Managing Talent Retention

Focus Groups - The Often Overlooked Final Step

Focus groups are a wonderful resource for obtaining additional information about the cause of specific retention issues in your organization.  They allow you to gather feedback directly from those that may be affected by such issues and can be very helpful in either identifying which issues should be researched further or validating the issues identified by other data collection methods. 

They also have an additional purpose that is often overlooked by organizations, and that is to validate the solutions that are chosen based upon the information that they provided. 

Once all of the data is collected from the focus groups, and the causes of turnover have been identified, organizations set about developing appropriate solutions to address those causes.  While selecting the right solution an organization may consider long term vs. short-term costs, impact and time needed to implement a solution and perhaps even a forecast of the expected ROI of that solution.  However once the solution is chosen, a key final step prior to implementation is to present both the combined data results and proposed solutions to the focus group for their input.  This last step ensures that the solution matches the needs identified by the group, and that the needs identified at the time of the focus group are still relevant by the time the solution is developed.

Nominal Group Technique - Combining Data from Multiple Focus Groups

A third format for conducting focus groups is the nominal group technique.  This approach allows unbiased input to be collected efficiently and accurately, and input is solicited from participants in a carefully structured format. 

This approach begins with a specific retention issue being presented to the group, for example, “Today, we’d like to hear from you – why you believe top sales performers, those consistently within the top 10% on closed sales, are leaving the company at a higher rate than the rest of the sales department.”  Participants in the focus group then make a list of the specific reasons they believe this is happening and then share their lists with the group in a round robin format while all of the ideas are recorded and posted around the room. 

Next the lists are consolidated and integrated and the participants are asked to identify which ten items they consider to be the most important causes of the retention issue, in order of importance.  After the lists are completed each participant reveals his or her number one item, and ten points are recorded next to that item on the list for each person that has selected it as number one.  Next, the number two reason is identified, and nine points are allotted for each person that selected that item as the number two reason.  This continues as each participant reveals their entire top ten list and points are assigned to each cause based upon the rankings the receive. 

Finally, all of the numbers next to each item are totaled and the item with the most points becomes the number one cause of the retention issue.  Generally the top 15 causes are captured and reported as the weighted average cause of the retention issue from that group. 

One of the major advantages of using the Nominal Group Technique is that it allows you to combine information from numerous focus groups to obtain an overall list of the top reasons for the identified retention issue.  Simply combine the final scores for each item identified by the individual focus groups to create a list of the top 15 issues affecting your retention of top talent.

Obtaining Valuable Retention Data - The Ishikawa Diagram

Previously I’ve discussed the basics of conducting an interview focus group to gather information about retention and issues that may be affecting retention within your company.  While this method provides a lot of great input from participants, it can leave the company with a large list of ideas and possible issues to pursue, and can make it difficult to determine which issues are the most important and should take precedence. 

If obtaining a census from your focus group participants is your goal, you may want to consider using an Ishikawa diagram to brainstorm ideas related to the root cause of a problem.  After all ideas about the root causes have been identified, the group narrows the list of causes down to a few through voting.  The Ishikawa diagram, also known a fishbone diagram was named after Kaoru Ishikawa, who used the diagram to help teams identify cause and effect. 

Conducting a focus group using this process begins by carefully articulating the problem that needs to be solved.  After that participants brainstorm as many ideas as possible, categorizing them into specific “cause categories” that affect the specific retention issue, such as People, Materials, Environment, etc.  After all ideas are exhausted the group then votes on the causes they believe are most instrumental to resolving the identified problem, and thus, the top priorities are identified, leaving the company with a specific list of solutions to consider. 

Obtaining Valuable Retention Data - The Group Interview

There are several strategies that companies can use to obtain information about what is causing employees to leave the company.  Of these strategies focus groups are a great way for companies to solicit qualitative data on a specific topic or area of concern, and allow the facilitator to probe for more detail then what can be provided through a questionnaire. 

While there are several different ways to conduct a focus group, one of the methods used most often is a carefully crafted set of interview questions to ask the group.  Group interviews are a great method for gathering feedback directly from those that may be affected by such issues and can be very helpful in either identifying which issues should be researched further or validating the issues identified by other data collection methods. 

In Social Research Methods: Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches, Lawrence Newman identifies varies categories of questions that can be include in this type of focus group:

• Behavior-based questions that uncover the current behaviors of an individual
• Attitudes, Opinions, and Beliefs questions that reveal what someone thinks about a particular topic.
• Personal Characteristics that help to identify a particular group and potentially segment their responses.
• Participant Expections.
• Self-classification or Self-perceptions that participants have about themselves.
• Knowledge that participants currently posses or are lacking. 

Identify the series of questions to ask the focus groups and organize these into an Interview Guide, with specific questions grouped around common themes and ideas so that topics are not scattered and unfocused.  Ideally, broader conceptual questions, such as questions about specific behaviors, habits, and beliefs, should be asked at the start of the group interview, followed by more specific questions about challenges faced in the participant’s current role. Questions to get input on possible solutions should be asked at the end of the focus group. 

Coaching as a Talent Management Solution - Does it really pay off?

While it is widely accepted that coaching programs are effective in developing talent, coaching is also an effective solution for retaining talent. And, as organizations continue to evaluate the effectiveness of their people-related strategies and programs, more coaches find they must demonstrate the real impact coaching makes to an organization. The challenge for most coaches is how to credibly measure coaching’s impact in retaining talent.  

Using an ROI approach to capture business impact can help you determine if your coaching solution retains talent and produces a pay-off and return-on-investment for your organization.  In one recent case study a global company with relatively high turnover implemented a pilot coaching program with a select group of employees who were identified as “high risk” for leaving.  The company performed a full return-on-investment analysis upon completion of the program to determine whether it should be implemented on a wider scale.  The results of that study showed that none of the participants left the company during the year that the program was conducted and the study was completed, and the program resulted in a 251% ROI.  For every $1 the company invested in the program, $2.51 was returned after the costs of the program were captured.