Recently, I’ve seen an opportunity jump out at me, and I thought, “Bummer, I committed to writing about managing cash part two”, so instead I decided to highlight this opportunity in this section. Why is it an opportunity to retain and find top talent today/ now?

  1. Take advantage of your competition’s losses – given recent layoffs and unemployment statistics, there is some exceptional talent and underappreciated employees available in today’s work environment.
  2. Don’t survive; thrive – why focus all your energy on surviving? Instead, invest in your #1 resource – people. The right people will figure out how to leap over survival and instead develop a way to thrive.
  3. Think ROI (return on investment) – the best people will return a significant ROI. Why worry about $50,000 or $100,000 in salary when you can retain or find talent which implements $1,000,000 in cost savings (with a large percentage immediate / quick payback)?
  4. Retain talent – don’t become so focused on those involved with layoffs or quietly celebrating that you can avoid layoffs that you forget to retain your most valuable resource – your people. I bet each of us knows of someone or has someone working for us who reliably delivers results, yet since their manager is completely swamped and diverted to day-to-day firefighting, they are ignored. Change this today. Or, if you are one of those employees or a peer of one of those employees, help each other – celebrate successes, brainstorm how to contribute to the goal, provide suggestions, consider the positive, etc.
  5. Don’t get too complex – if you are one of the few hiring, do not become overly complex and rigid in requirements. Of course, there is nothing more critical than finding the best person to fit the role; however, eliminating a significant portion of potential candidates for arbitrary reasons (narrow search criteria) defeats your purpose. None of the top 3 people I’ve worked with during my career would qualify for many of the positions advertised today due to different reasons – when the top 3 people cannot fit typical criteria, something is wrong!