Yet another resignation letter from one of your top team members lands in your inbox. A second one is giving you the cold shoulder lately with curt responses and pushback. You’re not sure why this is happening, but you know change is in order. Your company can’t keep losing the cream of the crop. You want them to stay — and stay engaged.
You’re also aware of the underlying assumption people leave and disengage because of bosses, not companies. While it’s a bit more complex than the saying goes, there’s definitely some truth there. It’s often what an organization’s combined leadership does or doesn’t do that causes an employee to leave. Together, you could be annoying and alienating the people you most count on. Here’s how you can put an end to the madness.
Don’t Pull the Rug Out From Under Them
No, this isn’t about failing to lay down the figurative red carpet for your team. It’s about respecting your employees’ contributions enough to give them strategic direction. No one wants to stay in a company where they feel their talents are going to waste. Consistently being told to start over from scratch usually leads to this feeling. So does finding out the organization won’t be using the work you’ve produced.
Understandably, these scenarios will pop up occasionally. But when it happens on project after project, employees begin to wonder why they’re there. Top performers are driven to see results and achieve fulfillment from their work. They won’t tolerate an environment where this sense of accomplishment is constantly snatched out from under them. Eventually, their frustration will motivate them to walk out the door.
Pulling the rug out from under employees isn’t always intentional on leadership’s part. Nonetheless, it often occurs in organizations where strategy alignment doesn’t exist. The C-suite has one idea, while middle and front-line managers have others. None of those ideas are in sync, there’s no single source of truth, so everyone’s headed in different directions. To prevent misalignment, you must establish and communicate a North Star before anyone gets to work.
Provide More Than One Type of Development
A lack of career mobility is another thing that can drive people out the door. A McKinsey & Company survey found it’s the number one reason employees hand in their resignations. For top performers, feeling held back and doing the same old, same old can be stifling. They tend to seek out challenges with gusto. The thought of not learning something new and stretching their abilities is completely foreign to them.
In a nutshell, they’re not satisfied with roles that lead to a dead end. On the other hand, not all high-performing employees want the fast track to management. Plus, not all of them can rise in the ranks. Organizational structures can’t always accommodate everyone’s leadership ambitions.
That’s why providing more than one type of professional development path is so important. You may have a top performer who wants to take on more responsibilities. If you promote them without asking them whether management is what they really want, they won’t be too happy. They may be looking for opportunities where lateral career progression is possible instead. Avoid assumptions by discussing individual career needs and ways your company can realistically meet them.
Be Mindful of Work-Life Balance
Traditional ideas about what it means to dedicate yourself to a job are changing. Younger generations are looking for flexibility and have different expectations about work-life balance. And they’re more willing to quit a job if their work-life balance needs aren’t recognized.
Research by Adobe found 74% of Gen Z and 78% of millennials will switch jobs if they can improve their work-life balance. In comparison, 66% of Gen X and 50% of Boomers will switch. Although these percentages are lower, they’re high enough to reveal that most employees don’t want to churn and burn. If the implied or stated expectation is “100% on” all the time, you’ll irritate your people.
Examples include calling and sending emails after hours for non-urgent matters. You may not directly ask them to work outside their scheduled hours, but you’re setting the tone for it. More obvious examples include last-minute requests to work on “emergencies” the company could have avoided with proper planning. Getting a call five minutes before quitting time on a Friday isn’t the best way to keep an employee happy.
Now imagine if the “emergency” extended into their weekend, where they had to wait for further instructions. Their personal plans get put on hold, and they don’t feel they can step away. Constant last-minute requests and changes can disrupt an employee’s well-being. And it will send top performers to companies where the lines between personal and professional time aren’t as blurred.
Don’t Make Them Feel Small
Recognition is one way to show your team you appreciate them. It can come in the form of awards, group celebrations, and/or informal praise. Sometimes a “thank you” is all some top performers crave. However, these gestures won’t mean as much if you do other things that make employees feel unappreciated.
Constantly dumping menial tasks on them is one way. Another example is overloading team members and then criticizing them for not getting everything done to perfection. Not listening to their ideas and always insisting projects move forward your way can alienate top performers. They’ll start to feel their contributions are meaningless and that they’re nothing more than a puppet.
High achievers want to know they’re having an impact. They also want to implement their ideas and have control over their work. Restraining the initiative of a top performer will only make them want to break free. Show these team members you appreciate their talents by allowing them to make meaningful contributions.
Retaining Your Top Talent
Leaders don’t like to lose good employees. While paychecks and perks are nice, seemingly little annoyances can drive top talent away. With enough time, those vexations become unbearable and stifling. It’s best to nip them in the bud before you hear the words “I quit” from members of your team.
