The Talent Advantage. How to Attract and Retain the Best and the Brightest

Ever notice how companies with the best service also have the happiest employees? That’s no accident. Do you want to build a strong, successful organization? Start by ignoring your customers. Really. Instead, focus first on creating a better employee experience, or EX. Your employees interact with customers, make them smile, and carry your brand message from the warehouse to the front lines. If your employees are having a great experience, so will your customers. In The Employee Experience, employee engagement pioneers Tracy Maylett and Matthew Wride reveal the secrets not only to attracting and retaining top talent, but to building a deeply engaged workforce—the foundation of organizational success. With deep insights into the dynamics of trust and mutual expectations, this book shows that before you can deliver a transcendent customer experience (CX), you must first build a superlative EX. With real-world examples and more than 24 million employee survey responses, Maylett and Wride reveal a clear, consistent pattern among the world’s most successful organizations. By establishing a clear set of expectations and promises—collectively known as the Contract—and upholding it consistently, employers can build the trust that leads to powerful engagement. Whether in business, healthcare, education, sports, or nonprofit, these organizations are consistently more successful and more profitable, enjoy sustainable growth, and win the battle to keep today’s rarest resource: talented people. Blending rigorous research, detailed case studies, in-depth interviews and expert insights, The Employee Experience will teach you to: Make the employee experience a core part of your strategy Understand employee expectations and bridge the “Expectation Gap” Establish rock-solid Brand, Transactional, and Psychological Contracts that breed trust and confidence Build an employee-employer partnership in creating something extraordinary Turn employee engagement into fuel for customer satisfaction, profit, and growth Attracting talent, retaining top performers, and creating an environment in which employees choose to engage drives results. The Employee Experience shows you where truly extraordinary organizations begin…and how to build one. TRACY MAYLETT, Ed.D, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is the CEO of DecisionWise, where he currently advises leaders across the globe in leadership, change, and employee engagement. Maylett holds a doctorate from Pepperdine University and an MBA from BYU. He is a recognized author, and teaches in the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University. MATTHEW WRIDE, JD, PHR, is the COO of DecisionWise. With an extensive business background, Wride brings a fresh approach to organization development and leadership consulting. He is passionate about helping leaders create winning employee experiences. Wride holds a JD from Willamette University and a master’s degree from the University of Washington. For over two decades, DecisionWise has advised organizations and leaders in more than seventy countries on leadership, assessment, talent, organization development, and the employee experience. Visit us online at www.decision-wise.com.

A new system of people practices that produce extraordinary business results Hiring and retaining great people is the key to profitable growth, but it is the number one issue keeping leaders and managers awake at night. Winning the War for Talent addresses this issue with an unconventional ‘how to’ guide of innovative techniques to source and retain skilled staff. This book shows you how to do away with old-fashioned, destructive and subjective practices that have spread like a pandemic through the HR industry. It also outlines why effective sourcing of talent is now vital to business success. You will be shown proven, scientific solutions that are rarely used and never mentioned in existing business books and seminars and much, much more. Includes a complete step-by-step system with checklists, KPIs and templates that organisations of any size or type, can easily follow and implement Features proven strategies and secret weapons that won't cost you a cent, highlighted in case studies from a diverse range of businesses Written by bestselling author Mandy Johnson, the youngest ever director of Flight Centre, Australia’s leading travel agent For business owners and organisational leaders Winning the War for Talent is your must-have companion to effective recruitment, staff retention and increasing business success.

A groundbreaking book that offers approaches for changing the hidden biases in the workplace This is an eye-opening examination of the causes and dynamics of bias in the workplace, offering a psychological, political, and societal analysis of the actual cost of bias to the bottom line. The authors make the hurdles that women and minorities face in the workplace as personal to the reader as they are to those who face them. Giving Notice is filled with sensible approaches for solving the current imbalance and challenges us to rethink unconscious ideas about stereotypes and commonly accepted business practices. Freada Kapor Klein (San Francisco, CA) is an internationally noted consultant and diversity expert. She has been quoted in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and on the Today show, Nightline, and NBC Nightly News. Kimberly Allers (Bayshore, NY) was a writer at Fortune magazine and is a frequent guest speaker at professional development and women-oriented seminars. Martha Mendoza (Santa Cruz, CA) is a national writer for the Associated Press. She won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.

A different way of discovering and developing the best business ideas Jack Welch once said, «Someone, somewhere has a better idea.» In this myth-busting book, the authors reveal that great business ideas do not spring from innate creativity, or necessarily from the brilliant minds of people. Rather, great ideas come to those who are in the habit of looking for great ideas all around them, all the time. Too often, people fall into the trap of thinking that the only worthwhile idea is a thoroughly original one. Idea Hunters know better. They understand that valuable ideas are already out there, waiting to be found – and not just in the usual places. Shows how to expand your capacity to find and develop winning business ideas Explains why ideas are a critical asset for every manager and professional, not just for those who do «creative» Reveals how to seek out and select the ideas that best serve your purposes and goals and define who you are, as a professional Offers practical tips on how to master the everyday habits of an Idea Hunter, which include cultivating great conversations The book is filled with illustrative accounts of successful Idea Hunters and stories from thriving «idea» companies. Warren Buffet, Walt Disney, Thomas Edison, Mary Kay Ash, Twitter, and Pixar Animation Studios are among the many profiled.

