Leading at PMI: Re-recruiting your talent

Ben's note: At Progressive Medical we take leadership development seriously : wanted to share some nuggets from our weekly leadership email - at the end of the day our organizations are only as good as our people and leadership

Points to ponder:
What are you doing to build leadership in your organization?
What are the implications of your current leadrship development plan?

Re-Recruiting Your Talent

A successful accountant, tragically hit by a bus and killed, arrives at the Pearly Gates and is welcomed by St. Peter, who says that she will need to spend one day in Heaven and one day in Hell before she decides where she would like to spend eternity.

With great trepidation, she enters Hell and is amazed to find a beautiful golf course, friends and colleagues who welcome her, terrific food, and a great party. At the end of her day she regretfully leaves Hell in order to experience a day in Heaven. That experience is quite good also with the clouds, angels, harps and singing that she expected.

St. Peter pushes her to make the decision of a lifetime (and beyond). In which place would she spend eternity—Heaven or Hell? You guessed it, she chooses Hell!

When she returns to Hell she finds a desolate wasteland and her friends are dressed in rags and picking up gar­bage. There are no parties—only misery and despair.

She says to the Devil, “I don’t understand, yesterday I was here and there was a golf course and we ate lobster and had a great time. Now I see a wasteland and all my friends look miserable.” The Devil looks at her and smiles. “Yesterday we were recruiting you; today you’re an em­ployee.”

Encourage the Heart

If you chuckled knowingly at the story, it may be because there is a shred (or more) of truth to it. You may have experienced it yourself at a pervious employer—the wining and dining during the recruitment phase, and then a cold, cruel reality once you signed on. If a cold reality strikes too soon, you will surely lose your new gem.

The Three Year Rule

Research shows that, whether you know you are doing it or not, you actually re-recruit your new hires for the first three years in which they are on board, and that they are easily enticed away during that time. So make sure to re-recruit that talent with pur­pose! Often new employees get a lot of the attention. Show your tenured employees that they are important and critical to you and to the success of your team, especially as you recruit new team members.