CHRISTOPHER MULLIGAN is the Chief Executive Officer of TalentKeepers. He has over 30 years of experience in the human resources industry, the majority of which has been in the employee engagement, selection, assessment and retention arena. Mulligan co-founded TalentKeepers in 2000, an organization dedicated to the issue of employee engagement and retention.

CRAIG R. TAYLOR is a former Vice President, Client Services with TalentKeepers. He joined the organization in 2002, developed and led the client services team, and retired from full-time work in 2017. Taylor is a well-known leader, speaker and writer in the areas of corporate training, organizational development and performance improvement.

Preface xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction: Energizing a Changing Workplace 1

Blink, and Your Staff Has Changed 2

Embracing the Data (and Everything After) 4

The Confluence of Generations 6

"Begging Them to Stay" 7

Good Leadership Still Wins 8

Building a Winning Strategy 8

1 Engaging Your Talent Is a Business Imperative 11

The True Cost of Turnover 15

Leadership as a Market Advantage 20

Introducing the Leader Engagement Index 22

2 What Engages People at Work? 29

The Tipping Point 30

I Don't Need No Satisfaction 33

The Four Drivers of Employee Engagement 35

The Four Drivers and the Leadership Engagement Index 42

3 Leaders and Their Impact 47

The Case for a Focus on Leadership 49

Why Focusing on Leaders Gets Results 51

Best Boss/Worst Boss 58

Leaders Underestimate Their Impact 60

Different Background, Different Response 62

Commit, Engage, Excel 67

4 Communication: The Lubricant of Change 71

Blaming Up 74

What Not to Do 76

What to Do: Sharing Down 81

5 Solving the Career Growth Dilemma 85

Recognize the Right Way 88

Trust Each Other with Your Careers 89

Shifting Career Aspirations 90

The Stay Interview 92

Career Growth and Accountability 100

Job Stratification 103

WOWs, Wet Socks, and Snorkels 103

6 New Rules for Building a Leadership Team 109

The Fish Rots ... 111

Promote for More Than Just Job Skill 115

Measuring "Will Do" and "Can Do" 120

7 Creating an Engagement and Retention Culture 125

Can You Fix Culture? 130

Communication Is Still the Key 132

Creating the Culture 133

8 Building the Business Case for Engagement and Retention 145

Where's the Money? 147

Finding the Money 148

Spreading the Impact 149

Building a Winning Strategy 152

Appendix: TalentKeepers' Experience and Capabilities 155

About the Authors 161

Index 163