Embracing Excellence: Become the Employer of Choice to Attract and Keep the Best Talent - Hardcover

Ashby, Franklin C.; Pell Ph.D., Arthur R.

9780735202634: Embracing Excellence: Become the Employer of Choice to Attract and Keep the Best Talent

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 073520263X ISBN 13: 9780735202634

Publisher: Prentice Hall Press, 2001

The A-Players, the cream of the crop, the best of the best—no matter what you call them, and no matter what the job market is like, top talent is always in high demand and short supply.

Topgrading, the first of Prentice Hall Press’ groundbreaking works on gaining the talent edge, showed us that leading companies win by packing their organizations with the best people. It gave us a fool-proof method for identifying the A-players. Embracing Excellence gives you the secret formula for getting them to stay.

Authoritative and practical, Embracing Excellence is based on more than thirty years of experience and an extensive six-year research study of what works—and what doesn’t—in employee retention practices at firms large and small. Two of the industry’s leading experts, Franklin Ashby and Arthur Pell, join forces to dispel the myths on high salaries, fringe benefits and other stale tactics, and demonstrate how an effective corporate culture is critical to retaining top talent and therefore essential to an organization’s success.

This unparalleled work provides tried and true methods for keeping top employees. Moreover, the book is packed with anecdotes, illustrations, real-life examples, worksheets and step-by-step guidance. The Organizational MRI is one of the many practical tools discussed which will help managers assess their current culture and shape their company into an employer of choice for today’s coveted superstar performers.

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From the Inside Flap:

Whether the economy is growing or slowing down, the demand for “A players” never ceases. Not only do other companies compete to hire them, they often try to lure the best people away from you. Why should a top-level performer choose one company over another? Why should an employee stay with a firm, when competitors offer a “better deal” ?

Bonuses, stock options, expense accounts, free gourmet coffee and other financial and non-financial perks will only go so far in keeping your top-performers from jumping ship and joining the competition. Authors Franklin C. Ashby and Arthur R. Pell’s groundbreaking research shows that the key to keeping “A-players” lies in your company’s commitment to transforming the corporate culture into one that embraces excellence and reflects the company’s commitment to values, vision, creativity, trust and respect.

Authoritative and practical, EMBRACING EXCELLENCE draws on six years of original research into what motivates and what “turns off” A-players. Surprisingly, corporate culture proved to be the most influential factor in top-performers’ overall satisfaction with a company—and subsequent decisions to look elsewhere.

In this book, Ashby and Pell offer specific and practical tools and suggestions, based on their research, to help you identify and overcome those factors that prevent a company from being an employer of choice. Among these are
* The Organizational MRI -- a unique method for diagnosing your company’s organizational culture
* Job descriptions and specifications that identify what it takes not just to perform the job, but to perform superbly
* Techniques for determining the few critical objectives that are essential for success in the job
* Tips and tactics on finding and selecting the best candidates for these jobs -- “A players”
* Onboarding – a method for starting the new employee pff on the right foot.
* A new approach to separation interviews -- learning why good people leave --
* Tools for for enhancing employee cooperation, collaboration, and loyalty.

EMBRACING EXCELLENCE provides the tools and questions you need to thoroughly and honestly evaluate of your company’s cultural climate, as well as a blueprint for implementing the changes needed to bring out the very best in your employees—and reduce costly turnover. CEOs, managers, supervisers and employees responsible for the future of the company will do well to examine their commitment to corporate culture, and apply the precedents set forth in EMBRACING EXCELLENCE.

From the Back Cover:

The A-players, the cream of the crop, the best and the brightest – no matter what you call them and no matter what the job market – are always in high demand and short supply. EMBRACING EXCELLENCE shows you how to find and keep them. “Embracing Excellence is a delicious smorgasbord of practical information. The authors have obviously worked and studied talent issues for many years. They give the reader best practices, clear examples, and useful tools. Big company and small company examples are given. Any manager struggling with talent issues will find this book a must read, and will be happy it is an easy read, too.” Brad D. Smart, Ph.D. author of Topgrading “This is an excellent contribution to a very timely topic. I agree with Frank and Arthur’s assumption that the culture is the key to much of the retention problem. This book is packed full of useful tools and ideas to ensure that good employees stay with the firm. I recommend it for any professional concerned about retention in today’s competitive economy.” Jack J. Phillips, Ph.D. Jack Phillips Center for Research, A Division of Franklin Covey Company and author of HRD Trends Worldwide and The Human Resources Scorecard “In today’s competitive recruiting environment, HR professionals looking to win the war for talent have two choices, 1) read Embracing Excellence, or 2) learn the hard way.”

Grant M. Lehman

VP Talent Acquisition, Digital Focus

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