Does your organization find itself routinely doing a talent swap with each leadership change? Culture impacts aside, the organizational cost to losing an employee is high. Each exiting employee costs your company up to 200% of the person’s annual salary (Heinz, BuiltIn.com). Think about that for a minute, before I delve into day-to-day leadership responsibilities that can reduce this churn.
Naturally executives will come to your organization to move the needle and do things differently (and hopefully better) than their predecessors. These new leaders will often have a virtual rolodex of individuals they trust and have proven themselves to them before. Utilizing a trusted pool makes sense to a degree, but I strongly believe leadership has a responsibility to develop the next generation of leaders. Just because a person performed well in one environment, doesn’t mean they will transfer that success to all roles. Today’s shiny object may lose its luster without the proper care. To ensure this doesn’t happen to you and your teams, you should ask yourself what you have done to:
Understand the individual and their motivations – get to know the person and what excites and drives the individual. I believe there are always creative ways to tailor assignments to enrich both the individual, while delivering for the organization. This could be as simple as allowing the person to introduce a technique they have used before in requirements elicitation, or a method for engaging the team during retrospectives.
Understand the individual's strengths and weaknesses – individuals may volunteer their strengths and weaknesses, but leadership should also weigh in on this topic through observation. Strengths and weaknesses may change based on the organizational climate. For instance, during periods of extreme change, some team members may become more reclusive. This may not have been apparent during more harmonious times. This is not a one and done exercise. We should be continuously evaluating and identifying employee changes to help maximize the individual’s potential. Remember, today’s shiny object may lose its attraction without nurturing.
Understand the climate surrounding the individual and ensure it is well positioned to maximize the person’s potential. As you can see, all of these tips are closely related. This one, however, goes a step further than the individual. Leadership needs to continuously survey the work environment – other people, processes, technology and culture to ensure the organization is living its expected values and paving the way for employee growth. The potential of a stellar team member will be limited by the environment.
Support and mentor the individual on their professional journey. As the employee grows/changes and the organization evolves, steps 1 – 3 need to be revisited.
While we technically know we should develop and lead our teams, for many organizations, this activity gets lost in the shuffle of daily work. Demands increase and we sometimes lose sight of the people behind the operation. There are countless theories, articles and opinions on the topic. In its simplest form, if we cannot provide a satisfactory response to the four points above, perhaps we need to look inward at ourselves as leaders.
Sometimes it is necessary to change the team itself, but without routinely considering steps 1 - 4 above, even new team members will tarnish. Don't be afraid to pick up that penny, even if it is on tails and worn. That penny may be 'unlucky' because of the storms it weathered without the proper care.
Remember, “Before you are a leader, success is all about grooming yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” - Jack Welch
References
Heinz, Kate. The True Cost of Employee Turnover. BuiltIn.com. The True Costs of Employee Turnover | Built In
Comments