Tag: caring leadership

Why Good Employees Quit

Once upon a time, I made a decision to leave a job. I wanted to no longer have to mute my voice or my presence. I knew I deserved to belong, to be heard, and be appreciated for all that I have to offer. So I left. I was good at my job, and I even had development opportunities in front of me. But I left. And boy, am I glad that I did. 

Now my story might be unique, but the feelings of being unimportant, unheard, and devalued are not uncommon. I’m sure that every one of you reading this has experienced those feelings in some capacity in their professional life. That is why good employees quit their jobs. I now make it my mission to give employees a voice where I didn’t have one. I work to fix the hiccups, and the ill-fitting feeling that strikes before employees quit so they won’t feel forced to leave. 

To Fit is To Belong

From an employees’ perspective, managers don’t have a clue what to do to keep their best people. So they leave them feeling devalued and taken for granted. As a result, employees feel so disregarded that they mentally and emotionally check out from their work and become overwhelmingly disengaged. 

This occurs often and all over the place. Employees that experience this can be the best in their fields. They can be doing work they are passionate about and serving people in a way that matters to them. But if they don’t fit with the organization, if their managers don’t see that they have a space and a voice, they will continue to quit. 

We all deserve to belong at work. 

Today, more people are quitting their jobs than ever before. Employees everywhere are taking their futures into their own hands and prioritizing what truly matters–their wellbeing. 

I offer a course for managers to learn three crucial ways to make their employees feel like they belong. 

To make your employees feel like they belong, you must get to know them first. Take the time and put in the effort to learn your employees’ passions. By knowing what motivates your team members and what they truly care about, you can better connect with them and connect their work to them. The more invested and connected they are within your organization, the more likely they are to want to stay. The more they will feel like they belong and have put down roots. 

Step 2

The next step is strategic. Once managers build a deeper connection, like the one mentioned in step 1, they must continue to nourish it. For example, managers should lay out a plan for consistent one-on-one meetings. Create a system for checking in and cementing this connection so that it becomes routine. Making your employees and their well-being a priority will never leave them feeling like they don’t belong. 

Step 3

This third step is perhaps the most complicated but also imperative. Have you ever had a good rapport or a solid relationship with your immediate manager but felt like senior leadership wasn’t aware of your existence? Organizations need unity across all levels. Managers need to fill a crucial void and mitigate the disconnect between top management and frontline employees. If an employee belongs, they must feel that belonging in terms of the whole organization, not just their little corner. 

There is much more depth to each of these steps, but take the course, or work to implement them into your management style, and your good employees will know they are taken care of and truly looked after by you, their caring leaders. 

A way to serve

My son recently received a promotion in the civil air patrol. Unfortunately, I couldn’t be at the ceremony, but my husband was there, and he recorded it for me. 

I watched the ceremony unfold, and I saw my son up there at the front of the room with two senior people, saluting and holding his certificate. But then, I quickly noticed all the new cadets, sitting bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I saw them looking at my son in awe. And as my mother’s heart filled with pride and admiration, I realized the importance of that young audience. 

I thought to myself, how often do we ask ourselves who is sitting at the table watching us? As leaders, it is so important to pay attention to our audience at all times. 

Given that leadership is an action primarily dedicated to others, we should be highly aware of our audience and how others perceive us. 

How will others view your leadership style? 

It can be incredibly difficult to maintain a carefree and confident leadership stance at all times. Especially in the moments where things are going wrong at work. When things seem to be falling apart, or you’re constantly caught up in putting out fires, it is extra crucial to maintain strength in your leadership position. 

Remember that there is an audience observing you. Try not to crack under pressure, and definitely don’t cast negativity on peers, leadership, or your organization. A leader is a representative of their company’s vision, brand, and mission. Leaders cannot be duplicitous in their allegiance. 

How would those fresh, excited cadets view my son if he left that ceremony and tossed his certificate in the trash or made fun of one of his superiors? So often, leaders exhibit behavior like that and don’t bat an eyelash. Unfortunately, complaining has found too complacent a home in many of our organizations. Leaders, I encourage you to rise above and exhibit the ideal you represent. 

