How to Attract, Motivate and Retain Startup Talent

by Jarie Bolander on April 20, 2010 Attracting top talent is challenging. Motivating talent is a fine art. Retaining talent can boarder on superhuman. Throw a startup in the mix and those three tasks take on higher importance. Top talent has their pick of exciting startups so yours has to stand out.

Attraction
Startups are unique in that they attract a certain type of talent. This type of talent is driven to create, innovate and change the world. Attracting this talent requires a certain set of special conditions that will set you apart from all the others. These conditions include:

Interesting work: Talent is attracted to startups because they work on cool stuff. Whatever the project is, it has to be interesting and stimulating. A competitive salary: Competitive means within industry norms. Not super low or high. You want your talent worry about building your product not about feeding their family. Competitive benefits: Just like the salary, the benefits have to be within industry norms. This shows that you respect your talents needs. Talented management: The first talent you need to attract is talented management. Good management makes everyones life easier and will make attracting top talent a lot easier. Other high quality talent: Top talent likes to work with other top talent. Attract as many good people as you can and watch how they attract others. Flexible work environment: Life sometimes gets in the way of work. Being flexible so that people can take care of their life issues ensures that top talent will want to work for you.

Notice that I did not include huge stock options or big upside potential. Those are important but not as important as creating an environment where the work is the reward and people feel like they are part of something bigger.

Motivation
People are motivated by different wants, needs and desires startup talent is no different. While each individual may have different prime motivational factors, a startup has to provide a framework that considers all of these factors in order to maintain momentum. Consider these motivational strategies:

Meaningful work: Most top talent will want to work on meaningful things that will change the world. This is the main reason they came to your company. Keep the work meaningful even when it might be mundane. Freedom to create: Top talent wants to invent and create. Allow them to do that by encouraging people to solve problems in creative ways. Dont put a lot of process in the way. Trust that good people will build fantastic products. Realistic expectations: Nothing crushes talent like the never ending meat grinder of unrealistic expectations. Everyone knows they need to work hard but dont add superhuman effort to the equation it just burns people out. Clear goals and objectives: Clarity of purpose allows top talent to get their job done. Strive to clearly define what is required and then dont change it. Being indecisive and constantly changing direction will demotivate even the most motivated person. Setting these goals does not mean you dont change them when its clear that something has to give. Flexibility: Being flexible is not just for the work environment and should be part of your culture. A culture of flexibility will allow creative solutions for problems that might pop up.

The great fallacy about motivation is that money is a good motivator. In fact, its the worst motivator for startup talent. If you find talent that is solely motivated by the Benjamins, run far away. Its true that the attraction to a startup is the potential for huge upside but thats a small part of it. The real motivation is to work on exciting products and services that your talent can directly affect in big ways. When the upside comes, its just that an unexpected benefit.

Retention
Your attraction and motivation efforts will be for not unless you can retain your talent. The most important thing about talent retention is that management is fair, balanced and open with everyone. This can be hard when your startup is going through tough times. Any retention efforts need to be done well before the crisis or the results will be lack luster. Some retention strategies include:

Open communication: Treat your talent like part of the team. This means that you need to be as open as practical to the situation your startup is in. Openness will always be rewarded with loyalty if its genuine. Treating talent the same: Its important that a manager treat all her talent the same. Showing favoritism will drive a wedge between your team. This will lead some of them to have a I cant win attitude and that poisons your group. Be flexible within reason: Rigid rules and procedures will just drive talented people mad. Be flexible yet dont be a pushover since being too wishy-washy will also drive people away. Being flexible also means that you allow your people to solve problems the way they want to. Looking out for needs beyond the company: People have a life outside of work. Respect that and allow them to deal with their life issues when they arise.

Being open to suggestions: Nothing drives away talented people more than the my way or no way attitude. Always be open to suggestions, acknowledge good ideas and respect dissent.

Retention is really an extenuation of attraction and motivation with a bit of forethought rolled in. The best retention strategy is to build trust and respect before things go bad. Notice that bonuses were not in the list. Any kind of written down, systematic bonus structure where people get reward for reaching certain milestones will backfire with talented people. Remember, the main attraction, motivation and retention factor is the creative environment your create. Startup talent loves the challenge of a good problem and that will motivate them more than any monetary reward.

It Starts From the Top

All of these techniques will do nothing for you unless the CEO is bought into them. It really does matter what the CEO thinks, feels and does. Once you have that, then you can create an environment where your talent can thrive, create and make a difference.

Attracting, Motivating and Retaining SWF Talent

Published May 3, 2011 Uncategorized 1 Comment Tags: Adia, CIC, Human Resources, NBIM, Sovereign Wealth Fund, Sovereign Wealth Funds, SWF, SWFs, Talent

Ashby Monk As public agencies tasked with investing in private markets, SWFs have to find creative ways of filling public sector jobs with individuals that can compete in and with the private sector. In short, SWFs have to be able to attract, motivate, and retain talented individuals with the necessary skills and competencies for managing a modern financial institution. While this would be a challenge in any location, it is made all the more difficult by the fact that many SWFs are located far from the worlds financial hubs. From Abu Dhabi, Alaska and Alberta to New Zealand, Nigeria and even Norway, SWFs are searching for creative ways to staff their SWFs with talented individuals. Even the China Investment Corporation, which receives 1,000 applications for every job advertised, appears to be grappling with how it can attract talented employees:

some CIC officials have raised doubts about following the Norwegian model. For one thing, one official said, the Chinese government agency may have trouble finding international investment professionals to join the teamStaffing has long been a problem for CIC, although over the past four years it has reached a relatively mature position, said an executive at Central Huijin Investment Ltd., an arm of CICYet questions remain. The executive asked: How much time do other organizations need, and what costs will be involved for them to reach maturity? Is there adequate talent? was a question posed by a CIC official. Where do we find these professionals? Can an incentive mechanism be created to match the task? The CIC is not alone in struggling with these challenges; Ive heard these same questions repeated by funds the world over. Its hard to find savvy financiers willing to work for public salaries in bureaucratic work environments (which is why it can be quite useful to set SWFs up as special purpose vehicles outside typical government pay scales and structures). Anyway, since the unnamed CIC source mentioned the Norwegian model above, lets take a look at the NBIMs talent management. After all, Oslo is not what I would call a global financial center. So how has the NBIM attracted its investment staff? The NBIM has roughly 280 employees from 25 nations spread over five global offices (Oslo, London, New York, Shanghai and Singapore). So, the first thing to note is that the NBIM is not trying to attract all the talent to Oslo. Instead, the SWF has moved itself closer to the talent, which seems a smart move for attracting foreign professionals. In addition, the NBIM has developed a four year (!) internal training program to develop home-grown professionals called the International Talent Program. Heres a blurb from NBIM CEO, Yngve Slyngstad: Our candidates will learn and excel over a four-year period, through internal rotation periods within NBIM, exchange programs with international investment banking institutions and an MBA degree from a top business school. It is our aim that by the end of the ITP you will become one of our high-potential specialists who we count on to achieve our goals. The fast-track training offered by the ITP equips people for success in the investment industry. Its an interesting approach to developing internal capabilities: one year at NBIM; one year in London, New York or Asia; one year back at NBIM; one year at international MBA; and, finally, a job as a high potential specialist back at NBIM. By the way, if you think thats a long-term approach, recall that ADIA spots talent while theyre still in high school and begins nurturing them for positions of importance at the Abu Dhabi SWF. Now thats long term.