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Attracting and retaining young professionals by tapping into what really drives them

24/03/2021

I have recently been involved in a development path for young graduates (ages 23-26) helping them to identify what drives them in terms of their motivation and how they can use this awareness to communicate their personal brand in job interviews.

The work started with the first lockdown in 2020 and it is still ongoing using the diagnostic questionnaire Motivational Maps as a practical way of understanding their motivational drivers. 

Aggregating the results for the 50 young graduates that have gone through the process so far, what emerges is that:

  1. Their motivation comes from achieving their full potential – seeing the steps they’re making to achieve what they aspire to become 
  2. Out of 9 motivational factors, their top 3 drivers are 1) purpose, 2) learning orientation and 3) creativity
  3. Their overall change index score – ie the extent to which they are receptive to change -is 65 out of 100, meaning that they show a higher than average positive attitude to change and are quite risk-friendly

Looking at these aggregate results, we can make some connections with what organisations may need to bear in mind to attract and, later, retain such talents in the unpredictable times ahead. When I refer to organisations I will use an inclusive ‘we’ as I am in the same situation of understanding how to adapt past approaches to better attract and retain talent that will enable our own company to grow.

Motivational driver 1: purpose

Being driven by purpose means doing things that are valuable for their own sake. A task, an activity or a choice to be made needs to have an intrinsic value and be significant in its own right. This can result in a constant search for ‘something better’, such as a cause, that does not exist now.

Implications for organisations: if the quest for meaning creates an insatiable curiosity, a real need to see the bigger picture… 

Why don’t we make a conscious effort to explain the ‘why’ of projects, tasks, activities that we assign rather than just the ‘what’ or the ‘how’? 

Why don’t we make a greater effort to provide regular feedback – especially positive appreciation to show the real impact they are having on those around them?

Why don’t we ensure we allocate some customer-facing roles as that feeds the desire to make the difference?

Motivational driver 2: learning orientation

Being driven by learning, on the other hand, means owning and showing mastery of a subject. Having the opportunity to specialize in a field and teaching it to others is highly rewarding. 

Implications for organisations: if the quest for expertise creates a real search for mastery… 

Why don’t we make sure we have an excellent induction program in place?

Why don’t we enable these young professionals to be in positions in which they can share their learning experiences and cascade them or pass on their social media skills to the older generation?

Why don’t we select high-quality online packages around technical, interpersonal and managerial skills to enable them to keep on learning?

Motivational driver 3: creativity

Being driven by creativity means looking for innovation, cutting-edge solutions and being able to perform at one’s best by having new problems to solve and challenges to overcome. Bringing into existence what wasn’t there before is the essence of this motivational driver. 

Implications for organisations: if the quest for creativity creates a real search for newness…

Why don’t we assign to these young professionals business areas in which a fresh perspective is needed?

Why don’t we offer truly innovative development opportunities?

Why don’t we create working spaces with colour, rhythm, nature, light to create a stimulating environment?

There are thousands of ways of attracting and retaining young professionals in our organisations. The great opportunity now as we get ready to transition to a blend of f2f and remote working is to do this by first understanding what they find truly energizing rather than assuming that they need what we believe they are looking for.

Join the discussion on this post on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/attracting-retaining-young-professionals-tapping-what-crestani-1e/
by Marianna Amy Crestani
Leadership

WHEN CARING BECOMES TOO MUCH

19/03/2021

To support performance, leaders need to balance a focus on ‘daring’ (goal setting, performance management, accountability) with ‘caring’ (psychological safety, empathy and active listening). But what about when ‘caring’ becomes too much?

Here are 2 examples from real conversations that I had recently with leaders:
LEADER 1: has made himself so ‘available’ to the team emotionally and personally that he found himself taking calls at all times of the day and weekend. This is having extreme costs on his energy levels, and a sense of work-life balance.

LEADER 2: has received negative feedback that team-members are feeling smothered by her concerns for their welfare experienced in daily check-ups and un-solicited support with stakeholder management.

According to concepts of secure-based leadership the added value of ‘caring’ is that it supports the psychological safety to ‘dare’. But as our conversations show, if you overdo ‘caring’ – or the wrong kind of ‘caring’ – you can create emotional dependency in some team-members and a feeling of micro-management in others.

What is your learning about how to get the balance right?

Join the discussion on this post on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nigel-ewington-2b07835_leadership-mentalhealthawareness-leadershipdevelopment-activity-6776147920547811328-FI0X
by Nigel Ewington
Leadership

It takes a fool to remain sane: lessons of authentic leadership

26/02/2018

There is no better way of speaking about effective leadership than to write the real story of an authentic leader.

I have recently been involved in conversations with a relatively young leader responsible for 1.250 people in a complex and politically delicate organisation.

All our talks have been around what leadership looks like in every-day life. More specifically:

  • How can you focus on developing your people while dealing with emergencies 24 hours a day?
  • How can you be someone people look up to with respect while still being emotionally accessible?
  • How can you keep connected with organisational priorities while not losing sight of details?(which, in his case, can potentially put people’s life in danger)

Here is what he says:

I am just like everybody else. Possibly my only difference is that I have not forgotten how to play. Playing means not being victims of social clichés. It means not apologizing for what you do and having the courage to challenge the conventions others expect you to blindly follow. Only if you stay in the position of openness and positive curiosity that children typically have, can you then be attentive to what happens around you – be it expected or, especially, unexpected… on the other hand, as my favourite songs says ‘it takes a fool to remain sane’.

As a coach and consultant, I am often in conversations with both established leaders and with high potentials in their first people management position. I see excellence and challenges every day. I see ambitions and struggles. I see desires and dreams.

What I don’t see a lot of is voicing ‘the gut feeling’ – that deep energy that comes from the belly and that we all have thanks to our own and unique experiences and failures. That intuition that comes from thinking and feeling freely and that can make you go much further than expected. In other words, that creative and liberating energy that we can foster only by allowing ourselves moments of craziness…

or… as The Ark sing:

Do, do, do what you wanna do

Don’t think twice,

do what you have to do

Do, do, do, do, let your heart decide

That’s all there is to find

by Marianna Amy Crestani
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