Employee Engagement

Employee Turnover is Not a Problem

Don’t get me wrong, I understand and appreciate that turnover creates challenges. Employee turnover causes a decrease in productivity, lower profits, inconsistent quality, and certainly creates work overload.

But here’s the question: Is employee turnover a problem or a symptom?

Turnover is a symptom.

But what is turnover a symptom of? You might argue that turnover is a symptom of unmotivated people, apathy or a labor shortage. But most often, turnover is a symptom of poor leadership. Turnover occurs because poor leaders lack purpose, lack integrity, lack a plan for developing people, have poor communication skills, and treat people like things instead of like people.

Have you ever worked for someone who lacked integrity? Someone who would say one thing and do another? Someone who promised to do something but never did it? Someone who took the credit and placed the blame? Unfortunately, I’d have to guess that each of us has had that kind of boss at one time or another.

When you were in that situation, did you continue to do your work? Of course you did. Was your work accurate and correct? Of course it was. Did you take the initiative on new projects for the benefit of the company? Maybe not. Go the extra mile to make a difference? Hmmm… Did you leave the company at the first opportunity? Point made. When an individual or a company lacks integrity, turnover occurs.

Have you ever worked at a company where the prospect of advancement was nonexistent? Someplace where you knew that you weren’t going anywhere? Did you stay very long? That’s my point. Without opportunity for growth and expanded responsibility, people leave.

Have you ever worked at a company where major changes were “sprung” on you? Where work was assigned to you and after you completed it, you found out you had done the wrong thing? What happens when people don’t communicate effectively? Poor communication leads to misunderstanding, conflict, de-motivation, and stress. What does misunderstanding, conflict, de-motivation and stress lead to? You got it – turnover.

And then comes the most insidious issue of them all – treating people like things rather than like people.

How does someone treat people like “things”? They do it in several ways. They do it when they’re insensitive to them and interact with people as if they have no feelings. They treat people like things when they ignore the fact that everyone has hopes and dreams and fears and stress. They treat people like things when they relate to people as if their own goals and aspirations are more important than the goals and aspirations of the other person. And they treat people like things when they don’t show respect for people or value their contributions and efforts.

When someone treats a person like a thing, it sends the message that they are unimportant and that they just don’t care about them. And when people sense a leader doesn’t care about them, they start not to care about that leader. When the company tolerates leaders who don’t care about people, people tend not to care about the company. When a leader treats people like things, turnover occurs.

In contrast, an effective leader understands that people’s hopes, dreams, fears, and stresses are real and matter to them. An effective leader inspires people. An effective leader interacts with people as people, helping them to be their best. And an effective leader helps people achieve their goals.

When a leader and an organization have a clearly defined purpose, they attract and retain the talent they need. When a leader and an organization have integrity, it builds trust and loyalty. When a leader and an organization are committed to developing people, people become the best they can be. When a leader and an organization communicate effectively, conflict and tension diminish, and cooperation increases. When a leader and an organization treat people as people, they appreciate it and reciprocate.

Turnover isn’t a problem – it’s a symptom caused by leadership problems. Fortunately, these problems can be resolved, and you have the power to make that difference. Strive to become the best leader you can be.

Company Culture by Design or Default

I’ve had some interesting conversations recently with a couple of clients regarding their company’s culture.

With the first client, someone I was helping to groom as the owner’s successor, he told me how much they value their culture. Not only that, but they felt very strongly about “hiring to their culture”. In other words, they made certain that every new hire understood how important the company’s culture was.

As an executive coach focused on developing successors, these statements were music to my ears! I naturally asked him, “So, what IS your company’s culture?” AND HE HAD NO ANSWER! It turns out, when they speak to new hires about culture, they simply tell them that their culture was important to them but offered no guidance as to what that was or meant. I was confident that he understood what their culture consisted of in general terms, so I sent him off to try to better define their culture and reduce it to a handful of statements.

In our next coaching session, we discussed the list of values and behaviors the company strove to live by. We spent that session refining and clarifying the list so he could better express to employees what mattered to the company and so he could better hold them accountable to those values and behaviors.

With the second client, the president of his company, we had a very different conversation. This client had very clearly defined their culture and like the other client, made sure that new hires were aligned to it. But there was a problem. In fact, it was a major problem.

Most people think that a company’s culture is defined by the values and behaviors a company aspires to. That sounds great and makes sense. Except it’s not true.

A company’s culture is defined by the values and behaviors the company tolerates.

And who does that tolerating? The leaders do. The values and behaviors that the leaders tolerate become the company’s culture. But it doesn’t end there. It gets worse. When a leader professes to value one behavior but acts in a manner at odds with it, it demonstrates a lack of integrity. And when a leader is seen to lack integrity, people lose respect for them. And when people lose respect for a leader, engagement and productivity suffer.

And that’s EXACTLY what was happening at this client’s company. My client was as guilty as anyone in the company, acting at odds with the stated culture. But nevertheless, he couldn’t understand why they had so much trouble making progress and holding people accountable. Consequently, we began strategizing about how to change his behavior and the behavior of others.

