Despite the number of employed in this country, finding qualified and quality workers remains tough. It’s worth investing in the good employees you do have to keep them from jumping ship and, furthermore, utilizing their input into improving your business.

We’ve compiled a few suggestions from successful leaders on how to keep your good employees and how to build a collaborative culture to incorporate their ideas.

Cameron Herold, Founder of BackPocket COO, says that we can all take a page out of Dwight D Eisenhower’s playbook to map out your company’s future. In his article for Open Forum, Hell Hath No Fury Like an Employee Ignored, Herold states, “Do everything you can to include your employees when you’re plotting a new course. And I’m not talking about some trite, shallow exercises meant to appease them and give them the illusion their voices are being heard. Listen to what they envision your company becoming. You’ll undoubtedly come away impressed. They’ll offer a unique perspective gained by toiling on the front lines while you’ve been busy with the big-picture business of running your business.”

Marcie Zlotnik, co-founder of StarTex Power, outlines how she stepped aside to give her growing employee base a voice and encouraged dialogue in an article for Smart Business, Talk Ain’t Cheap.

Creating a fair evaluation system is a concern for many leaders and Mike Cottrill of Smart Business details how using a collaborative system and peer evaluations are insightful tools toward that end.

"What does my job contribute to the company's overall mission?" "Which projects are my top priorities?" and "How can I grow in my position?" are questions that every employee should be asking, and every company must answer. Assigning and tracking goals is an effective way to both answer them and to make sure that personal and corporate objectives align. Sarah Kessler of Open Forum gives us a review of 4 Simple Programs for Managing Employee Goals.

Tom Feeney, president and CEO of Safelite Group, tells Smart Business how focusing on your people with performance reviews and 360 feedback sessions demonstrates that you value them.

Bob and Marcie Zlotnik, co-founders of StarTex Power, explain in Smart Business how creating a corporate culture that empowers your employees and contributes positively to your company is important.