Danielle Roy of Morale Matters On How To Identify and Engage The Best Talent For Your Organization

An Interview With Rachel Kline

Consider the Team Dynamic — Analyze if the candidate would be likely to have a positive connection with the current team and if their personality is a fit with the hiring manager’s leadership style. Determine if the candidate possesses skills or traits that will enhance the team’s performance and culture or counteract it. Seek to fill the role with a candidate that will be a compliment to the team and not only the role.

Companies are always on the lookout for exceptional talent in today’s work environment. In addition, the perks needed to keep talent have changed as people are not simply running after a paycheck. They want something more. What does a company need to do to identify and engage the best talent for their organization? In this interview series, we are talking to HR experts who can share ideas and insights from their experience. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Danielle Roy, Founder of Morale Matters.

Danielle Roy is the Founder of Morale Matters which provides HR and Sales consultation services to all industries specializing in talent development, sales strategies, change management, and business scaling as well as certification programs for both sales professionals and managers. She has led thousands of trainings and speaking engagements for both large and small audiences as a DDI Global Certified Facilitator, Appreciation at Work Certified Facilitator, and Guest Lecturer for colleges and universities. Her colleagues often refer to her as a ‘professional firefighter’ due to her ability to create solutions for complex business challenges on the fly and a ‘mentor matchmaker’ for holistically connecting gifted individuals to more tenured mentors in her network that can provide guidance in the specific skillsets a person seeks to accelerate in order to reach their highest potential.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before diving in, our readers would love to get to know you. Can you tell us the “backstory” about what brought you to this specific career path?

My professional career began in hospitality first working in restaurants and then I spent nearly a decade in wine and spirits distribution. I started in sales and marketing roles then eventually branched out to HR managing the talent development team for a Forbes Top 25 Largest Private Company on the west coast. My executive role was focused on training and developing all employee levels from entry level to executives, and one of the most important aspects was getting ‘buy in’ and providing change management strategies for thousands of employees during major mergers and acquisitions. This was especially challenging during the pandemic in an industry with already high turnover. After joining my local Chamber of Commerce, I realized how many small and mid-size businesses needed these resources too in order to stay in business, yet they often did not have the budget to hire an in-house talent development team. I have a strong desire to help others so I decided to launch my business Morale Matters which offers project-based consulting services in HR and Sales. Each client’s needs are unique, yet some of the services we offer are streamlining processes and technologies for business scaling, culture building, and creating onboarding resources, performance metrics, succession plans, and recognition programs. We focus on increasing morale, engagement, and retention for top talent performers, which translates to better productivity from all employees and higher profits for companies.

It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you first started? Then, can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

When I first became a manager, I accidentally pressed ‘reply all’ to a client that was giving us much less business than was originally agreed upon. I had already spent many hours on negotiating with the client and was understandably frustrated, so my response meant just for my boss was less than kind. It was something to the effect of, “Hours of work and investment, and this is all we got out of it?!” The client was furious, I was mortified, and my boss had to save face. Thankfully, my boss was not mad at me because he had the same reaction and he said I was more polite than he would have been. It was a big lesson not only to slow down and proofread, but to always remain professional. I also learned that having a manager who has your back is crucial to an employee’s engagement level and how hard they are willing to work for the company.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote” and how that was relevant to you in your life?

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” This has always been my favorite quote by Eleanor Roosevelt and it was even on my university graduation invitation over a decade ago. If you truly believe in your dreams, then others will too. So many people prematurely give up on their dreams because they are lack either skill, will, or strategy. I believe that the worst someone can say is no, and often the most challenging hurdle to success is having the courage to ask the hard questions.

Are you working on any exciting new projects at your company? How is this helping people?

