Leadership Update - March 2007

Update is published by the Bresnahan Group in cooperation with the Integro Leadership Institute. It is designed to provide information on what organizations are doing to get employees engaged and committed to achieving the company vision.

Why Do Good Employees Leave?

Employees who are not engaged, middle-of-the-road to poor performers very rarely leave voluntarily. I recall a company in Australia that implemented a voluntary redundancy program several years ago to reduce "head count". I was listening to the CEO a few months later as he bemoaned the fact that the majority of people who had accepted the package were talented employees that he didn't want to lose - the people he wanted to get rid of were still there.

Duh! People who will have the greatest difficultly getting another job won't leave while talented people know they can get a job anywhere. And they will be on the look out... if their needs are not being satisfied!

That is the fourth of the People Skills of the exceptional leader... Satisfying Needs.

We Pay Them Don't We?

I recall presenting this model to the Personnel Manager of P and O Cruises in Australia over 20 years ago (this was before we had Human Resource Managers), and his response was: "Why do we have to satisfy their needs; we pay them don't we?" Now I know this was over 20 years ago, but how many managers do you know today who still operate by that basic belief? I'm talking about managers who believe that employees are primarily motivated by money, and don't think about the basic human needs their employees have every day.

People need to feel respected and valued; to be listened to, and know that their opinion counts. They need to use their strengths and creativity to make a difference, and to get some recognition when they do. People need to be trusted, and to work for a leader they can trust and respect. People have a need to do meaningful work. Even if their job is routine or mundane, they need to know why it is important to their organization's success.

Look at the needs in this previous paragraph. They do not cost money! They cost you time and effort, and require you to focus on doing them, but the payoff is far greater than you could ever achieve with financial incentives.

It's Not About the Money!

Although almost 90 percent of managers believe employees leave for more money, The Saratoga Institute research shows that 88 percent of already-departed employees say it was for reasons other than money. This discrepancy in belief about why employees leave is not entirely the manager's fault. 79 percent of employees who leave because their needs and expectations were not being met have not told their manager they were not happy.

And when you ask them why they are leaving, they are very unlikely to say they worked for a lousy manager who didn't care about their needs. Especially not to their manager! Their response will most likely be "I was offered more money!" And they were. Talented people know their value and in most cases won't accept another position unless there is a better offer. But that is not the reason they became disenchanted and started looking for another job.

It Is About Your Focus

It is probably accurate to say that every manager is under a lot of pressure to get work done and achieve results; so naturally, you need to focus on ensuring that is happening. And this is where the tyranny of the "OR" comes in, as Jim Collins and Gerry Porras described in the best-selling book Built to Last.

You don't have a choice of focusing on achieving results OR focusing on satisfying employees' needs. You have the choice to focus on achieving results AND satisfying employees' needs. The mountain of research that has been collected over the past ten to fifteen years is clear evidence that when all managers use the people skill of Satisfying Needs, the results your organization will achieve will far exceed what you can achieve by just focusing on business results.

To read about a call center that dramatically reduced employee turnover and went from last in customer satisfaction in their industry to 100 percent customer satisfaction almost every month, click here.

Thank you for your continued interest.

Keith Ayers
Integro Leadership Institute

If you are interested in Keith's book, Engagement is Not Enough, contact us.

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