Why good people leave

By Francis J. Kong (The Philippine Star), October 2, 2016

For 30 years, Johnson had arrived at work at 9 a.m. on the dot. He had never missed a day and had never been late.

Consequently, on one particular day, 9 a.m. had passed without Johnson’s arrival and that caused a different sensation. All work ceased and the boss himself, looking at his watch and muttering, came out into the corridor.

Finally, at precisely 10 a.m., Johnson showed up. His clothes were dusty and torn, his face was scratched and bruised, and his glasses were bent. He limped painfully to the time clock, punched in, and aware that all eyes were upon him. Then, he said;

“I tripped and rolled down two flights of stairs in the subway. I nearly killed myself.”

His boss replied skeptically, “And to roll down two flights of stairs took you a whole hour?”

Ever wondered why attrition rate is high?

Maybe you thought your pay for the good people is not high enough and so you tell your compensation manager to up the rate.

Maybe you thought your company benefits and perks are not attractive enough to retain good people. And so, you ask HR to institute a lot more programs, events and even benefits in the hope to stop or at least slow down good people leaving.

Well, what I am going to say may be a shocker to some. Perhaps, you may have suspected this and certainly, in my leadership seminars, my participants know now for sure is this: it is that your managers and supervisors are driving your good people away and straight to your competitors.

David W. Richard in an Instagram post, which was picked up by people and spread all over the place, wrote something painfully true entitled: “Why Good Employees Leave?”

Richard says: “A study came up with a surprising finding. If you’re losing good people, look to their immediate supervisor. More than any other single reason, he (she) is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And the supervisor is the reason why they quit, taking their knowledge, experience and contacts with them, often, straight to the competition.

“People leave managers not companies,” write the authors Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. “So much money have been thrown at the challenge of keeping good people – in the form of better pay, better perks and better trainings – when in the end, turnover is mostly a manager issue.”

If you have a turnover problem, look first to your managers and supervisors.

Beyond a point, an employee’s primary need has less to do with money, and more to do with how he is being treated and how he is being valued. Much of this depends directly on the immediate manager.

So just imagine what happens to business when good people leave and those who choose to stay are either demoralized, stressed, or just plain fearful of losing their jobs and would they be churning out excellent work? I don’t think so. At best, mere compliant and mediocrity becomes the norm of the organization.

When your good people leave because your managers and supervisors lack leadership skills, then that will be bad for your business. Add this to the fact that Millennials are taking over the work place while the Generation X are on the verge of retirement. There is a need to train your leaders. Update and upgrade them with relevant and effective leadership skills.

I once came across a business owner who said, “Francis, why should I spend good money to train my people and lose them to the competition?” Well I pulled a Zig Ziglar line and said, “What is worst than training your people and losing them is not training them and keeping them.”

A few years later, this business owner became one of my top clientele as he realized the logic behind leadership training.

So watch carefully your managers and supervisors. Are they the main reason why your good people are leaving? Train them. Educate them and know that as you grow your leaders, they grow your business for you.

It does not work any other way.

And just one last thing.

If you are a manager or a supervisor and you think that serving your people is beneath you, then good leadership is simply beyond you.

(Experience two inspiring days with Francis Kong’s learning leadership skills in this year’s last run of Level Up Leadership happening on November 23-24, 2016 at the New World Hotel, Ayala, Makati City. For further inquiries contact Inspire at +63 9158055910 or call Trisha at +63 9285591798)