We have recently developed 2 certification programs for sales professionals and managers to support in reskilling and upskilling. I’m especially excited about our Performance Management Program for managers because people don’t leave bad jobs; they leave bad bosses. Older generations are sometimes quick to blame the new generation of workers for poor performance and make claims like, “They don’t want to work,” but most problems in the workplace stem from ineffective leadership. Often employees are promoted because they are a top performer, but being a top solo performer is a completely different skillset than managing people. Sometimes the best solo performers are terrible managers, and mediocre performers are great managers. Thankfully, these are skills that can be developed with the right program, mentors, and support resources. I have witnessed a team go from the worst performance in a company 3 years in a row on the brink of termination to consistently winning the top team of the month with our program. I find that teaching managers time management and how to properly motivate their teams makes an incredible impact on happiness and well-being for the entire team, and that is very rewarding to see in action. It’s a win-win for everyone! The difference in our programs is in our coaching cohorts that are in addition to the training workshops and digital resources. Just offering online webinars is not enough and we must also require accountability to create true change. We are ultimately helping managers become leaders and providing resources and developmental training that will allow them to build their bench where the business can then sustainably scale.

Wonderful. Now let’s jump into the main focus of our series. Hiring can be very time-consuming and challenging. Can you share with our readers a bit about your experience with identifying and hiring talent? What’s been your most successful recruitment-related initiative so far?

My best advice for successful recruiting is to take the time to actively listen to a candidate’s desires. Despite a person’s skillset, if they are not a fit for the role you are recruiting for or the company culture, no amount of convincing will change their mind and you will often spend a considerable investment in time and money onboarding a person that is unlikely to stay in the long term. Many skills can be developed so I look more for a person’s attitude and engagement. I would much rather take extra time to develop a candidate who is willing to work the hardest and cares the most, than a person who has impressive skills or considerable experience on a resume. Morale Matters approaches recruiting from a holistic perspective where we evaluate the whole person to mitigate risk for better ROI. We also evaluate the team’s dynamic to ensure that a person will connect well with the team and the hiring manager’s leadership style. We create custom recruiting strategies with resources like job posting templates complete with role expectations, interview questions, and onboarding programs which we utilize as touch points throughout the recruiting process. We pride ourselves in placing the right candidates instead of merely filling open roles as quickly as possible.

Once talent is engaged, what’s your advice for creating a great candidate experience and ensuring the right people go through the process?

Transparent communication about the job expectations early on in the recruiting process is the first step for creating a great candidate experience. A thorough onboarding program with clear performance metrics is also absolutely crucial to employee engagement and retention. Early in my career, I was promoted 6 times in 7 years and in all but the last role, I was merely given a computer and told to figure it out. I maybe had a day or two to shadow another employee if I was lucky. Annual performance reviews were also nonexistent so I had no awareness on if I was doing a good job or not. It is my personal mission to ensure candidates and employees have a more positive experience in the companies we work with. Outlining performance metrics with regular check-ins for feedback and accountability ensures that a company is not partial to favoritism or familiarity bias. Collecting data in exit interviews is important feedback for a company so they can continuously improve. Making the time and effort to learn and record why a candidate does not progress to employee or why employees are leaving a company is crucial to retention. A person is much more likely to recommend a company and leave a positive review if they feel heard and understood. A Fortune 100 company I worked with on regional business scaling had high standards on what they called the ‘white glove experience’ in onboarding, and that is something I encourage all businesses to work toward.

Based on your experience, how can HR and culture professionals work with the broader organization to identify talent needs?

I encourage HR professionals to remain aware and connected to the needs of the broader organization. Often, solutions have been presented for years by internal staff but are rejected due to familiarity bias or red tape and it takes an outside consultant or new perspective to affect actual change. Many employees feel that HR is disconnected from challenges on the ground floor so an HR team that makes time to regularly interact in the field and stays visible, empathetic, and engaged with an organization’s teams will have the best opportunity to identify needs and gain ‘buy in’ when needed.

Is there anything you see that recruiters, internal or otherwise, do regularly that makes you think, “No, stop doing that!”?

I sometimes see recruiters respond so strongly to a company’s drive for urgent results or an attachment to their personal goals that they forget to actively listen to a candidate’s goals and interests. Successful recruiting results in a mutually positive fit for both candidates and the company. Recruiters should always ask lots of open-ended questions about the candidate to learn more about the whole person and their strengths and weaknesses before moving forward and they should not attempt to push their personal vendetta onto a candidate. Approaching recruiting goals from a serving versus selling mindset will ensure a far greater chance for success.

With so much noise and competition out there, what are your top 3 ways to attract and engage the best talent in an industry when they haven’t already reached out to you?

