*This piece appeared on the CBS Small Business Pulse website:

How To Keep The Competitive Hiring Culture In Your Favor

December 28, 2015

Click here for online version of article with accompanying video:

http://cbspulse.com/2015/12/28/how-competitive-hiring-culture-favor/

Todd Cherches is the CEO and co-founder of BigBlueGumball, a NYC-based training consulting firm that helps companies discover and develop the hidden talents within their organizations. He offers the following insights on a major issue that small businesses are currently facing.

There are numerous issues commonly faced by my small business clients, but one of the biggest issues right now is the war for talent as small businesses compete with bigger companies, and with each other, around talent acquisition, engagement, and retention.

With the job market picking up, employees have more opportunities available to them than they have had in years to decide where they want to take their talents. So companies need to work harder than ever to get people to stay…while also getting them to put their heart and soul into what they do. As one of the top reasons people quit their jobs is due to poor management and/or no leadership, leadership development and management training are more crucial than ever.

What do small businesses need to do to compete in this war for talent?

Just as a speedboat is more nimble than a battleship, small businesses can compete with larger organizations by leveraging their competitive advantages. While small businesses may not have the size, resources, and visibility of the big boys, they can and must be more creative and flexible in attracting, engaging and retaining talented people.

There are numerous ways of doing so including, but not limited to:

• Offering employees greater access to information and increased involvement in things that interest them
• Flexibility in terms of when, where and how they go about their work
• Being creative in implementing non-financial, low-cost reward and recognition programs
• Offering training and development, and personalized coaching and mentoring opportunities

This war is a battle amongst organizations of all types to acquire, engage, and retain the best people from a limited pool of top talent. The way we help in this regard -- through our consulting, training and coaching work -- is by encouraging and enabling our clients to create an environment that gets potential hires to want to work there, to motivate these employees to perform and to produce while they are there, and to support and develop them so that they want to stay there.

In his book, “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us,” Dan Pink states that people are motivated by three key non-financial incentives — Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. If small businesses empower their people to do their jobs in their own way [autonomy], in an environment that allows them to develop and grow [mastery], while doing work that truly matters [purpose], they will be taking positive steps towards setting their people, and their organizations, up for success.
 
As told to Robin D. Everson of Examiner.com for CBS Small Business Pulse.