In my early days on my leadership journey I learnt one very important lesson: People don’t leave companies, they leave people.
A recent Gallup poll of more one million employed U.S. workers concluded that, the number one reason people quit their jobs is a bad boss which is almost 70%. Crazy right! But, don’t fall into a trap thinking that this problem is exclusive to the US. In the UK, according to a 2019 survey carried out by Total Jobs, 20% of people left a company because of their line manager with 18% saying that they don’t trust their boss. Conclusion: People don’t leave companies, they leave people, and this hurts your business.
One important component which enables a company to grow and see success is to retain people, in particular those with talent and ambition. Great leadership can foster a culture where the workplace becomes a place where people are happy to be and want to stay. Improved motivation, increased happiness and a sense of purpose are a few of the benefits caused by great leadership.
I’d like to share a story from my experience on a major project where I was a in a position of leadership to help you understand why it is so important to your business. This project was in a position where there was a high turnover of staff, due to a variety of factors, but mainly because the staff felt like they were constantly under pressure due to unclear objectives, not supported and untrusted. This constant flux of staff led to a series of delays, poor decisions being made and increase in project cost. When I stepped into the role I knew that this was something I had to change.
After a few months of recruiting staff based on their personality and behaviours with the aim of supporting them to aid growth into the role, I now had a core team of capable and dependable staff. I spent time ensuring that goals were clear and that they were accountable. I focused efforts on protecting them from undue pressure to allow them to focus on their roles whilst giving them the right amount of guiding to take ownership without me micro-managing. This approach was successful as the turnover within the team drastically dropped and we were started to see progress on the project.
One personal story from a team member still sticks with me today. Due to a culture of openness and trust, a team member approached me with a dilemma. He wanted to progress in his career and had seen an opportunity within another company. Rather than just leave, he said that he wanted to stay because he liked working within the team, but saw faster progression elsewhere and wanted my thoughts. Rather than hold him back, as we couldn’t offer the position he wanted, I told him to go for it! To this day he still tells me that he was happy I was his boss and help him develop. In my opinion, that is what leadership is all about – helping making a positive impact in a person’s life!
There are many components to behaving like a great leader. In fact, I wrote a book on the three core areas of a leader which may interest you if you’re looking to grow and develop. However, in order to keep this simple, there are three immediate behavioural areas you should focus on in order to become a better leader for your business. These focus on your staff and they are the people who will help you see success.
#1 Communication
Make engaging communication your focus. Be open and honest by explaining why not just what. Communicate values to ensure alignment throughout the whole team.
#2 Build trust
Build connections and trust with people through listening, and displaying empathy over apathy. Connections equal influence. As a leader, connecting first with yourself and then others should be your first steps. Building trust takes time but can be broken by not seeing through your actions. When someone trusts you, respect that trust and allow it to build over time. Do not however, use that trust for manipulation, but for positive influence.
#3 Drop the ego
Egotistical behaviour destroys relationships. Rather than focusing on your own self-interest, show confidence by focusing on others. Don’t hold people back or demean them because “you’re the boss”. Help people grow and they will help you grow.
Thank you for reading, JT