Hello, everyone welcome to this CASE webinar on tips for retaining employees that don't involve salaries. My name is Lana Fontenot, I serve at South Louisiana Community College as the vice chancellor, for institutional advancement and external relations, and we are a multi campus institution. We serve about 12,000 students each year. year Between credit non credit and adult basic education. And we cover about 6,400 square miles with 9 campuses and 8, parishes or counties. I'm also a very proud member, um, of case and I've been a volunteer also since 2015, so just a little plug in for case I served as a case conference, uh, planning committee member. conference uh planning committee member For several conferences served as judge and judge coordinators for case district and circle excellence awards, and also currently serve as the district for, um, cabinet member, and also serve as an advisory committee member for the center for community college advancement advisory committee. I truly. Oh, so much of my professional career and my growth to case. So, let's get started. All right I'm sure you've seen the news over the last several years. It is truly a completely new job environment. Call it the great resignation. The great reshuffling the great renegotiation. Whatever re, something you want to call it employees across. Sector are truly rethinking their careers so when I see headlines like this as a hiring manager and a leader of my division, it really keeps me up at night. When you see that almost 4 out of 10 employees, um, in the country plan to leave their job, this calendar year. That's a huge movement of professionals. And then this story, from the chronicle of education from November, it reads desperately seeking fundraisers. Um, I'll read the 1st sentence of this article, because it's a little small. It says hiring fundraisers is never easy, but for many nonprofits, the situation is becoming dire. I'm sure many of you feel this way I feel this way for sure. The job pools just aren't the same what used to be very strong and hefty pools or pretty shallow now, right? And we're really hyper focusing on retaining the staff that we do have in addition to re. Uh, recruiting new employees. So, I'll share with you that during 2021 I had about half of my very small team of 10 leave over the course of about 6 to 9 months as part of the great reshuffling as I like to call it. And it was very tough, but over time, our division was able to hire new folks in a way that we have. way that we have Emerged stronger, more innovative and also higher performing than we were before. Now, I've attended several case conferences over the last 6 months, and the conversations that are happening now, across advancement leaders at this, at these conferences are just so different from what they were just a few years ago. The conversations that are starting to bubble up to the top aren't about new capital campaigns, or meeting fundraising. Polls those are still very important. However, it seems like more and more the critical topics are about people retaining employees, managing talent, um, recruiting and developing new development professionals, but also creating that company culture that is attractive to new and. Employees. So, I've recently shared some tips with colleagues on things that I do at my institution to try to build the positive work culture for my team members. I cannot completely control our colleges over arching culture. But I know that in my realm of influence, I can do different things to try to build that. Culture in my division in my department and, um, thankfully, it doesn't involve money right? Whether or not, we have direct control over over their salaries or our bonuses, or, um, our promotions. So, paying your employees, a competitive salary I want to be clear is very important and it allows them different pathways for growth. But that's not the focus of this webinar when I'm going to present to you today, um, are 3 easy tips that will assist you in creating a very positive work culture that will help you retain your employees. So, my 1st tip is celebrate the wins. It really sounds easy enough but when you really think about it, do you really stop to recognize the wins of your team members? I really thought I did. Um, but I clearly heard from my employees that I wasn't doing a good enough job. My feedback from my team. Team was Lana, we execute a project or an event, or an initiative get a quick. Congrats, pat on the back. And then we immediately move on to the next thing. We're, we're not able to sit in the success just for a minute and truly celebrate what we accomplished. I heard that loud and clear and in the advance. World whether it's fundraising grants, um, alumni or marketing and communications a lot of what we do, have a longer time horizon and so you can easily get to the end of the calendar year and feel like you haven't made a lot of significant progress or we wonder what exactly did I accomplish in this year? To try to move the needle on what's happening at my college or my institution. And so I was able to create a very intentional space. What I did was my team, and I meet regularly every Monday morning to go over projects, talk about news, make announcements, review, different events that are coming up and more. And so what I did is what I added to, the top of the agenda is called celebrations and wins. And I allow that time, I would say about 5 to 10 minutes for my team members, to celebrate their accomplishments from the week prior. It may be a successful execution of a college wide event, uh, closing a deal with a major donor that we had been cultivating, or even submitting a grant proposal. Just a. A few days early. So, if you think your team members may be a little bit shy about it at 1st, just start out by some suggesting some wins, um, that you've noticed with your team members, allow them to maybe suggest wins for other team members. But I promise you, they will