During my last business trip I got to talk to some senior executives that where complaining about some issues they have at one of their locations from Romania.Over time I have learned that strategy is extremely important for anybody involved in business environment and not only business.
To be successful you really really need to know what you want and where you want to go.
Knowing this in detail and exactly will help you out in solving any issue you might encounter.
So to come back to the title of my posting. It is given an foreign well established company present in Romania since over 10 years.
The senior management guys that I’ve met complained about one issue in particular, they have one big issue, they have one high headcount turnover.
OK, it is correct that having a big headcount turnover rate is an serious issue.
The high turnover in headcount over the years can hinder a solid development of a company and can seriously endanger its very existence if this topic gets out of control.
It is quite serious when you can not build and retain experience in the company.
How I see it they did not have nor developed any location strategy regarding headcount turnover, they only focused on financial results.
The financial results where squeezed out over time but according to me in detriment of the headcount issue.
What can be done is actually quite simple, the location senior management has to sit together and act on one of the ignored management attributes, develop the strategy .
I agree to the fact that strategy is not directly generating financial results, it is more linked to to frame set-up that enables the achievement of sound and solid financial results.
Getting back to strategy for headcount turnover the important and easiest steps would be :
1. Finding the root of the problem, finding the cause of high headcount turnover at white and blue collar employees.
An easy solution would be exit interviews, talk to the people that are leaving the company.
2. Try to establish is it only your problem or do the other companies in the area have the same issue at comparable extent.
If its only you than it is obvious something is completely fishy in your organization, try to find out what it is , be honest to yourself.
If the others do not seem to have the same issue , try to find out what are they doing differently, try to see if you can do something differently. You might be surprised….
3. Try to understand the surrounding in that you are active, understand the community , understand their values and what not reassess the local market that you are active in.
You might find out that the values that you knew are obsolete and do not fit to the current situation.
4. Cross-check the findings with your own organizations values , see what is important and act on it. Do not be too shy to admit any potential mistakes that you might have made in the past.
5. Set up a specific clear action plan based and stick to it.
6. Most important Do Not forget to communicate your plan and changes to your staff.
7. Request appropriate feedback from your staff.
8. Do not expect sudden reactions and changes.
After all your action on an issues that has some history in your organization.
I do not know if this is making any sense but to me it is common sense and I am even more surprised that senior management is different companies still don’t get it.
Once I have read something that a smart guy said:
Think global act local , not the other way around.
I would be very interested to know your opinion on this topic.
Feel free to comment or drop me an email.