Do you believe people are your best asset? If so, what are you doing to keep them? Knowing each employee’s personality, motivators and behaviors — which we measure through the MAP (Multi-Assessment Profile) hiring and management assessment — can help you manage your employees in a way that keeps them at your company longer.

Personalization is key. Knowing each of your employees deeply will help you give each person the right projects and tasks so that they perform highly and enjoy their work more. We’ve compiled four ways to help you retain employees, using real data the MAP assessment provides.

1. Train New Employees Smarter

Have you ever had a promising new hire who just “wasn’t getting it,” and you couldn’t figure out why? The MAP can help with that!

When onboarding new hires, be sure to read each person’s MAP to see what enhances and hinders a person’s individual learning style. With this knowledge, you can train more effectively and encourage self-learning that makes sense.

You’ll notice that some people love to learn with written step-by-step instructions, while others pick up new skills when shown how to do them. Adapt training to fit the team member whenever possible, and you’ll increase training speed and effectiveness.

2. Assign Work More Accurately

Over time, changes to the organization or work load mean that new assignments need to be handed out to members of your team. When it’s time to assign new work, take the opportunity to evaluate your team MAPs to find who is most likely to enjoy the task and excel in tackling it.

Be careful to align new assignments with the employee’s potential contributions in the Role Consideration section. Taking time on the front end to match each employee with their best type of work will prevent mistakes and rework in the long run.

For example, if you have reporting work that needs to be done, look for team members with strong Conventional Motivators and high Conscientiousness scores in the Behavior section. People with these MAP traits gravitate toward creating order and stability, which is just what you need for reporting.

You may find that another person on your team is great at selling ideas inside or outside of the team. Look for opportunities for that person to exercise those natural abilities.

3. Customize Incentives to Employee Motivators

Organizations tend to create one-size-fits-all incentive plans, but not all employees are motivated by the same factors. For example, did you know some people are more motivated by praise than financial gain?

Look at your team members and see if you’re missing opportunities to motivate stronger work performance by emphasizing each employee’s natural motivational style.

4. Communicate More Efficiently with Your Employees

Minimize conflict and improve clarity for the person receiving the message by using the Interaction Guide. Compare your communication style with your direct report. What parts of your manager communication style clash with theirs? Evaluate how you can modify your style to accommodate your team member’s style.

Also, don’t be afraid to ask for communication changes from your employees. If you prefer to get right to the point, let your employees know so they can be more successful in communicating with you.

Conclusion

Increasing employee motivation is not always the easiest thing to do, which can make employee retention a challenge. However, customizing your incentives and communication to each team member’s style of motivation can go a long way.

Communication is the most important component in making the organization function correctly. Knowing your employees and their individual strengths, motivators and behaviors will enable you to better utilize them and showcase their talents.