quickly grab onto it. But then we also took it a step further, and we took these wins and we made them into a win wall and I want to show you 2 examples that we use both during covid. And then. After covid, so this was our wind wall during covid when we were all working remotely, and were physically away from each other. We created this in canvas very easy to do and we posted it in our Microsoft teams channel so we could all access our win wall throughout the year at any point in time. And some of the wins. Can see if you're reading it, we're we're a little bit personal ish in nature. We had an employee celebrate her 1 year anniversary. So, we celebrated that milestone along with her 1 of our other employees, presented to our faculty and staff during a spring seminar, kick off in 2021 and she was so proud that her video, her presentation received the most likes, uh, are the most YouTube views proving that she had done a really good job. a really good job And then our marketing team kind of celebrates bare wins in different ways as well, whether it's the total end of a project or even Pre wins as we call it. Those little winds of small wins along the way. Our team was so excited to secure radio sponsorship at an extremely discounted rate. That was huge for them. So they wanted to put that on the. You'll also see that our grants department in the last row submitted to major US Department of education grants and if if you write grants in your areas, those are behemoth grants that was a big win for them. So, they were so excited to put that on the wind wall, especially during covid. And during a time. We were so physically disconnected. We were intentional about finding the wins in our everyday work. It brought us together. But it also gave us a reason to smile at a very tough time for a lot of us. Now, I want to show you what we have now, so this is our current win wall and let me just tell you, it's not the most beautiful thing. But if you're a mom like me, that macaroni art that your kid brings home from school is the most beautiful thing to you just because it's meaningful. And this is so meaningful to us. So, it was created. 100% from 1 of our employees, she took the initiative when we came back to the office from and it hangs on the door of 1 of our supply closets that's in the hallway to all of our offices and our suite. And it's in plain view for everyone to see. to see Now, what our team member did was ask every single 1 on our team for their bit and if you know our team and if you look at these bit, every single 1 of those big are 100% accurate to their personalities. And then, after every Monday morning meeting, what we do is we currently type out the wins and paste them to our win. While we used to have an employee who had a really beautiful handwriting. And she would physically write them out. But, um, I don't find I have a great, great script so I just type them out and then cut them out and paste them onto. But let me tell you. Folks across our college outside of our division, they stop in our hallway to regularly read the wins. Some departments have even tried to create their own Bitmoji and paste it onto the arwyn wall. Um, trying to be a part of our department. I I think that says a lot we created a culture in our department where other people want. To be a part of what we have so Here's just a few tips on how to get your when Wall started. 1st, ask often, um, like, I mentioned, try to add it to your weekly team agendas, or however, often you meet with your team, but just know that repetition builds the culture. And you're telling your team members. That this is a priority. We want to cultivate our wins. And celebrate them along the way. The 2nd tip is celebrate it all. We again, we have those things that we call Pre wins where we're kind of leading up. Hey, a new job position. Just got posted. That's a lot of work just to get a position, a new position up and running at an institution of higher education. Right? And so we try to celebrate it all 1 of our employees. Is completing her master's degree, and she recently received the scholarship for 1 of her semesters, and she was filled with pride and excitement. And so we put that on our wind wall um, think about incremental wins whatever your staff is proud of. If you have a staff member, even make their 90 day, Mark, celebrate that, make them feel seen. Also, make it visible, um. Your employees want to feel seen, but they also want to make it physically seen in a way that it makes sense for your department. So, 1 of our 1st win walls before covid you saw the virtual 1 was actually color coded by department. So, marketing and communications had a certain sticky note. Color grants had their own. Color sticky note as the office of development and so you really got to see where the winds were being cultivated from. And then the last tip on celebrating the winds is twice as nice. So, here's a little bit about what we do in our division to kind of double down on celebrating these wins. We celebrated during our Monday morning meetings, which I mentioned, but at the end of the calendar year, right before we leave for the holidays, I host what's called a holiday. Strategic planning session, aka holiday party, and we dedicate about 45 minutes during that day to rereading and re, celebrating all of the winds again. And and let me tell you what it does. It's truly incredible to look back at all of the work completed. The milestones achieved. The. the Accomplishments it's, it's really almost mind blowing for all of us because a lot of folks you forget about some of these wins and you forget about what you did during the year. And they begin with excitement all over again, just thinking about their wins and all of the work that went into it. So, let me just say this is such a small gesture, an investment of time that I feel pays large dividends for, for you and your team. My 2nd tip is to check in with your employees so I've talked to a little bit about employees feeling seen in some of my earlier slides. But because in this time of of post covid and mental health and work life balance and and and a positive company culture, these are some of the top priorities that. Employees are asking for across the board so I meet with each of my direct reports and a 1 on 1 meeting every 2 weeks. And this is aside from our all team meeting that I told you about, on our on our Monday mornings. I have a very structured agenda that I asked for them to follow, but inserted into that. Agenda I ask for very specific questions that I want to pass along to, you. And these are the 4 questions you should ask what's working? Well. Whether it's in their job, your department. Maybe across the college, the 2nd question, what's not working? So well, or maybe what's standing in the way of your success? 