Retaining and Building Great Teams Through Culture of Communication
There are many different reasons why people decide to leave a company. Some of them are expected, logical and for the better of all parties involved. But there are some that are unwanted, costly and detrimental for the company. In the today’s economy dominated by knowledge and in this dynamic and unpredictive job market it is very important to try to understand as much as possible why people decide to leave or stay.
Understanding the Reasons Why People Leave (Teams/Companies)
There are numerous reasons and researches why people leave their jobs. Some point out to bad managers, some to the lack of adequate benefits and salary, some to a work life balance etc. Reasons are numerous. But just as the reasons are numerous, so much more numerous are people in your team and organization, numerous and diverse. We have team members with many different personalities, life stages, career ambitions etc. We also have different teams with different dynamics. So, could it be productive and effective to try to generalize and try to find a “silver bullet”, that “one reason”, for solving the unwanted resignations?
New Normal, New Economy
In today’s environment, and even prior to Covid crisis we had record low unemployment rates and market was really “employee’s market”. This was true especially for skilled jobs in our knowledge economy. Sectors with a high demand are many, such as technology, healthcare services, financial services or any skilled job that requires experience and training. Now, with many discrepancies in the job market and announced “resignation boom”, it is becoming even harder to find and keep great employees.
Research
So doing a research on how employees are satisfied and what are the major issues that may become reasons for resignations seems like a “way to go”. But this opens a discussion:
- Can such research be done quickly?
- Can you get to the bottom of the employees’ satisfaction and potential resignation issues in a matter of short time?
- How can one find out what really are the underlaying issues?
For example, exit interviews may be too late as everyone’s reasons might be different. Knowing why one employee left may not be the representative of what the entire organization is going through. Conducting surveys may be another way, but then again how will you know employees are committed in giving the right answers as well as motivate them to really communicate their needs through “one size fits all” approach.
All of these methods are useful and need to be conducted, but they require adjustment and processing, and then again, we still may not have the full picture. Too often we are attempting to delegate the most important task to some “tools” that we hope would yield deterministic and “bullet proof” results (surveys, exit interviews, focus groups etc.), or we delegate those tasks to HR or other support departments.
Talk With People Frequently and Meaningfully
Research conducted by LeadershipIQ supported approach that the most effective way to find out what is really going is simple through continuous communication. Empirically, I would agree. But the key here is: “continuous”; continuous and consistent. Often, that turns out not to be that simple. Often, we lack discipline to put that as a priority. Something that needs to be exercised in a disciplined and meticulous manner rather that “one shot silver bullet” often proves to be difficult. Of course, the frequency and the intensity of communication are subject to adjustment to specific teams, industries and companies. But personal, sincere, one on one communication is crucial for the retention (or a loss) of the good employees. The rest, the reasons that are “written” as official reasons why someone left are merely just a consequence (salary, work life balance, manager etc.)
In the article “Why Managers Should Spend Exactly 6 Hours A Week With Each Employee”, author argues that manager needs to spend approximately 1 hour per day in discussion with the employee. In that way, manager can know what is going on with the employee and the entire team on time. Furthermore, if the organization is setup in a way that this communication is enabled throughout all layers, it will ensure smooth information flow. Each department head, each people manager as well as HR and others in charge of employee retention will have tools to spot issues and prevent them on time. No matter whether the underlying issues are manger(s), work life balance, salary or something else.
How Many Direct Reports
This implies that one manager should spend almost entire day in discussion with her/his employees. Author of the aforementioned article argues that so implies that the number of direct reports should be no more than 7. Of course, this number perhaps differs depending on the team dynamics and type of work, but also, in my experience, I would agree the number is between 5 and 10 (direct reports).
What Needs to Be Done
Each employee and each team are unique, and applying “one size fits” all cannot yield results. To really understand issues that teams have, managers must be taught and incentivizes to have frequent discussion with their employees. But this cannot stop on first line managers. The entire organization needs to be setup so that communication can flow throughout the organization. Cascading this culture of communication throughout all hierarchy levels will ensure that the entire company knows main issues and acts in correcting them further propagating this culture of communication and engagement.
Conclusion
The most effective way to find out the reasons why employees leave and stay is to create a culture of communication. This can be done by encouraging continuous individually focused communication. In this way, the entire organization will be aware of the issues that need to be resolved. Via such culture of communication, it is possible to raise the awareness of such issues throughout organization and furthermore apply changes needed.
