Top 5 Ways To Lose All Your Best People

You’ve probably heard some variation of the truism: People leave managers, not companies.  People don’t quit jobs, they quit managers.  Most people quit their boss, not their job.

It sounds a bit flip, but it’s at least half true. According to Gallup, 50% of employees leave companies to get away from their boss. Flawed management practices are a major demotivator, and seriously damage employee morale.

Employee Engagement vs. Employee Disengagement

According to Gallup:

• Less than 1/3 of American employees are actually engaged in their jobs – and this statistic has remained consistent, on average, since the year 2000.
• Fully half of all employees at any given time are either actively searching for new jobs or watching for openings.
• 70% of an employee’s motivation is directly related to their manager.

Those are some numbers that should give every leadership and management team serious pause. If half of your employees are looking for new jobs and two-thirds are either not engaged or actively disengaged, you’re certainly not seeing the kind of commitment, motivation, and productivity that you want.

The statistical upshot of this is that on any given team, half the employees are itching to leave – and half of those who do leave are quitting because of their manager.

So how do you avoid being that boss people leave to get away from?

5 Management Mistakes to Avoid

Employees are any company’s greatest asset and resource, and a company is only as good as the talent it can attract and keep. Not to mention that turnover is very costly!

Poor management practices can drive good employees away faster than anything else. Here are five practices that quickly lead to dissatisfied, disengaged employees, and to staff turnover:

1. Not developing relationships with employees – Caring about your employees as individual people and working to understand what makes each of them tick is key to managing them well. Not everyone is motivated by the same things or responds in the same way to a given situation. People come at their work with varying perspectives, and may need varying levels of oversight and support.

A manager who views employees as mere producers – without recognizing that each employee is a person, getting to know who that person is, or caring about them – is always going to experience higher turnover than one who develops relationships with their team members.

2. Not recognizing or rewarding good performance – A pat on the back goes a long way. Without any recognition, even those who work hardest and do the best job will find their enthusiasm flagging. Rewarding your people is critical – and rewarding them in the right way is almost as important!

Each employee may feel motivated by different forms of recognition – it’s your job as a manager to find out who is best motivated by a bonus and who would prefer a day off; who would love being given an award at a company event, and who might find a public appearance embarrassing.

3. Overworking good employees – It may be tempting to get as many hours as possible out of your best people – but that often makes employees feel like they’re being punished for doing a good job. Stanford research shows that above 50 hours a week, employee productivity plummets – and when you reach 55 or more, the additional time adds nothing to total productivity.

Keep hours reasonable, and make sure that any increase in workload is accompanied by a commensurate increase in status and/or compensation. Otherwise you can be certain your best and hardest workers will be the first ones out the door.

4. Not fostering trust – Failing to live up to your promises, meet commitments, or provide employees with the support they need to accomplish goals means letting them down and falling short of their expectations. What sort of loyalty and motivation is engendered by a leader who is untrustworthy or apathetic?

Every time you fulfill a promise, live up to a commitment, or ensure that your team has what they need, their trust in you grows, and their own commitment does as well. Every relationship is based on trust. Employees need to be able to rely on your word, and trust that their manager is an honorable and credible person who always has their backs.

5. Not helping employees grow – A major human need that is sometimes overlooked by management is the desire to learn, grow, and achieve higher goals. It’s important to be aware of your team members’ skills, interests, and passions, and to help them nurture their talents.

This means providing feedback, challenging them, encouraging them to develop new skills, and helping them advance their careers. Talented employees will always have ideas and be looking for ways to make improvements and advances for themselves and for the company.   Let them think outside the box. Employees who are able to engage creatively with their work are far more productive and motivated.

The Importance of a Good Manager

In Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace study, Gallup’s CEO Jim Clifton offered the following observation: “The single biggest decision you make in your jobbigger than all the restis who you name manager. When you name the wrong person manager, nothing fixes that bad decision. Not compensation, not benefitsnothing.”

That’s definitely something business leaders and managers in every market and industry should take to heart. If you want to retain your best people, keep in mind that the more talented they are, the more options they have. The right management approach will make them want to stay.

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Baker Communications offers leading edge Management Training solutions that will help you address the goals and achieve the solutions addressed in this article. For more information about how your organization can achieve immediate and lasting behavior change that leads to better performance and greater productivity, click here.