Are you having trouble retaining top talent at your company? Eric Jackson, blogging for Forbes.com, notes that employee retention is a problem at many companies. And he offers a Top 10 list of mistakes companies make:

 

1. Bureaucracy. "This is probably the #1 reason we hear after the fact from disenchanted employees," Jackson writes. No one likes rules that make no sense. "When top talent is complaining about this, it's usually a sign that they didn't feel they had a say in the rules. They were simply told get with the program."

 

2. Failing to Find a Project for their Talents. Companies seldom have people going to their best and brightest asking them if they're enjoying their current projects. HR people are usually too busy keeping up with other things to get into this. The bosses are also busy, and this becomes a "nice to have" rather than a "must have" conversation. "However," warns Jackson, "unless you see it as a 'must have,' say adios to some of your best people."

 

3. Poor Annual Performance Reviews. Too many companies do a bad job with annual reviews, Jackson says. If they have them at all, they are rushed through, with a form quickly filled out and sent off to HR. The impression this leaves with the employee is that my boss - and, therefore, the company - isn't really interested in my long-term future. If that's the case, why stay?

 

4. No Discussion around Career Development. Here's a secret for most bosses: most employees don't know what they'll be doing in five years. In our experience, about less than 5% of people could tell you if you asked. However, everyone wants to have a discussion with the boss about his or her future. Jackson recommends having separate annual discussions with your employees - apart from their annual or semi-annual performance review meetings - to discuss succession planning or career development. If your best people know you think there's a path for them going forward, they'll be more likely to hang around, he says.

 

5. Shifting Whims/Strategic Priorities. I applaud companies trying to build an incubator or "brickhouse" around their talent, by giving them exciting new projects to work on. The challenge for most organizations is not setting up a strategic priority, like establishing an incubator, but sticking with it for a year or more. Top talent hates to be "jerked around," Jackson says. If you commit to a project that they will be heading up, you've got to give them enough opportunity to deliver what they've promised.

 

6. Lack of Accountability and/or telling them how to do their jobs. Jackson notes that top talent demands accountability from others and doesn't mind being held accountable for their projects. Therefore, have regular touch points with your best people as they work through their projects. They'll appreciate your insights/observations/suggestions - as long as you don't cross over to what feels like micro-management.

 

7. Top Talent likes other Top Talent. What are the rest of the people around your top talent like? Many organizations keep some people on the payroll that rationally shouldn't be there. When doing exit interviews with the best people leaving companies, you often hear how they were turned off by some of their former "team mates," notes Jackson, adding: "If you want to keep your best people, make sure they're surrounded by other great people."

 

8. The Missing Vision Thing. This might sound obvious, but is the future of your organization exciting? What strategy are you executing? Did your top talent have input into this vision? If the answer is no, there's work to do - and quickly!

 

9. Lack of Open-Mindedness. The best people want to share their ideas and have them listened to. If good people are leaving and disagreeing with your strategy, you're left with a bunch of "yes" people saying the same things to each other. You've got to be able to listen to others' points of view.

 

10. Who's the Boss? If a few people who report to the same boss have recently quit at your company, it's probably not a coincidence. Jackson says his organization often gets requests to come in and "fix" someone who's a great sales person, engineer, or is a founder, but who is driving everyone around them crazy. "We can try, but unfortunately, executive coaching usually only works 33% of the time in these cases," he says. "You're better off trying to find another spot for them in the organization."

 

 

It's no secret that employees want satisfying, engaging work. But how do managers create jobs that offer such work? Penelope Trunk, blogging for openforum.com, offers a few ways to approach the issue. "The good news is that none of them costs money," she writes. "The bad news is that you have to be a lot more thoughtful about whom you hire if you are going to ensure that people working at your company feel fully engaged."

 

Pay attention to Myers-Briggs scores

 

People are most engaged with their work when they are doing what feels fulfilling, writes Trunk. People who love details (S-types) feel good working at a detailed level. They feel that no work is getting done if there are no details to deal with. Conversely, big-picture thinkers (NT-types) need to be doing work that looks toward the future. Otherwise they feel they are wasting their time on things that don't matter. These are just two examples of how people need to have work that matches their personality type. (Wondering what your personality type is? Take this free test.)

 

Encourage teamwork

 

Not everyone is a team player. (In fact, Trunk writes, in terms of demographics, Baby Boomers are the worst team players and those who are Generation Y - born in the mid-1980s and later - are the best team players.) Many people like to work alone. But at our core, we are social beings, which means we feel good when we help someone. An office where people can rely on each other enables all workers to engage more deeply in their work because they trust the people around them. The side benefit to this atmosphere of helping and teamwork is that work starts to have a deeper meaning for everyone involved.

 

Encourage experimentation

 

It's hard to know what you're going to be good at. Wayne Osgood, professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, says that only 5 percent of people pick the right work for themselves on the first try. The rest need to try several things before they know where they fit. If an employee is not engaged, it's probably because he or she is not in the right spot. A great way to help someone find satisfying work is to introduce them to a wide range of tasks, Trunk says. Peak work satisfaction comes at the intersection of what a person likes to do, what he or she is good at, and what an organization values.

 

This way of running a business takes more energy, for sure, but Trunk predicts that managers will find it's worth it. Engaged employees perform at higher levels and have lower turnover. But the biggest benefit is that when you provide work for your employees that is engaging and satisfying, your job becomes more meaningful, as well.

 

Why do some companies consistently outperform their competitors? Why do some people become champions while others fall short? What skills do you need to improve to reach your highest potential?

 

Before you race to embrace the newest tech gadgets and management tactics to gain even the slightest competitive edge, consider some recent research that shows that good old-fashioned grit is the number one indicator of high performance.

 

Research co-authored by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan, and West Point showed that grit, defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals, had better predictability for success than IQ. The experts break it down and list these attributes as the building blocks of grit:

• A clear goal
• Determination despite others' doubts
• Self-confidence about figuring it out
• Humility about knowing it doesn't come easy
• Persistence despite fear
• Patience to handle the small obstacles that obscure the path
• A code of ethics to live by
• Flexibility in the face of roadblocks
• A capacity for human connection and collaboration
• A recognition that accepting help does not equate to weakness
• A focus and appreciation of each step in the journey
• An appreciation of other people's grit
• A loyalty that never sacrifices connections along the way
• An inner strength to help propel you to your goal.

Best of all, it's possible to build, screen for, and measure grit. The  Grit Test, developed by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, is a simple questionnaire that helps you determine your Grit Score. It's worth four minutes to find out how much mojo you and your team have so you can get about building more of it, writes Josh Linkner, blogging for fastcompany.com. The good news is that grit comes from within, and none of us is precluded from building this attribute.

 

"It doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, come from a good neighborhood, have an Ivy League degree or are good looking," says Linkner. "We all have nearly limitless potential, and the opportunity to seize it is waiting for us."

 

Let old-school grit and determination serve as the catalyst to achieving your own personal greatness, writes Linkner.  "You don't need another tech gadget; just the same killer app that has been the foundation of success since the beginning of civilization."