Three reasons why your star performers will leave you.
Returning to work after the holidays is bad enough without having to worry about who might ask you for a ‘quiet word’ in order to hand in their notice. I don’t want to cause any paranoia, but if that resonates with you, let me share the most frequently given reasons why people resign. Then you can do something to prevent it happening.
The sudden departure of good people is always disruptive and costly – and sometimes very humiliating. Regardless of the succession planning your HR department assures you they have in place, most recruitment still seems to be emergency hiring to replace a key role quickly. While a person can’t be stopped from leaving (and full loyalty isn’t possible or desirable either), savvy leaders can target their retention efforts at employees who are crucial.
There’s a common perception now that people master their job over the course of about three years, after which they need to move on to keep their CV attractive. The risk element in moving has been replaced with temptation. Companies have got their cheque books out to beef up compensation packages, aggressive head-hunters are sowing seeds of discontent, and at this very moment your competitors may be trying to lure your best people away from you. Who is not in the office now or is going somewhere private to take a call? Here are the three most frequent reasons for leaving that I hear, at mid to senior level and across functions. They have nothing to do with the efficacy of your organisation’s talent retention programme. They are all about YOU, their manager, and the relationship they have with you.
1. You haven’t bothered to REALLY listen to them. Do you really understand your people’s strengths, interests, goals and passions, or do you just make assumptions about them? When did you last initiate a discussion to ask what they find most challenging or enjoyable – and took time to listen to the answer? Do you really know what their level of commitment is and why? Instead of the forced conversations during the annual appraisal (useless at best), try to have frequent short conversations throughout the year – some formal, some spontaneous. Work on your active listening skills, by paying attention, building mutual respect into meetings, and making sure that everyone feels that their ideas are valid. Not many leaders do this well.
Share information with your people so that they understand early-stage strategic plans, growth, changing customer expectations, new vendor relationships, etc – anything that might influence their decisions about their future with you and, importantly, that shows them where they have room to grow. You may be disclosing this information to potential employees, but do you talk about it in the same way with your current people, explaining the implications to their careers? If they are worth holding on to, you will find a way to accommodate them in your plans. However, don’t make promises you can’t keep.
Think about the employees you spend most time with. Most managers tell me they spend their time and emotional energy on disruptive people or under-performers, rather than their star performers or high potentials. The latter group might make less noise but could transform performance if given space and genuine attention.
2. You can’t give feedback properly so they don’t know how well they are doing. Learning to give effective feedback should be a non-negotiable management competency. People can’t develop sustainable careers unless they know what they are doing well and where they can improve. Don’t assume that they know you are satisfied with their performance simply because you haven’t criticised them recently!
I coach so many managers who have been passive-aggressive when senior people underperform. Instead of telling them exactly (and early on) where their performance needs to be improved, with specific and timely examples, they just drop hints and complain to other people. These managers might give appropriate positive and negative feedback to junior staff, where the trainee-boss relationship is clearer. However, they struggle with senior and more experienced people where the boundaries of the relationship are more blurred. So when eventually a difficult conversation has to happen, your criticism comes as a complete bombshell.
3. You haven’t helped them to develop their skills – so they feel stuck. Learning and development opportunities are crucial to retention, from entry-level to executive. Nothing is more frustrating than being stuck in a cul-de-sac and not learning. If you place restrictions on people’s ability to develop their careers (both soft and hard skills), you are ensuring that they will leave. Employees who are both engaged and challenged rarely do. Facilitating learning at all levels – senior as well as junior – must be seen a vital part of your role.
Most learning now is not through formal training programmes but is on the job – through challenging assignments, mentoring, building networks, feedback, and mirroring the behaviours of the people we respect. The person we learn the most from should be our direct manager. Your role as manager is to encourage great performance from those you manage, while helping them to grow. The most effective outcomes are when organisational performance goals and individual developmental goals are linked.
Final word: Departing employees will never tell you any of this at their exit interview because they don’t want to burn their bridges. They will probably just say that they are moving on for more money or a fresh challenge. If you haven’t listened to them before, why would they bother trying to communicate with you now?
I hope this is helpful. As ever, I’d love some feedback myself and please feel free to share this with your own managers and network.
Warm wishes
Zena
Zena Everett
I coach high performers in organisations and, with a team of Associates, offer career coaching and outplacement programmes across Europe. www.zenaeverett.com