So, here’s the bottom line:

A company’s culture needs to be defined. A culture that exists by default is always inferior and leads to lower engagement.
Although a defined culture is good (and important), the true culture is really defined by the values and behaviors the leaders tolerate.
If you want to drive a positive culture, the leaders (and everyone throughout the organization) need to strive to live those values and behaviors and hold one another accountable to them.

A positive, well-defined culture that people live by results in better engagement, higher productivity, and improved profitability.

When Successors Manage Instead of Lead

Most owners feel they’ve done a good job preparing their successor, yet many successors fail once they take over. One of the major causes is that they continue to manage the company rather than lead it. And when people get “managed” engagement drops and results suffer.

Two of the most common ways an executive “manages” people are by “treating people like things” and by “treating adults like children”.

How does someone “treat people like things”? They do it in several ways. They do it when they’re insensitive to them and interact with people as if they have no feelings. They treat people like things when they ignore the fact that everyone has hopes and dreams and fears and stress. They treat people like things when they relate to people as if their own goals and aspirations are more important than another person’s goals and aspirations. And they treat people like things when they don’t show respect for people nor value their contributions, efforts, and potential.

When someone treats a person like a thing, it sends the message that they are unimportant and that they just don’t care about them. And when people sense a leader doesn’t care about them, they start not to care about that leader. When the company tolerates leaders who don’t care about people, people tend not to care about the company. And when people don’t care, there is no engagement.

In contrast, an effective leader understands that people’s hopes, dreams, fears, and stresses are real and matter to them. A leader inspires people. A leader interacts with people as people, helping them to be their best. A leader treats people the way they themselves want to be treated. And a leader helps people achieve their own goals.

How does someone “treat adults like children”? Think for a moment about how parents relate to children and why they relate that way. They generally tell children what they need to do and when they need to do it. They do that because they don’t trust a child’s judgment, their sense of responsibility, and/or their self-discipline. They regularly check up on children because they don’t trust them to follow through on their commitments. They check up on children because they don’t trust them to be responsible.

When a leader doesn’t trust people to do what needs to be done and doesn’t trust their judgment, he or she is treating them as if they are children. When they micromanage people, they are treating them like children. And when they treat people like children, it shows a lack of respect and trust. When people feel they aren’t respected and trusted by a leader, they lose respect for that leader. When people feel they aren’t respected and valued, there is no engagement.

If someone doesn’t know what to do, then our job as a leader is to develop their knowledge and abilities. The shortcoming lies with the leader, not the follower. If someone lacks the necessary judgment for a task or decision, then our job as a leader is to develop their judgment. If their judgment remains inadequate, then either we aren’t as competent a leader as we need to be, or we just have the wrong person on our team. Either way, resorting to treating someone as a child is a poor course of action.

Regardless of how well a successor knows the mechanics of a business, if they don’t hone their leadership skills, the best they can hope for are mediocre results.

If you’d like help evaluating your successor’s leadership abilities and/or help with developing their weaker areas, please contact me.

Misuse of “The Hammer” by Leaders

I’ve never met an executive who thought they were a poor leader. Most will say there is always room for improvement, but that they generally do a good job. And yet… we all know people who are poor leaders!

These leaders often feel that they know what should be done and how it should be done. So they adopt a “command and control” style of leadership, “guiding” the people around them. If they aren’t successful at getting their way they “pound” on them – basically ordering them to do what they say. I call it “using the hammer”.

This approach is appropriate for urgent situations or emergencies, but is rarely effective in most other circumstances. At best, when a leader takes this approach, they simply get compliance from their people. At worst, they elicit passive-aggressive behavior. And to compound matters, the results gained form compliance are weak compared to those gained by a committed workforce.

In essence, they’re treating adults like children. This style of leadership demonstrates that they don’t trust or respect those around them. It shows that they don’t value them as professionals and it generally causes disengagement. Micromanaging is a common variation of this style of leadership.

If a leader really wants to bring out the best in people, he or she needs to treats adults like adults and professionals like professionals. Effective leaders learn how to influence and persuade people to buy into their ideas and suggestions. Effective leaders give people autonomy, allowing them to do their work in their own way.

That’s not to say that these leaders accept mediocrity. Far from it. In fact, this approach – when done correctly – allows a leader to hold people more accountable and it allows them to hold people to a higher standard of performance.

Besides, taking this approach doesn’t take away any power from the leader. A leader always reserves the right to use “the hammer” and tell someone exactly what he or she wants done. It should only be used when a leader’s powers of influence fall short and/or when someone’s judgment is flawed. A leader always has the prerogative of dictating what should be done and how it should be done. But using the hammer is a last resort when nothing else works.

Everyone feels they have something to contribute and want to be heard. The key to bringing out the best in people is to value and respect them. Eliciting excellence is the essence of exceptional leadership.

If you’d like help in refining your leadership effectiveness, please call. We offer assessments and executive coaching – all designed to boost your leadership effectiveness.

Employee Engagement

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