b'When you have several equally qualifiedAEs have been with us for a long time. We always candidates, how do you narrow the field?have a breakthrough. I find a project or assignment provides a great indica- Susan Karis tion on how the candidate would perform day to day.Vice President Sales, Hubbard Radio Phoenix Having a glimpse of their work prior to hire is very helpful. Its nice to see how they would approach aDo you refer to your Growth Guide notes task and what the end result is. It also gives the can- often?Whathaveyoufoundtobethe didate an idea of their day-to-day work and helps so- most surprising in these conversations to lidify their interest in the role.help you to better engage those on your Elizabeth Bondteam? Director of Local Sales, Director of Local Sales, KHOU, TEGNA Houston I refer to these often and repeat annually. Especially with new employees, I always learn something unex-pected that I am really happy to know.Development Q&A Sonya VillamagnaIts not enough to hire top talent: you must also in- Local Sales Manager, TEGNA Houstonvest in them through coaching, training, and devel-oping their talents. Next up, our Q&A focuses on De-velopment. Engagement Q&ASuperstars will only activate their talents if they are How does the Growth Guide tool help infully engaged. One of the most important things you developing your team members?can do to retain top talent is to actively focus on your It is an invaluable tool to develop a connection amongculture, measure employee engagement so you un-teammates as we focus on being other focused. Wederstand how people feel, and take action on what use it across all levels of the organization and with- you learn to ensure your people are engaged and in teams. It truly is the secret ingredient to build awant to stay with your company. Our Q&A wraps up foundation of a culture of purpose and respect. with Engagement. Maryann BalboHowareyouusingonboardingto Cox Media Group Vice Presidentstrengthenengagementfromthefirst Howoftendoyouschedulefeedbackday of hire? calls on your direct reports? What do youWFH has been a challenge, and having a clear and con-find most helpful in these calls?cise onboarding plan is paramount to improving mo-rale and increasing employee engagement. We have We had a pretty regular rhythm of feedback calls formoved away from the data dump of onboarding our existing team, but that has slowed a bit over theand customized it for each new hire. New employees past year. We use these calls to help us with coachingshould clearly understand the company and station tips and this can be ongoing, not a one call and wereculture, the different departments, their sales team, good forever. We revisit with the CSS talent teamand their clients. We try to make sure onboarding lays if we see the AE struggling or stuck, if we feel thata base for success. Onboarding is excellent when its our management team is having challenges guidingan interactive process that leads to more questions, them, or we just do a review now and then to be surediscovery,anddiscussions.Wehavesteeredaway that we continue to understand how to maximize thefrom a check the box; one size fits all plan.talent on our team. The CSS Talent Coaches are so knowledgeableontheassessments and thetalentMichelle Woods themes that its such a tremendous help even whenDirector of Sales, Cox Media Group Seattle 160 Superhero Spotlight'