A practical, real-world training manual for mid-level management Managing to Make a Difference presents a leadership guide for those in the middle. The C-suite has a wealth of resources for leadership guidance, but middle managers face a quandary: often given little guidance on how to excel, they are also under enormous pressure to do a variety of things other than «lead.» This book provides much-needed tools and techniques for building a high-performing team—without letting your other duties suffer. Organized around a coherent philosophy and based on solid research, the discussion offers a roadmap to engagement, talent development, and excellence in management. From difficult situations and organizational challenges to everyday motivation and inspiration, these techniques help middle managers achieve the goals of their organization while empowering their workers to achieve their own. Talent development is probably not your full-time job—yet it drives the engagement that results in high performance. This book shows you how to hit the «sweet spot» of middle management, with a host of tools and strategies to help you help your team shine. Motivate, inspire, and lead your team with confidence Manage through challenges and overcome obstacles Develop key talent and maintain high engagement Adopt practical management tools based on substantiated research Most organizations direct the majority of their development resources to the C-suite, but still expect their mid-level managers to attract, engage, retain, and develop talent; but successfully juggling everyday duties while maintaining team performance and leading around roadblocks leaves little room for management planning. Managing to Make a Difference offers the solution in the form of tools, techniques, and practical strategy for a high performing team.

Research Shows Organizations That Focus on Employee Experience Far Outperform Those That Don't Recently a new type of organization has emerged, one that focuses on employee experiences as a way to drive innovation, increase customer satisfaction, find and hire the best people, make work more engaging, and improve overall performance. The Employee Experience Advantage is the first book of its kind to tackle this emerging topic that is becoming the #1 priority for business leaders around the world. Although everyone talks about employee experience nobody has really been able to explain concretely what it is and how to go about designing for it…until now. How can organizations truly create a place where employees want to show up to work versus need to show up to work? For decades the business world has focused on measuring employee engagement meanwhile global engagement scores remain at an all time low despite all the surveys and institutes that been springing up tackle this problem. Clearly something is not working. Employee engagement has become the short-term adrenaline shot that organizations turn to when they need to increase their engagement scores. Instead, we have to focus on designing employee experiences which is the long term organizational design that leads to engaged employees. This is the only long-term solution. Organizations have been stuck focusing on the cause instead of the effect. The cause is employee experience; the effect is an engaged workforce. Backed by an extensive research project that looked at over 150 studies and articles, featured extensive interviews with over 150 executives, and analyzed over 250 global organizations, this book clearly breaks down the three environments that make up every single employee experience at every organization around the world and how to design for them. These are the cultural, technological, and physical environments. This book explores the attributes that organizations need to focus on in each one of these environments to create COOL spaces, ACE technology, and a CELEBRATED culture. Featuring exclusive case studies, unique frameworks, and never before seen research, The Employee Experience Advantage guides readers on a journey of creating a place where people actually want to show up to work. Readers will learn: The trends shaping employee experience How to evaluate their own employee experience using the Employee Experience Score What the world's leading organizations are doing around employee experience How to design for technology, culture, and physical spaces The role people analytics place in employee experience Frameworks for how to actually create employee experiences The role of the gig economy The future of employee experience Nine types of organizations that focus on employee experience And much more! There is no question that engaged employees perform better, aspire higher, and achieve more, but you can't create employee engagement without designing employee experiences first. It's time to rethink your strategy and implement a real-world framework that focuses on how to create an organization where people want to show up to work. The Employee Experience Advantage shows you how to do just that.

Take control of your financial future with expert guidance from wealth educators and property millionaires John Lee and Vincent Wong The Wealth Dragon Way is an essential guide to creating passive income, building property-based wealth, and achieving financial freedom. This inspiring and informative resource can help you define your financial goals and identify the steps you need to take to achieve them. Exploring common myths and misinformation surrounding wealth—such as “money is the root of all evil”—this book shows how overcoming fear and self-doubt can change the way you think about wealth and your potential for personal growth. Real-world examples illustrate how entrepreneurs can use alternative strategies to acquire properties below market value. Fully updated to reflect the current economic environment, this second edition includes the Top Ten Habits of Successful Wealth Dragons as well as new chapters on the foundations of true wealth and how to adopt abundance mentality. From expanded sections on multiple income streams to a more in-depth look at the psychology behind our approach to money, such as posing the question, “Is money your friend?,” this latest edition offers a roadmap to achieving infinite wealth. Knowing why you want to be wealthy increases your chances of becoming wealthy. This essential guide explores what lies beneath our relationship with money and offers practical methods to attain the freedom that monetary wealth affords and stresses the importance of having high moral wealth. Gain practical guidance delivered with an inspiring motivational message Learn how to define your goals and maximize your likelihood of success Explore the psychological patterns that prevent us from achieving our financial goals Overcome the obstacles standing in the way of your financial freedom It has never been more important to take control of your financial future. Uncertain economic futures, increasing healthcare costs, and unreliable retirement benefits are just a few reasons to start focusing on your financial future today. No matter what your ultimate goal is—whether you want to quit the daily grind, acquire assets for increased security, or build passive income streams to achieve true financial freedom—The Wealth Dragon Way shows you the best way to get there.