3rd are their staff members or departments? I should recognize. And then the 4th and final question is time you want to take off. Again, this is part of our 1 on 1 agenda that kind of allows them to step away from all of the projects, the tactics, the day to day work and it provides a little bit of a time for reflection. I call it a reflection moment in our agenda and it's feedback that I, as their direct supervisor really want to hear. And here's what's behind these questions for me but the 1st, question was working. Well, this question is about finding the successes, or are there efficiencies that we originally didn't realize? What should we keep doing? What successes are coming out of their specific work or their specific department? Maybe the. College as a whole, um, but on the other hand, I've also worked with some negative nancys during my entire career, and, uh, where everything can be a problem, right they will find a problem in every solution. And so, if you have people on your team like that, this kind of forces them initially the very 1st question. To find the good find the positive in something. Let's start with the good. The 2nd question helps me to uncover barriers. What isn't so efficient or effective? What can I get out in front of? Do you maybe need me as your supervisor to be an advocate for you at some higher level? Um, or you, at a stopping point, maybe in a project, because another department is not responding to you or you're not hearing from a donor. So this kind of gives me an opportunity to do what leaders should be doing best and it's simply removing barriers for your employees. So they can just go and be great. 1 employee. Um. A tangible example was very stressed out because there was, um, a grant becoming due and he needed the hard copy signature of our chancellor. And he hadn't heard from the chancellor's office and so he put that as a barrier during his reflection time. And with 1 phone call, I was able to get that document prioritized and back to my grants person by the end of the day. And he truly felt seen and heard and was able to continue moving along with his. Checks. The 3rd question really gives you an opportunity as a leader to recognize others, both inside and outside of your department. So, what I like to do is take that person that they want to recognize, send them a personal email, describe how they went out of their way to help my team member. But I also CC that. Immediate supervisor, and, or, um, sometimes their vice chancellors or their vice president. And I tell you, the amount of appreciation, um, that I receive an emails, uh, replies is truly worth the 60 or 90 seconds. It took me to drop that email and our employees our team members love to recognize others. Um, they, they feed off of it. And lastly, the final question really allows me to prioritize employee wellbeing and to have an intentional conversation about time off. And how are we prioritizing that person's. Health and wellbeing, if I notice, maybe they haven't taken time off in a while we talk a little bit about it. Or if they put on their agenda that they've taken a vacation. I'd like to ask a little bit about their upcoming vacation and get excited with them about it. And then when they return, I try to follow up with them on their vacation. But it also helps me be proactive as a leader to know, and to plan for coverage or if there's other impending deadlines um, while they're out. And then the last thing we also talk about is mental health days, and we try to plan that together for them to take just a mental health day. It's not about taking your kids to appointments are going to an award ceremony, take some time just for you to focus on yourself. And so these 4 questions can really be a game changer. It has for me as a leader and a hiring manager, but you also must act on. These don't just ask employees for their feedback and not be willing to act on it. You have to be ready to do something about it as well. And in my last tip is to find time for fun. So, folks in our division, always say to everyone that we work hard, but we play hard too. And I take that as a big complement, the energy in our department is truly infectious and we again have folks from other departments and divisions visiting our offices all the time, just to feed off of that positive energy. And. Truly see something special that we're building there. And so as you saw from some of the news articles I presented earlier. Employees want positive or cultures. There's that's a top priority for professionals now and we all spend so much time at work a majority of our waking day. So let's make it enjoyable while we hustle. Right? And I want to share a few things with you that I do with my team members that you may be able to find inspiration. Um. So, throughout the year to start off with, I have different appreciation days. I may show up 1 day. Uh, and it's very random with maybe some extra gum the extra name brand for everyone with a tag. That says, thank you for going the extra mile this week or or on this project, or I'll bring my famous home cooked. Home baked, honey