Chief People & Culture Officer at Monterey Mushrooms

Juana Gomez

With so many organizations struggling to recruit and retain talent, even as so many others are laying people off, the question we all eventually ask is, "How do we keep high-caliber talent from leaving?"  People are people, regardless of industry or rank, and people want to be treated as “people” and want their needs to be met.  Following Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, first ensure that your compensation and benefits enable the person to meet their basic needs, which often means paying and providing benefits that the market demands.  Once the basics are met, it’s all about what distinguishes an organization from the competition—and that often comes down to the competitive advantage that cannot be duplicated, the people that make up the organization, and the people that lead.

Excellent leaders are transparent, authentic, humble, and genuinely care for the individual.  They make personal connections with their team and understand what drives the individual; it’s not always about money, rank, or title. Often, it is about how the person “feels” about an organization, their role, the leadership, and whether the organization can provide opportunities for learning and growth in the desired direction.

As a human resources professional, I have the privilege of connecting with people and getting to know the person behind the title.  Taking time to understand a person’s aspirations, what drives them, what makes them get up each morning, and who “they” are as a person helps me understand their individual goals and aspirations.  Only when I get to know the person can I envision a path that puts them on the right career path and, often, helps them achieve their personal goals.

“Often, it is about how the person “feels” about an organization, their role, the leadership, and whether the organization can provide opportunities for learning and growth in the desired direction.”

As their leader, the people on my team are, no surprise, highly engaged, focused, and happy, and they often go the extra mile without being asked to do so.  I focus on providing challenging opportunities that allow them to grow while providing a safety net.  What does that look like?  It means asking them about their interests, providing my teammate with stretch tasks in their area of interest, often outside their expertise, and providing the tools that enable them to do the job well—being available to them for questions and taking the time to celebrate the wins.  It means paying attention to the progress and redirecting when it’s not going as planned. It also means allowing team members to fail, extending a hand to pick them back up, and letting them try again.

In summary, it means that if they succeed, it’s their win, and if we fail, it’s my failure.  The buck stops with me, and if there’s a mistake, I own it; it’s on me.  We learn from our mistakes, and we move forward!

As leaders, we owe it to our team to show up at our best every day, to be humble enough to know that there's something to be learned from others, and confident enough to allow others to shine and grow (with a safety net).  We stand up for our team, we celebrate together, we are bummed together, and we delegate.  We dance together, get off the dance floor, and step onto the balcony to see the big picture.  We focus on doing the “right” thing, not the easy thing, and we own our mistakes and shortcomings.  We keep people engaged by offering competitive compensation and benefits, but that’s not enough; we also must provide people with meaningful connections and a path to achieve their goals and aspirations. We can only build meaningful connections by getting to know the person behind the title.