retaining high-performing employees greg bustin executive leadership blog business man holding a magnifying glass

5 Questions Leaders Should Ask About Talent

  1. May 5th, 2015  | 

  2. Print This Post
Published in Leadership

Hiring is on the uptick.

At a career fair last month where I was speaking, about 50 companies were looking to fill approximately 3,000 positions.

These companies had assigned key people from their organization to help identify potential candidates to work for them, doing physically what otherwise a LinkedIn Lead Generation tool would have done online for a recruitment team. Additionally, these key people are to interview and, in some cases, persuade job seekers to join their team.

A market where companies have a thirst for talent illuminates two important hiring factors:

In order to grow, companies not only need to locate and on-board new employees, they must be sure to retain the high-performing employees already on their team. While hiring talents to build a high-performance team, companies may have to conduct pre employment screening to know about the employees’ documents, criminal records, financial probity, and much more. Background checks might prevent companies from hiring such employees who don’t have the right to work in a particular country due to visas or criminal matters.

Hiring is a two-way street and, given current market conditions, it’s a seller’s market with top talent carefully considering where they want to spend the next stage of their career.

It’s pretty obvious that leaders must be doing everything in their power to find new top performers, whether that be freelancers (which can be very beneficial – learn more here) or full-time staff. But they must also do their utmost to retain their current top performers.

In a recent issue of The Dallas Morning News, I explored the mindset leaders must bring to the increasingly competitive war for top talent.

There are five questions smart leaders should be asking about hiring and retaining high-performing employees.

  • What would cause top talent to work here?
  • What am I doing to make this the best job?
  • How do we encourage the best ideas?
  • Am I accepting less from some colleagues?
  • Are we surprised when good people leave?

Asking these questions is crucial. How you answer them is just as important. For guidance on the answers, read the entire article here.

About the Author: Greg Bustin advises some of the world’s most admired companies and leaders, and he’s dedicated a career to working with CEOs and the leadership teams of hundreds of companies in a range of industries. He’s facilitated more than 250 strategic planning sessions, he’s delivered more than 600 keynotes and workshops on every continent except Antarctica, and he coaches leaders who are inspired to take their career to the next level. His fourth leadership book— Accountability: The Key to Driving a High-Performance Culture (McGraw-Hill) —is a Soundview Executive Best Business Book.

Ready to reset?


Attend my free Accountability webinar: I Did It! to set and achieve your 2021 goals.

REGISTER FOR FREE

  • February 17th from 11 AM – 12:30 PM Central Time
  • My free webinar will help you:
    – Sharpen your personal goals
    – Improve time management
    – Tackle tough work-related issues
    – Support remote workers

Learn More
To dive even deeper into the topic of accountability, I invite you to purchase a copy of my bestselling book, “Accountability: The Key to Driving a High-Performance Culture.”

Get The Book

Become a better leader.


Download my three free e-books.

Greg Bustin

Please enter your information below to access a digital download link for my three free eBooks. Once submitted, you will receive an email with a link to download the eBooks.

Free Tips


Sign up to receive free tips on business, leadership, and life.

Greg Bustin

Please enter your information below to start receiving free tips on business, leadership, and life.

Sign up for my free bimonthly email button