4 leadership practices that make employees want to stay

One of the most pressing issues for leaders today is retaining their best talent. The combination of an abundance of opportunities, increasing pay levels, remote working options, and changing attitudes about work have come together to make even the most loyal employees consider exploring new career opportunities.

A recent survey from McKinsey cited the top reasons employers said that their employees quit their jobs were compensation, work-life balance, and poor physical and emotional health. By contrast, the top three factors’ employees cited as reasons for quitting were not feeling valued by their organizations, not feeling valued by their managers, and not feeling a sense of belonging at work. This research highlights that organizations must address the baseline issues of equitable pay and flexible working situations, but their leaders must address the relational and motivational issues of the day-to-day working environment.

Organisations need leaders who care and give workers a sense of purpose, inspiration, and motivation to perform. Creating this type of environment does not mean that employees will never quit their jobs, but if they choose to leave, they will be doing so because of a great career opportunity. Below are the four leadership practices that make employees want to stay.

1) A strong foundation

Have you worked on a team that lacked clarity of goals, priorities, and roles? If the answer is yes, you probably experienced some of the following repercussions: low-performance levels, missed deadlines, lack of team trust and ongoing team conflict.

It is well-researched and documented that a leader must help their employees and teams establish meaningful goals and role clarity to support performance, strong relationships, and engagement. Without this solid team foundation, trust and performance will be a recurring issue making employees desire a better working environment.

Goals

Goals provide direction, allowing employees to understand where they are now, where they want to go, and unites people in their effort in getting there.

Roles

Clear and synergistic roles and responsibilities are essential for employee success. Everyone should have a clear picture of who is responsible for what and how people work together to accomplish shared goals.

2) Effective management

Have you ever worked for a great organization but also had a bad manager? If so, what was your experience? I have asked thousands of employees and the responses are always similar to the following statements: It turned the work I enjoyed doing into something difficult, it made everything harder, it was challenging to stay motivated, it negatively impacted my personal life and the most common answer is always – I left the organisation.

Companies spend countless dollars on facilities, equitable pay, and state-of-the-art technology, but if an employee feels they have a bad manager, the employee will struggle to stay productive and motivated.

The role of a leader is to demonstrate that effective management is a top priority for individual and team success. The leader must “walk the talk” by demonstrating firsthand what effective management looks like for their direct reports. For leaders to create a great management culture, they must ensure managers have access to adequate training, effective talent processes, and ongoing accountability for effective management.

3) Lead through coaching

Almost all leaders rise to leadership positions because of their ability to solve problems and get things done. Too often, when employees come to leaders with their routine challenges, the leader will immediately jump into solving the problem for them. The strategic mindset shift for leaders is understanding that success in their role is no longer to be the chief problem-solver.

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Success as a leader is all about empowering others, developing employees, and building trust for ongoing team success. The primary tool to accomplish this mindset shift is coaching. A simple and practical framework for coaching is Sir John Whitmore’s GROW model. GROW is an acronym that helps guide leaders to coach others towards resolving challenges or issues.

Asking questions does not stop leaders from sharing their experience, insight, or direction. Leading with questions allows leaders to understand the employee’s perspectives before choosing what input is needed. Shifting from leading through telling to leading through coaching helps create an environment where employees feel valued, empowered, and motivated.

4) Invest In Healthy Team Relationships

The natural tendency during challenging times is for employees to put their heads down and push through it. Focusing only on deadlines and tasks might work for the short-term, but eventually, this approach will deteriorate a team’s social bonds. I like the way Shawn Achor summed it up in his book Happiness Advantage: “The greatest predictor of a persons’ success and well-being is the strength of their social support network. Countless studies have found that social relationships are the best guarantee of heightened well-being and lowered stress, both an antidote for depression and a prescription for high performance.”