Through managing recruiting strategies across the country and guest lecturing at universities, I have noticed that the newest generations are motivated not necessarily by money, but by the opportunity to grow within a company, the ability to upskill within a job, and to identify with a company’s mission. If companies can attempt to meet those needs from the beginning of the recruitment process, they can significantly lower their overall turnover costs which can range from 30–400% of a person’s annual salary.

My 3 top ways to attract and engage the best talent are:

1. Advertise an Impactful Mission Statement — Forbes reported that mission, purpose, and opportunity to learn and grow are the most important elements for retaining employees in the three most recent working generations: Millennials, Generation X, and Generation Z. A company must remain aligned with their mission and purpose to sustainably scale, which involves attracting the best talent. If a company’s prioritizes financial growth at all costs, great candidates will often find the mission insincere and have a negative perception of the company. The recruitment team must effectively advertise the company’s mission statement and provide real life stories of impact to best connect with their ideal candidates.
2. Promote a Vibrant and Authentic Culture — 71% of candidates are willing to accept lower pay for a better team and company culture. People are excited about jobs where they feel the culture is a good fit and they will enjoy working with their colleagues. Hiring recruiting support ensures that managers are not just hiring their friends who often look like and act like them, and provides an unbiased and generally more inclusive perspective. Candidates want to see a leadership team that they can relate to, and they must feel they will fit in and have a seat at the table.
3. Highlight Opportunities for Growth — Employees are willing to stay at a job even if it is challenging and does not pay well as long as there is an attractive opportunity for growth. The company must show a genuine interest in the candidate’s long term career goals and seek to understand if there is an attractive succession plan opportunity that they can offer. Internal recognition programs where top performers are acknowledged and are paired with a formal mentor who is either in their desired career path or possesses skills they need to develop in order to move up within the organization is a great motivator to candidates because they can see a path to their ideal career.

What are the three most effective strategies you use to retain employees?

Morale Matters can reduce turnover costs from 17–80%, yet is not just reducing turnover that is crucial to a business’ success, but properly motivating and retaining the top talent employees you already have.

The 3 most effective strategies for employee retention are:

1. Prioritize Talent Development — A study at LinkedIn recently reported that 94% of employees would stay at companies longer if they took an active role in their learning and development. However, most organizations are still significantly lacking in adequate training and are slow to invest in a training team, and instead placing the burden on undereducated management and causing additional burnout. Most companies have basic programs for entry level employees such as orientations and onboarding, but have minimal programs for onboarding managers as well as massive gaps in ongoing maintenance training. The IRS allows tax deductions for up to $5250 per employee per year for training and education, yet few businesses are taking advantage of this benefit. A DDI Global Forecast Summit in 2021 of over 15,000 leaders found that leadership development is a top priority for 55% of HR professionals, but the majority lacked the time and resources to execute. Companies that invest in leadership development spend an average of $3594 per manager, yet those that spent more had an 18% increase in leadership quality and team productivity. They were also 3 times more likely to have a strong bench to fill in future leaders.
2. Ongoing Culture Building — Many organizations are slowly adopting more inclusive behaviors by promoting diversity in support resource groups and by adopting programs focused on corporate social responsibility, but employees on the ground floor are unlikely to buy in and may find these programs ingenuine if upper management are not active participants. Top level leaders must remain aligned with an organization’s mission statement and core values by practicing what they preach to build rapport and encourage loyalty with newer employees. The opportunity to get involved with internal resource groups should also be presented at the start of onboarding when employees are more likely to seek connection with other colleagues they can relate to.
3. Encourage Internal Promotions & Succession Plans — Chipotle reduced its turnover by 64% by offering a $10,000 incentive for managers to promote internally and managers became twice as likely to stay. Teams without a solid bench of future leaders are more likely to leave a company sooner and consistently fail at meeting company initiatives in the interim. If managers are burnt out and have a negative perception of the organization, it will have trickle-down effect on direct reports who are less likely to want their job in the future. Hoarding direct reports instead of supporting promotional opportunities is also toxic to a team’s culture and morale. If employees do not see an appealing career path within the organization, they will begin to seek out external roles that offer that potential growth. It is crucial to provide a thorough understanding of different career paths in the form of internal career fairs and regular networking events with other departments. Talented employees that are dissatisfied in their current role or have been passed up on previous promotions due to familiarity bias can be retained by exposure to other internal opportunities that may be better suited to their strengths. I also suggest companies offer reskilling and upskilling opportunities that assist in promotion opportunities and can translate to many industries. Often companies will only invest in certifications that are industry or job specific yet do not support more general ones like graduate degrees because they do not want to invest in an employee that could potentially leave. However, the reality is that employees are more likely to remain loyal to the company if they feel the company is supportive of overall growth and is willing to invest in their success. Morale Matters developed our Sales Success and Performance Management certification programs because we wanted to teach skills relevant to all industries that benefit both the company and individual employees. As long as an educational opportunity will benefit a person’s skills in their job, it should be considered. Fail safe measures can be put into place to minimize liability such as the employee making an agreement to stay at the company for 6 months or longer after a program or else forfeit the investment amount in their final payment to ensure the company’s ROI.

