That was the trivia that started a great conversation with a group of 8 store managers about Employee Retention.

The idea of course being that one of them would be accompanying me in thinking that it isn’t the dove but the swan, but all of them agreed on the same option. (caveat: all in the group were women which I think puts me in disadvantage when talking about anything related to February 14th.)

So, the ice-breaker didn’t go as planned but it was directed at getting those pro-dove against those pro-swan and see how they’d react to listening others’ point of views.

When talking about employee retention…

…it’s important to note that active listening is the primary ingredient to separate those that you think would add value to your business and those who are just reporting for a paycheck.

As part of the conference, there was a segment where I asked them to write down the top 5 things that came to their minds when they hear the phrase “employee retention”. Surprisingly they all agreed on this one yet one more time: communication.

(At this point I’m thinking that I’m probably going to lose their attention since they all are on the same page; the kind of feeling you get that you’re not bringing anything new to the table).

But an exciting turnaround — 25 minutes into the conference and their eyes flashed wide open when I said that employees nowadays don’t stay at a job for their paycheck but for something more: growth.

Not too long ago people applied for jobs for security. Positions were filled by the few lucky ones that got the “Start tomorrow” line and dreams were fulfilled. Today, you can hardly establish a relationship with that barista at the local Starbucks; you see them today, tomorrow is another story.

The key is to…

…getting to know your people. It’s not about the money anymore; people want to feel part of something real that gives them the satisfaction and a purpose to be with you.

Here’s what I shared with this fantastic group:

1. Talk to them. Spend at least 10 minutes every day asking how it went the day before. Ask them what’s the customer they remember the most and why. Slowly you’ll be creating a profile that defines this particular employee.

2. Share with them weekly milestones. Inform about how well (or bad) the business did last week. Challenge them with “This is what we need to achieve next week” and let them be the ones to tell you what to do (strategies). You’ll be surprised to see how much creativity they can bring to the table.

3. Whenever possible, give them their paycheck (or stub) hand-to-hand. Accompany the envelope with a weekly performance evaluation and try to create a comparison between how much they earned and how well (or bad) they did. This approach gives them the ability to connect performance with rewards.

4. Host a monthly get-together. Something simple. It’s not about spending money just by ordering pizza; it’s about creating camaraderie and a TEAM. Turn off your managerial (boss, owner, etc.) switch and spend time with Lewis the person, not the employee. Ask and you’ll find out how interesting their own personal world is. (If you don’t find it enjoyable getting to know your staff, then you’re probably in the wrong spot).

5. HAVE FUN. I can’t stress this enough. When you have fun everybody arounds you flourishes. What you reflect is what you’ll get: portray pessimism, everybody will join you in being negative. Again, you can have rules and still have fun. You had rules in high school, but that didn’t stop you from having fun, right?

And remember, dove is the official bird of St. Valentine’s Day.

(I have included a copy of the PPT presentation used during the conference. Feel free to use it and good luck!)