It is an economic reality that the growth and success of a thriving enterprise will depend on an employee retention plan. New ventures cannot be sustained without adequate staffing. Even successful businesses and organizations will find it difficult to sustain the pace with today's diminished workforce. The competition for good people has become intense. You can stay out of the fray by keeping the valuable people you have.

Be proactive. Don't wait for turnover. Don't get caught with more positions than personnel. Don't delude yourself by thinking there are several competent replacements for every position. Don't let your plans go unfulfilled because of a lack of labor. Find good people, then work on a plan to keep them.

When your organization has an aggressive plan for retention, the costly, time-consuming, painful steps to replace people will not be necessary. Developing a retention plan is no longer an option.

It is a necessity.

The following are policies and procedures that will make up the template for your plan. I call it the "Seven C's."

Courtship. You must address the earliest phase of the relationship between the employee and the organization. From the recruitment to the selection, every aspect of the initial contact should be carefully planned with an eye to a long-term relationship.

Like all courtship, you want to hang out where the person may be, introduce yourself, make a great first impression, get to know each other, honestly showcase your strengths, don't make promises you can't keep, ask for a commitment and make your expectations very clear.

Coaching. Once the selection is made, the employee needs to build confidence and competence. Training, instruction, encouragement and education are critical to an employee's orientation.

While many organizations do a fairly good job of orientation and training, in order to develop long-term loyalty, the mentoring and coaching of an employee should be ongoing.

Compensation. Yes, compensation is important. Take a broad view of compensation and explore its many forms.

Creativity and flexibility will be the hallmarks of a compensation plan that is designed to retain employees. Define compensation in your organization. Build some flexibility into your plan according to what you discover through researching your employees' wants, needs and suggestions.

Communication. Communication must flow through all levels of the organization to get work done and to increase the satisfaction of all members of the work team.

Both receiving information and having the opportunity to share ideas and suggestions are important to hard working, professional, well-trained employees. It is the component that links people and tasks together and enhances the experience while increasing the productivity of the work group.

Collaboration. There is no doubt that when someone feels like a valuable part of the whole, they will be more inclined to remain with the group. Building teams creates a sense of connectedness and this, in turn, leads to longevity of service. Shared experiences lead to shared responsibility, which, in turn, leads to shared success.

Commitment. Individuals seek responsibility. They will commit to the organization when the organization commits to them. After the courtship and the honeymoon and the discussion of ideas comes the steady, hard work of daily activity.

Frequent feedback, appreciation and recognition will keep people committed. In addition, building trust, empowerment and not taking any employee for granted are essential in maintaining commitment.

Continuous improvement. An organization must continuously update the skills, knowledge and abilities of its work force. While the rapid rate of change in some tasks makes training and employee development obvious necessities, every employee faces the possibility of professional obsolescence.

Employees who are not updating their skills will be left behind. They will begin to feel frustrated, unfit, uncertain and inadequate. These are painful, unpleasant feelings, and many employees will escape to a new job or just give up and put in their time.

It is the responsibility of the organization to keep skills updated through professional development plans. Educational opportunities, in-house training, mentoring, seminars, conferences, trade magazine subscriptions, tuition remission, sabbaticals and release time for personal improvement will not only increase competence, they will keep the work force interested and refreshed. They also create a sense of obligation to the generous organization that provided the opportunities.

Each of the above components is important but cannot stand alone. They are most effective when implemented as a complete package. Create a plan of action for each vital area.

"Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there."
Will Rogers

Elaine Beaubien is professor of business at Edgewood College and CEO of Management Training Seminars - www.elainetrain.com.