Stop procrastinating and become financially free, by building asset-based wealth and creating passive income. The Wealth Dragon Way: The Why, the When and the How to Become Financially Free is a practical guide to becoming financially free through building asset-based wealth and creating passive income. Part motivational, part informational, this guide will change your whole perspective on wealth and your personal growth potential. The book discusses both moral and monetary wealth, and looks at how we are easily misled and influenced by media-driven myths surrounding money, debunking notions such as the idea that there is no truly moral way to become wealthy, or the belief that the state will provide for us in retirement, and more. You'll discover new truths surrounding the subject of wealth, and get to the root of your own procrastination over planning for your financial future. You will learn how to tackle your fears and overcome the issues holding you back. You will also read real-life examples of how two property entrepreneurs built their significant portfolios using alternative strategies such as using lease options, and structuring and securing deals at below market value. Along the way, you'll learn what it means to become a Wealth Dragon, and the key principles to live by if you're ready to work towards achieving real financial freedom. You are far more likely to achieve personal wealth if you are one hundred percent clear as to why you want it. This book explores the psychology of our relationship with money and offers a practical advice for anyone who is determined to meet their goals and realize their dreams. Bust the myths surrounding the subject of wealth Start taking control of your financial future Adopt the key Wealth Dragon principles Discover your full potential for financial and personal growth The importance of taking control of your financial future cannot be overstated, especially in these economically uncertain times. Whether you want to quit the rat race, build some assets as security, or develop a branded business that will provide you with a passive income, The Wealth Dragon Way is your guide to building wealth and becoming financially free.

A fresh approach to the old problem of «diversity fatigue» Trevor Wilson, global diversity strategist and visionary leader, presents a fresh, new management model that goes beyond the traditional diversity debate towards inclusion and building human capital. Featuring case studies and practical diagnostic tools and assessments, this book will benefit anyone who is interested in improving their business by building on the unique talents of employees' innate strengths, unique abilities, personality, attitude, life experience and virtues. The agent of this change, the driver of the process, is the equitable leader. This important book outlines 8 core competencies that will guide leaders to create equitable and inclusive work environments where employees are valued because of, not in spite of, their differences and each person can be recognized and developed to strive for their highest potential. Includes a new paradigm for diversity initiatives and finds new solutions Reveals the core competencies that help leaders create an equitable and inclusive workplace Shows how companies can improve hiring and retention, reduce turnover, increase productivity, improve teamwork, and ultimately increase the bottom line The Human Equity Advantage gives you the tools to tap into the unique talents and strengths of each employee.

Praise for Made in Canada Leadership «As an energy delivery company that takes great pride in our commitment to sustainable development, Enbridge recognizes that the leading, sustainable corporations of tomorrow must create an internal culture where leadership is fostered and nurtured at all levels. Made in Canada Leadership provides the roadmap for corporations seeking to secure their long-term future as industry leaders through the development and empowerment of any great company's strength—its people.» —Patrick D. Daniel, President & CEO, Enbridge Inc. «Made in Canada Leadership makes a compelling case for a strategic and concerted approach to individual and collective leadership development to build our country’s leadership. If we want the right supply of leaders, we need to develop leadership in all sectors and at all levels. It is a long-term commitment and a collaborative endeavour. I am personally committed to rise to the challenge and engage in the leadership development movement and I hope others will join us in this quest for leadership.» —Denise Amyot, Vice-President, Leadership Network, Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada «Developing elite athletes who can win at the international level demands more than time, effort, resources, money and raw talent. It requires support systems that are effective and strategic and the mentoring of coaches who understand how to maximize not only the athletes’ physical potential but also their mental preparation. A similar case can be made for leader development. Made in Canada Leadership looks at what is needed to transform our leadership development efforts from amateur to major league. A must read!» —Chris Rudge, CEO and Secretary General, Canadian Olympic Committee «In our global world, human assets increasingly constitute the competitive advantage; and to succeed, quality leadership is required. However, leadership development is not a casual undertaking, but a long term investment and a shared responsibility. Nurturing future leaders offers significant ROI for all concerned: high returns for the organization and fulfilled leaders. Made in Canada Leadership provides an essential guide to the secrets of growing leaders from a strategic and Canadian perspective.» —Paul Juniper, Director, Industrial Relations Centre, Queen’s University