Surface Ripples

Turning Them Over

“People don’t leave bad companies. They leave bad bosses”.

One of the problems any employer faces is staff turnover.   Some industries experience this at a more rapid rate than others as a “natural event.  Call centres are a case in point: youngsters fresh out of school or university work a shift system for two years to gain experience in customer service before realising that a 24-hour shift system doesn’t leave them much social life.

But there are other reasons employees leave voluntarily and all stem from leadership.

Let’s start with lack of recognition.  We want to be recognised for our contribution (however small) and simply not being noticed/acknowledged can be demotivating in the extreme.  How do we feel when the boss takes all the credit?

Another could be lack of trust from the manager.  There could be good reasons for this, e.g. we haven’t yet proven that we can be trusted to manage on our own.  However, if our work is being constantly checked even after a considerable number of years, clearly something’s wrong.  There may be exceptions to this (banking is one that comes to mind, flying a commercial airliner is another).  Is it a training issue or a “genuine” competence issue?

This leads to a related cause: micromanagement, when no one can do anything without being constantly corrected by their manager.

Growth opportunities again are important for people. We want to be promoted. We want more experience. We want more responsibility (generally).

Broken promises also feature heavily.  Promises must be fulfilled unless there are extremely extenuating circumstances (e.g. a pandemic, a takeover, or something else major).  Managers who don’t keep their promises find themselves suffering from lack of trust in their team. 

Culture is also key.  There’s a famous saying that the culture of an organisation is shaped by the worst behaviour that the leader is prepared to accept.  Culture can make a real difference in terms of morale, productivity, and whether people go to bed on Sunday evening looking forward to coming to work the next day or not.  I’ve experienced jobs where I woke up every morning dreading going to work either because of a toxic boss or a toxic culture.  Equally, I’ve had jobs where I couldn’t wait to get to work!

Leaders who lack the necessary leadership skills, the interpersonal skills, or others are also a major issue and this lack is often related to causes enumerated above.

If you’ve got this far, you may be asking “what about compensation?” Poor compensation is a factor (for some).  However, if we look at the wide variety of jobs available “out there” there are those that are comparatively poorly compensated compared to others.  A university professor who is one of the few world experts on a particular subject may not be as well paid as, say, a successful 35-year-old investment banker who earns huge bonuses. “Compensation” means different things to different people.  For some, it’s cash.  For others want recognition. “Everyone has their price”.

I find that I often observe both myself and other leaders by doing “mini audits” where any of these problems may lie.  Of the eight causes listed above, how many may be present or at least a risk in our organisations?

As Bob Nelson commented, “An employee’s motivation is a direct result of the sum of their interactions with his or her manager.”

I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management.  I work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email. My website  provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.  

Labels: Leadership, Productivity, Strategy, Teamwork

posted by William Martin @ 15:47