BY BARBARA HOLBERT
Staff Writer
Employee turnover. An unavoidable pestilence of doing business in today's tight market?
It doesn't have to be, says Southlake resident and president of WorkLife Performance Consulting, David Butler.
Butler is on the cutting edge of executive coaching, a recent and growing field of consulting, offered to mid and upper level management that focuses on leadership development, team communications and career management. He uses a program approach that generally encompasses all employees in the department.
After conducting an extensive and very specialized assessment on an individual and organizational level, Butler can then determine employees' passions, motivations and stress factors as well as style and strengths.
"The more enlightened companies of today realize that they will get more out of their employees if the employee gets more out of what they do," said Butler, adding that this helps companies realign and focus their talent among the myriad of opportunities inside most corporations.
"Not all companies realize this but they are starting to, especially with the labor shortage and the tight labor market," he said. "The more they allow their people to find their passion and do what they love, the more people want to work for them and want to stay with them." This in turn improves morale, increases productivity and increases employee retention."
Butler foresees a "war for talent" during the next decade as the baby boomers begin to retire and companies scramble to find people to replace them, based on statistics that show 74 million baby boomers and only 30 million in the following generation of 35 to 45 year-olds.
"We've come from the baby boomer generation where there were too many people and not enough jobs, and what
we're heading into is a world where there are too many jobs and not enough people," he said. "What's going to help (retain employees) is to be a good employer and to be the kind of leader and manager that someone wants to work for."
|
 |
Steve Brechter, chief operating officer at Executive Jet Aviation in Columbus, Ohio, is counting on Butler's help with the company's 2000 employees.
"We need to be courageous as leaders to make that connection between the individual's passions and the interests and goals of the organization," Brechter said. "That's the final frontier. The individual is the most important asset in an organization and we need to focus most of our attention in that area and we don't. That's what Dave does."
Brechter predicted that in four or five years no one will be able to find someone in Butler's field because they will be in great Demand when corporations finally "get it."
One of Butler's local clients, Corporate Aviation Analysis and Planning in Grapevine, has benefited from his approach during the past three years. "I'm pretty excited about what he does," said Ray Miles, he company's chief financial officer. "For me personally it's been real effective and it's helped our organization. I don't know that you can quantify all the benefits exactly, but I can assure you it's been very helpful."
He added that employee retention and productivity is not only about money and that perks such as 40l(k)s and a good health plan are important, but that alone will not retain employees and motivate them to work better. Butler's approach serves to attract, retain and motivate employees.
"That's where the value is, "Miles said. "As the world moves into its third millennium, this is really going to be a crucial element in the success of companies."
Butler, whose client list has included IBM during its worldwide re-engineering effort in the mid-1990s, draws on his early training in the theater to be effective. The communication skills he honed while working with and directing actors helped him understand how to coach performance.
"I couldn't have had better training," he said. After all, "the world is a stage."
Contact Dave Butler at 817-424-1814 or at dbutler@worklifeonline.com.
|