Here is the main question of our interview. Can you share five techniques that you use to identify the talent that would be best suited for the job you want to fill? Please share an example for each idea.

1. Create a Recruiting Strategy — Make a plan for recruiting within the target market. Solidify networking opportunities and job posting sites where you are most likely to connect with a large pool of qualified candidates. Invest in market research to determine the market rate of salary requirements and for skills and experience that will be beneficial for the role and company. Outline clear and thorough role expectations for the role. Promote the culture, company mission, and development opportunities within the organization.
2. Ask Open-Ended Questions & Actively Listen — Ask questions to learn more about the candidate and seek to understand where they are coming from. Why is the candidate interested in the role? What are their salary requirements? What is their past experience? What is their ideal career? What opportunities for growth are they looking for? Encourage a conversation with open-ended questions that are unlikely to be met by a simple yes or no answer. Create a safe space and offer an open-door policy so the candidate feels heard and understood. Utilize emotional intelligence and actively listen to the candidates wishes, interests, and concerns before responding or deciding if they could be a fit for the role and organization.
3. Assess the Candidates Strengths & Weaknesses — Thoroughly review a person’s skillset in a resume as well as the whole person. Approach a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses from a holistic perspective. If they are lacking in skills but have the right attitude, can those skills be developed in the timeline required? Do they seem receptive to feedback? Do you see an opportunity for them to grow within the organization? Almost all skills can be improved, yet personality and character traits are nearly impossible to overcome. Assess the candidate’s work ethic and your thoughts on if they will work the hardest and care the most.
4. Consider the Team Dynamic — Analyze if the candidate would be likely to have a positive connection with the current team and if their personality is a fit with the hiring manager’s leadership style. Determine if the candidate possesses skills or traits that will enhance the team’s performance and culture or counteract it. Seek to fill the role with a candidate that will be a compliment to the team and not only the role.
5. Solidify Next Steps — Confirm a timeline with the candidate to outline expectations. Stay on task and in communication with any timelines that were offered about next steps. Follow-up with key stakeholders that are part of the decision-making process. Offer all candidates the ‘white glove experience’ and remain responsive when any questions arise throughout the process. Provide valuable and personal feedback to the candidate instead of an automated and generic email whether they receive an offer or not so the relationship is retained for any future roles and their perception of the company remains positive.

We are very blessed to have some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world whom you would love to have a private lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this.

I would love to connect with Dr. Laurie Santos and Brene Brown. I am inspired by female innovators and entrepreneurs with similar missions and I feel together we could brainstorm even more ways to impact and support future generations of leaders. I am interested in collaborating with any like-minded leaders to collaborate with and in speaking engagements that can inspire positive change in the workplace.

How can our readers continue to follow your work online?

Readers can reach out to myself or my team on our website www.morale-matters.com to schedule a complimentary Strategy Session if interested in working with us and we invite readers to subscribe to our newsletter Motivational Mondays. We remain involved in supporting other businesses and non-profits and I am also the Podcast Host for Valley Biz Buzz sponsored by the West Valley Warner Center Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles. Our slogan at Morale Matters is, “Light Bulb Moments Creating Positive Growth” and we encourage readers to share and post their own light bulb moments on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter that led them to where they are today.

Thank you so much for these fantastic insights!