Staff Retention and the Enneagram

A few of my Entrepreneurial  MD clients are really struggling with the fact they are losing several key staff at present. A few of them are also about to recruit new key staff. My first reaction was “why are they taking it so personally and reacting so strongly?” Now it is both a function of:

•           Where the business is at and
•           Their personalities

I tell clients that recruiting is one of, if not the most important HR task there is. You don’t just let anybody through the front door of your home.  Before you recruit you need to be very clear on your recruitment and selection process ensuring that it has rigour and thought.

We can spend a lot of time managing poor quality recruits and trying to get them on track when the initial process wasn’t sufficiently sound. So rather do it right up front.

My view is that we need to keep engaging with staff on what makes them stay. If we consider the impacts of Generational theory which posits that people born in different decades were affected by parents in different eras and want different things e.g. people born from 1989 to 2000 have the Defining and guiding values:

* Optimism * Confidence * High self-esteem * Media & entertainment overloaded * Street smart * Diversity * Conservative * Networkers * Civic duty * Ethical consumption * Achievement * Morality * Naiveté * Change * Techno-savvy * Global citizens, with a multi-everything view

 http://www.tomorrowtoday.uk.com/articles/article001_intro_gens.htm

So keep asking your employees what they want and how they want it to manage employee retention.

The Enneagram Personality Profile

The other insight for this blog is that I am finding the use of the Enneagram Personality Profile to be very powerful.

Leaders working with the Enneagram are finding its accuracy astounding and finding insights and nuggets that take them to a place where they can improve their ability to work under pressure and in conflict and improve their relationships significantly. Because the Enneagram has 9 different personality types and that the profile gives you a percentage on each it allows the leader to see the bigger picture of the link between the parts of their personalities. Leaders are asking their Exco to complete the profile so that as a team they can see their strengths and gaps.

Under pressure (stress) and in conflict (Harmonic Triad) leaders determine three things:

•           Their ability to be “competent” i.e. the ability to keep at it and keep  working or just do what they do despite the stress.
•           Positive Outlook – their ability to remain upbeat and optimistic
•           Their ability to speak their mind and take action while others may be  freezing or fleeing the scene.

http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/harmonics.asp#.UliN_6IaLIU

In terms of how they perform in their business and personal relationships (Hornevian Triad) they discover:

•           Their ability to assert their thoughts and feelings;
•           The degree to which they withdraw when required and
•           The degree to which they comply (duty and responsibility) or not.

http://www.fitzel.ca/enneagram/socstyle.html

If you have not seen it yet in another place on this site please check out this link http://vimeo.com/72633500. It shows how the Enneagram is being used by Susan Olesek to help rehabilitate prison convicts and regain their personal power.