Good leadership takes skill, heart, head, hands, and a willingness to serve others.
As high rates of employee turnover continue to rise, business leaders have had to shift to adapt to what employees truly want in this worker-driven economy. Benefits and perks to attract and retain talent are certainly part of the equation, but they are not enough.
Getting employees to stay and not resign requires people-centered leaders. This is easier said than done, because there aren't enough to go around. Good leadership is ultimately an inside job -- it's who you are at the core of your being, not what you "do."
Good leadership takes skill, heart, head, hands, and a willingness to serve others. With that said, here are three considerations leaders can take to ensure people will stay longer:
1. Provide career opportunities and growth
Today's employees not only want the ability to grow their careers, but they also want the opportunity to explore different career paths, pursuing opportunities that align with their skills and interests.
The question isn't whether your employees are looking for change, but where they'll choose to make that change happen. Why not offer them the choice at their current company? According to new research from Gloat, a workforce agility and talent marketplace platform, nearly two-thirds of respondents (65.1 percent) don't see their current place of employment as offering the options and opportunities they are seeking.
Employers need to replace traditional career ladders with lattices that enable their people to grow -- not just vertically but also across departments and functions.
2. Provide more face time with employees
While videoconferencing lets us "see" one another, it may not be enough to foster the same relationships employees were building with their supervisors when they were meeting in person.
According to Beamery 2021 Talent Index, which revealed timely insights into what more than 5,000 employees want, half of the respondents in the U.S. believed a lack of one-to-one time with their employer actually hindered their promotion opportunities in the past year.
Leaders should make it a priority to meet with their team to discuss career path goals and growth opportunities. "By mapping out their future, employees will better visualize what they need to do to secure a promotion, [achieve] key milestones, and [ask] for developmental support," says Abakar Saidov, co-founder and CEO at Beamery.
3. Open up the lines of communication
Lack of communication is a great cause of employee disengagement and turnover. In addition to your standard annual employee performance reviews, use digital HR tools to capture frequent and real-time feedback so that you know what's really going on with your employees.
Furthermore, to ensure people don't quit, remember that good leaders these days are also good coaches. They use their one-on-ones as an ongoing opportunity to ask powerful questions to increase self-awareness and accelerate learning; they take the time to mentor employees and stretch their growth by exposing them to new roles. This is what high-achieving employees crave and want to keep developing and building on their strengths.
Source: inc.com