The\nbeginning of a new year is a time for reflection. It\u2019s a time to consider what\u2019s working and\nwhat\u2019s not . . . what needs to stay the same, what needs to change. If there is one thing we did last year that\nwe could do over again, what would that one thing be? And how would we do it differently. And what better outcome would we expect if we\nhad done it that way in the first place? \nWhat about the coming year? What\nchallenges do we expect to face, and how will the lessons of last year help us\ndeal with the challenges of this year? Coincidentally,\nwe recently had an opportunity to speak with Lisa Gilbert, President of the\nSchaumburg Business Association, so we asked her what she\u2019s hearing from her\nmembers. \u201cWhat are business leaders\nworrying about?,\u201d we asked. \u201cWhat are\ntheir concerns as we enter 2020?\u201d For\nher answer, and for some thoughts about her answer, please continue reading\nbelow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Employee\nturnover is not a human resources issue. \nIt\u2019s a management\/leadership issue.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Employee\nturnover. That\u2019s what Lisa Gilbert told\nus seems to be uppermost in the minds of her Schaumburg Business Association\nmembers. She didn\u2019t say, \u201cHmmm, let me\nthink about that.\u201d She answered without\nhesitation as if she had been expecting the question. She hadn\u2019t surveyed her membership on the\nquestion of employee turnover, but still, she does talk with members every day,\nso she has a pretty good sense of what\u2019s on their minds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Considering\nwe\u2019re in a period of extraordinarily low unemployment, it\u2019s not surprising that\nbusiness leaders are worried about holding onto their best and brightest. During the Great Recession a decade ago, the\nopposite was true. Employees weren\u2019t\nleaving because there was no place to go. \nMost companies, if they weren\u2019t laying people off, were at least\ndeclaring a hiring freeze. Obviously,\nthat\u2019s not the case today. If an\nemployee is unhappy in a job, he or she probably needs to look no further than\nthe company next door to find a new one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So\nwhat should you do? How do you hold onto\npeople who may be eyeing what they perceive to be greener pastures?<\/p>\n\n\n\n First,\nlet\u2019s agree that you\u2019re not going to hold onto everyone. Some defections are preventable, but some are\nnot. For instance, there isn\u2019t much you\ncan do when an employee is leaving:<\/p>\n\n\n\n So\nour retention efforts should be focused on departures that are<\/em>\npreventable. That is, people who are\nleaving simply because they can\u2019t stand working for us any longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\nprobably already monitor your compensation and benefits programs to make sure\nthey\u2019re competitive, but if you haven\u2019t done that lately, do it now. It doesn\u2019t matter how many ping pong tables\nyou put in the break room or how many Friday afternoon pizza blasts you have,\nif people feel they are not being fairly compensated for their work, they\u2019re as\ngood as gone. But let\u2019s assume that\u2019s\nnot an issue . . . that your pay and benefits are fair and competitive. Then what?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The old axiom where employee turnover is concerned is this: \u201cEmployees don\u2019t leave their companies.\u00a0 They leave their managers.\u201d\u00a0 There is also another concept that applies here which is: \u201cYou can manage things (equipment, schedules, buildings, etc.), but you can\u2019t manage people.\u00a0 People need to be led.\u201d\u00a0 Think about that.\u00a0 Do you really believe people get up in the morning saying to themselves, \u201cI can\u2019t wait to get to work where I can be managed.\u00a0 I love having the boss breathing down my neck, watching my every move, and pushing me to work harder and faster.\u201d\u00a0 No, of course not.\u00a0 People don\u2019t like to be managed and will resist being managed.\u00a0 But people do want to be led and will accept, even seek out, enlightened leadership.\u00a0 Therefore, your first line of defense against employee turnover is you and your managers.\u00a0 If all of you are following sound leadership practices, the amount of preventable<\/span><\/em> turnover will be minimized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\nis a fallacy held among many small business owners that if you\u2019re in a\nmanagerial position, you\u2019re automatically a leader. Or that if you\u2019ve got a college degree,\nyou\u2019re qualified to step right into a leadership role. Or if you\u2019ve been with the company for five\nyears or more, you qualify as a leader. \nWrong, wrong, and wrong. While\nit\u2019s true that some people are natural leaders, the vast majority of us are\nnot. Leadership is a skill that can be\nlearned through a formal training program or through informal coaching and\nmentoring, but it does have to be learned and practiced and honed. It doesn\u2019t just happen because you\u2019ve got a\nmanagerial title or a college degree or few years of experience on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employee\nturnover is very, very expensive. Productivity\ntakes a serious hit. You not only have\ninexperienced people who will need some time to ramp up to the productivity\nlevel of their predecessors, but you also have experienced people who can\u2019t be as\nproductive as they normally would be because in addition to doing their own\nwork, they\u2019re burdened with helping to train the new people. When productivity suffers, so does\nprofitability. Quality also suffers\nbecause new people make more mistakes than the old hands they replaced. So if you\u2019ve been telling yourself that you\ncan\u2019t afford leadership training, it\u2019s hard to imagine that leadership training\nwould cost anywhere near what turnover is costing you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As\nnoted earlier, you can\u2019t stop all turnover. \nYou probably wouldn\u2019t want to even if you could. Some turnover is a good thing because it brings\nin new people with fresh ideas. But you\ndo want to prevent good people from leaving your organization just because of\nleadership failures amongst your management team. So the challenge is, how do you recognize\nstrong leadership potential in people before you put them into positions of\nauthority? And then, how do you nurture\nand develop that potential into leadership skills that will help prevent valued\nemployees from walking out the door? \nThose are the questions we\u2019ll explore in our next posting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile,\nif you\u2019d like to explore ways to develop leadership skills specific to your\norganization, call me . . . always glad to talk and to help where I can.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The beginning of a new year is a time for reflection. It\u2019s a time to consider what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not . . . what needs to stay the same, what needs to change. If there is one thing we did last year that we could do over again, what would that one thing be? <\/p>\n