Do you know the #1 reason that employees leave a company?
It’s NOT pay.
It’s NOT work / life balance.
It’s NOT feeling appreciated.
It’s NOT advancement.
It’s NOT even being micro-managed.
So what is it!?
Sit down for this….
It’s their LEADER….it’s most likely YOU.
Gulp.
And HERE is what separates the highly-successful businesses from everyone else….
the SECOND the leader takes responsibility for their “trainers who just don’t care as much as you do” or “admin who is forgetting to do things”…is when things change.
You have to ACTIVELY be engaged in developing your team….
– That means investing in your STAFF like you do for your business and your own personal development.
– It means going the extra mile, and making them feel like you truly care about them and their needs.
– It means being CLEAR on your vision and making them feel a part of something bigger than themselves.
– It means taking them out individually for lunch once in a while, and having a real conversation with them about what’s going on in their lives.
– It means “walking the walk,” because nothing sets a better example than that.
– It means reading books on leadership and management.
– It means investing in their education and creating a growth path for your team so they know there’s room for them to grow within your company (even if there’s no opportunity for that right now- it will be there in the future!)
– It means allowing them to be individuals and finding a way for them to be creative and express their individuality while STILL maintaining your vision, values, and expectations.
– It means learning HOW each person needs to feel appreciated and treated (because everyone is different and needs different things! Read The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace.)
And when I say all of this, I don’t take it lightly.
I’ve LEARNED the hard way from my mistakes.
I lost an incredible trainer I didn’t show enough appreciation. I lost another because I didn’t have a clear enough vision for my business. And I lost another because I wasn’t invested enough in their growth.
But I LEARNED that it wasn’t them…as MUCH as I wanted it to be them.
It was me.
So I changed the way I was doing things.
- I built an internship program.
- I invested in their education and certifications and THEIR growth.
- I re-structured my team meetings to better engage my staff and encourage them to share ideas.
- I took them out for breakfast or lunch or coffee on a regular basis.
- I did quarterly evaluations where I talked them them about THEIR goals and needs as well as my own.
- I learned how each person felt “appreciated” (whether it was pay, or time, or compliments, or random gifts (seriously- read that book above.)
- We did team socials and had FUN together.
And it made ALL of the difference in the world.
When you boil it all down, it comes down to YOU and your leadership.
When you start paying as much attention to your staff as you do your clients, everything changes.
The good news, is that this is GOOD NEWS!
If it’s YOU, then you can fix it!
Sure it’s not going to be in your control 100% of the time… but a large part of it IS
Take some time to think about what it would be like if YOU were a staff member in your company.
What would YOU want?
Start there 🙂
Happy Team Building!
Alicia