to the office. So team members can feel appreciated after completing a major deadline. If you're a fan of Pinterest. I know I am let it be your best friend. There are tons of ideas and examples that are fairly inexpensive to do for a team of any size. 1 of my favorite things to do in my department and when it comes to fund is our fro, you'll run. So when we're feeling a little worn down tire, low on energy, low on creativity, I've tried to pile everyone into my SUV and we head on over to our local swirl world for frozen yogurt. All on me, my treat, it takes about 15 minutes of time out of the office, and I find my team members come back energized, ready to get back to work. But most importantly, they have a small on their face. They were able to get away from the work and have a light moment. And so they also tell me that my driving to swirl. Is an adventure in and of itself, but, uh, maybe that's the topic of another webinar. We also do periodic impromptu coffee chats. These are usually in the morning, uh, whenever meetings are a little bit light for the team, and so it's just either an informal stop in in our hallway, or we gather into someone's offices and. Where we just sit with our coffee, and as its name implies, we just chat. It's not mandatory whoever wants to com can come and the topics are very organic. They stem from personal. We love to talk about our kids to even issues that we're having on projects. And and I'll tell you this, the laid back environment really just does something for our creativity because sometimes. These meetings give us the best brainstorming and we walk out feeling like we just accomplished and solve the world's problems. Right? Another thing that we do, that's really become a favorite of ours is we incorporate a question of the day so we've taken this and incorporated it into our Monday morning meetings, which I was telling you about. So, instead of diving straight into work early on a Monday morning, I mean, who, who does that? Right? We've built this into our agenda along with our wins and celebration so there's a local radio station in South Louisiana that has the segment of their show called the early risers question. So 1 of our employees in our division, she looks up the question, she finds the question on the app and we all answer that question for. For the day, so the questions arrange from if you have to describe the smell of summer, how would you describe it? What was the best summer vacation you've ever taken as a kid and why. To, um, what's something maybe you say to your dog that you can't say to the humans that live at your house and then also what's something you'd love to go back and tell your high school self. These kinds of questions really allow us to get to know each other better have a lighthearted moment early in the morning kind of ease into the day. Some people are still slipping the 1st tips of their coffee and more often than not we are doubled over giggling. Um, at all of the answers. And then, lastly, we make a really big deal out of our birthdays and our department. We, we do have 1 employee that really doesn't like to celebrate his birthday. So we make sure to respect that. And do we do a very, very low key birthday lunch with him but for the others, it is a monumental event at our college and within our. Apartment and I want to show you pictures of mine because I recently celebrated a birthday, but I want to be clear. We do this for everyone. All right, so, as you can see in the upper left hand corner, I showed it to work, uh, the morning after my birthday, I took my birthday off and pulled up to a special, um, boss parking spot. I then went into my office. There was confetti all over my desk happy birthday signs, hanging from my curtains a basket with my favorite candies and goodies. A spa gift certificate, which was amazing. But it really wasn't the stuff that mattered right? It they took note, they remember things that were special to me. My favorite candies. They, they knew that 1 of my favorite movies from the 2. thousand's is mean girls and so they printed signs and put them all over my office and they even had everyone in our suite dress up. Pink as you can see from a couple of the staff members that took pictures of and you truly can't help, but feel special valued and also appreciated when folks take time to think about your special day and execute it like that. And again, we do this for everyone and and everyone in our division, when they celebrate a birthday, they look forward to it. And really appreciate it. So, just to sum it up, remember the 3 points celebrate the wins. It's such a small investment for a huge return. Secondly, check in with your employees and really be prepared to hear what they're saying, and act on it and then 3rd find the time for fun. You'll truly get the best out of folks when they are engaged. And in closing, I want to just show and demonstrate the proof of what I'm doing is really working to build a positive work culture. I recently opened up a new position in my division and I wanted to show others on social media. What kind of culture exists in our division and so I simply sent an email out. To our team members, and ask them this question if you could describe divisions culture what word or words would you use? And this is what I got back, I was truly blown away and touched. You know, to see the words, like, passionate, innovative and visionary really made my professional self. So proud. But then to also see family friendly and joyful words, like that made my personal self, just filled with immense pride. This is the kind of culture that makes it so hard for employees to leave and it's normally a culture that they've never experienced and can usually not be duplicated. This is just 1 step in recruiting and retaining employees that don't involve money. Um, I would love to.

Lana Fontenot

webinar

retaining employees

work culture

employee retention

positive work environment