In this episode we talked with Robert Hefner and discussed the top 3 most important things that a leader needs to do to improve employee engagement and retention.
Robert Hefner is the Vice-President of Human Resources at David Weekley Homes, which is one of the largest privately owned home builders in the United States.
The mission of David Weekley homes is Building Dreams, Enhancing Lives which is exactly what they have done as an organization. They’ve done this by helping individuals achieve “the American Dream” of home ownership, and also by helping the employees in their organization to thrive.
They have been named one of the Fortune “100 Best Companies to Work For” an amazing 16 times. In 2020 and 2021 they were also listed as one of the Top 30 places to work for both millennials and women.
Robert has been the Vice-President of Human Resources for David Weekley homes for over 11 years now, and plays a key role in developing and maintaining the systems that attract, retain, and grow high-performers within their organization.
Join us as we discuss with Robert how to improve employee engagement and retention. Hear why starting and sticking with your business purpose is a vital piece of employee engagement. Learn the unique approach David Weekley Homes uses to build dedicated teams. Listen to Robert discuss the importance of celebrating organizational and employee success along the way.
Here is a link to the David Weekley Homes website:
https://www.davidweekleyhomes.com/
Here is a link if you want to Connect With Robert on LinkedIn:
Robert’s Linkedin Profile
Robert’s Top 3
1. Start With and Stick To Your Purpose
“We feel, and what we try to communicate to our teams, is that we aren’t home-builders…we are dream-builders. This is people’s dream, this is something they have envisioned for a long-time. By saying that building-dreams is what we actually do and we aim to enhance lives, it encompasses every body.” – Robert Hefner
2. Create An Organization of Dedicated and Financials Secure Teams
“This comes down to hiring the right folks that fit in our culture, will thrive in our culture, and our culture will fit them. It all starts in their heart; you have to have the heart to want to do the right thing and not feel like you need to be told what needs to be done.
A lot of employees want to be told, and then they will go execute. It’s very different when you feel empowered and are able to make those decisions yourself. If they are the right folks and are able to do that, they will thrive here and will feel that because they have it in their heart.
If we find the right people, the great majority of our team will know that what they have here they won’t be able to find at other organizations.” – Robert Hefner
3. Celebrate Success Along the Way
“Success breeds success, and failure breeds failure. If you aren’t celebrating the successes, to be able to build on that and have more successes, then you are possibly doing the opposite and building failure that keeps building more failures on top of it. We have found it is so important to be able to recognize those successes and have fun with it before we move on to the next thing.” – Robert Hefner
