone follow the organization’s values and ethical code

Collaborate - Effective teamwork encourages high levels of collaboration and cooperation (not a silo mentality). The resulting feelings of camaraderie and connection among your staff will foster improved efficiency and collectively you will achieve way more than “the sum of the individuals”.

Motivate and be supportive of others - Make coaching and mentoring part of the organization’s culture in order to encourage team members to maximize their potential and optimize capacity. When employees are encouraged to be engaged at work, they become more receptive to learning new skills and forge a high sense of achievement, satisfaction and pride in the organization…and that makes them stay.

“The greatest leaders are inspired by their roles and, more importantly, they are inspiring to those they lead,” Sharir adds. “By inspiring people with your presence, your actions, your courage, your focus and your clarity of vision, you will be the kind of leader that will attract loyal staff – not the kind who drives them away.”

About Eitan Sharir and Dynamic Achievement Group

Eitan Sharir is the President and founder of Vancouver-based Dynamic Achievement Group and an expert on workplace culture and developing stronger leaders and teams.  Since 1994, he has been helping the world’s top corporations achieve superior results by focusing on both the individual and the organization, with the aim of achieving immediate, significant and long lasting success.

Media contact:
Eitan Sharir, President
Dynamic Achievement Group
Phone: (604) 926-6465
E-mail: eitan@dynamicachievement.com
www.dynamicachievement.com