How to coach/involve SME leaders in talent acquisition and retention

I think it would be fair to say that most of us know the fight for talent, finding it and keeping it is a daily struggle. We have a shirking pool in which we can dip into, fierce competition from larger organisations and the continuous need to keep on developing the teams we already have to ensure our short-term success, whilst also worrying about the long-term impact of our flexing teams and often their increasing demands.

Of course, one blog is not going to solve this conundrum, but I thought I might try and relieve some of the pressure on HR professionals by providing a list of top-class coaching questions which you can use with your leadership team. Again can’t guarantee success for every question and you will probably have to adapt/edit them to suit your own personal ‘coaching’ style but have a read, maybe select one or two and drop them into your next ‘water-fountain’ break or leadership team meeting.

Coaching Questions for HR Professionals, here we go…

1. How well do you understand the unique selling points of our organisation compared to larger competitors? (This question encourages leaders to reflect on their company's strengths and how to communicate them effectively.)

2. In what ways can we make our roles more appealing to potential candidates without significantly increasing costs? (This prompts creative thinking about non-monetary benefits and perks.)

3. How are we currently measuring employee satisfaction and engagement? What could we improve? (This question focuses attention on retention strategies and the importance of regular feedback.)

4. What skills gaps do you foresee in our organisation over the next 3-5 years? How can we start addressing them now? (This encourages proactive thinking about future talent needs and development plans, gives you an understanding if they have even started thinking about it)

5. How can we better leverage our current employees' networks to attract new talent? (This question explores the potential of employee referral programmes and networking.)

6. What aspects of our company culture could be better communicated to potential candidates? (This prompts leaders to think about employer branding and how to showcase their organisation's unique attributes.)

7. How can we create more opportunities for cross-departmental collaboration and skill-sharing within and outside our organisation? (This question encourages thinking about internal & external talent development and retention strategies.)

Implementing Change

Who knows what insights you might uncover, or also not uncover, which might be insightful in itself, but armed with the new insight it could lead you (and your team) to:

1. Revamp job descriptions to highlight growth opportunities and company culture

2. Develop a comprehensive onboarding programme, which lasts longer than the first 6 weeks and focuses more on ‘why’ you do what you do, rather than ‘how’ it should be done.

3. Create mentorship programmes outside of your organisation to support employee development, look to large charities or other local businesses, where together you can share impact, ideas etc to drive a more community led success

4. Implement regular 'stay interviews' to uncover what excites, motivates and engages people to stay with you, how would they ‘sell’ the business to their networks?

5. Enhance the company's social media presence to attract the people you want....again, back to the 'why' you do what you so in your SME, not the how or the what, also get some of your current  key talent involved

Next step, select a couple of the coaching questions above and 'test the water' with a few of the keaders in your SME...I bet you will be surprised with the insight!

Some concluding thoughts...

So, as I said one blog is not going to solve the talent conundrum! But by asking some thought provoking questions of leaders within your SME it might start to bring them around to realising that talent management is critical for short and more importantly long term business success. It is something that just doesn’t happen, but HR professionals can play a crucial role in this process by coaching leaders to think creatively and strategically about talent acquisition and retention.