How will they assess your choices and decisions?

Leadership usually consists of our words and actions, but the less vocalized aspect is our choices. As leaders, we can easily forget that every choice we make has a ripple effect that will touch the rest of our organization. 

Again, other people should remain at the forefront of our minds as it is for their sake that leaders serve. 

I have an entire chapter in my most recent book on leadership, The Art of Caring Leadership, on Team Decision-Making. I detail how to consider the strengths of your team before making decisions that will affect them. 

While the decision-making process can feel very lonely in theory, especially for leaders who are part of a one-person team, it is a process that thrives the more perspectives it takes into consideration. A leader who makes decisions without consulting others comes across as self-centered.

Impact: the end goal of leadership

The most notable sign of a good leader is the impact and legacy they leave behind. Ideally, this takes form as their caring leadership legacy extends into their peers, who exhibit caring behaviors in their own lives. 

One way to ensure that those around you develop in their leadership journeys is to maximize their strengths. Delegate to your team and test their limits. Give them leeway to make mistakes but also to grow and reach new heights. 

There are five ways to assess your employees’ strengths to meet their needs better and encourage their growth. The five ways are: all staff feedback, the employee themselves, social or intranet posts, gauge team success and notice who was involved on each side, and assessments. Use assessments such as Strengthfinders, DISC, Meyers Briggs. 

The next time you assess one of your employees, focus on these five areas to understand how to work together with their needs in mind as you make your next strides in your leadership journey. 

Leading is all about the others. Who is your audience? Do they know that you care?

A Common Problem

One of the most common questions I get asked usually goes like this: “What do I do if I want to be a catalyst for change, but no one else is receptive?” I can’t tell you how often this comes up. I don’t know about you, but this makes me think of that saying, “If you want to change the world, you have to begin with yourself.” That’s the kind of saying they have painted on a classroom wall, but that saying has truth to it. And anyone who has tried to be the change within their organization has felt this. 

It’s a struggle. It can be so demotivating to reimagine a new workplace, but no one wants to reimagine with you. Or even more so, to make personal changes to achieve that new workplace and have them all fall on deaf ears and blind eyes. Change is hard. It’s even harder when no one notices. Change is also incredibly lonely at the beginning. So why make a difference at all then, many people wonder. 

The Solution

Here is my response to this unfortunate and all too common occurrence. I hear you, and that’s hard. You’re trying, and people aren’t giving anything back. It feels like you are swimming against the strongest of currents again and again. I understand. I’ve even been there before. In fact, most people who have ever gone about promoting greater change have stood exactly where you are standing right now. 

Remember the Point

What you need to focus on in the moments where you feel like defeat is much closer than success is the purpose behind your actions. Are you making these personal changes in your behavior or leadership style for yourself or others? If you go out determined to be kind and show care to everyone and receive callous responses, it is disheartening, but it’s not defeat. That’s not the purpose. The point is that you are changing and evolving, and the only thing you can control when changing is yourself. Maybe the effects will spill over, and kindness will trickle (and usually it does), but that is not your responsibility. Your responsibility is to be the best version of yourself that you can be regardless of your surroundings, environment, culture, etc. 

Where Does Responsibility Fall?

It’s a tale as old as time once you think about this on a broader scale. Being a catalyst for change within your organization is an immense burden. But, you are not responsible for the actions or inactions of your coworkers. The culture does not belong solely to you. If you are doing your due diligence to reflect the change you hope to see on a personal level, then you should not let guilt or discouragement seep in. 

It takes an incredible amount of willpower to make personal changes. Be proud of the accomplishments you have achieved and put failure out of your mind. That sort of negative energy will taint the positive changes you have worked so hard to manifest in your daily life. 

Although you may feel alone in your endeavors and pursuits, I can promise you that you are not alone. Come join the Caring Leadership Community to see just how many people are standing in your shoes.