2021 was a historic year when it came to quitting—colleagues, friends, and perhaps even you walked away from employment that no longer served us, with rates hitting an all-time high of 6.6%. There have been a variety of contributing factors to the Great Resignation—many directly associated with the pandemic; however, there is one factor that has been here from the start and has been exacerbated over the last two years—poor leadership.
In short, people are choosing to leave their jobs because of ineffective management and negative workplace cultures. For years, businesses have ignored the need for executive leadership training, believing that anyone can learn to be a leader on the job, like any other skill.
The lack of investment in management development is a self-perpetuating issue that has led us to this point, with unprepared employees rising to a managerial role and not having the right knowledge to build a strong team. Add in a changing workforce, contributing factors and even a “me vs. we” culture shift, and you have the perfect storm that is the Great Resignation.
Over the last 30 years, there’s been a marked change in workplace benefits as well as employee satisfaction. Even though some benefits have a perceived higher value, like unlimited vacation time or even remote work, there’s often an expectation to be consistently online and connected. The line of personal and professional balance is further blurred as younger generations in the workforce want and ask for more from employers, not only in salary to match the rates of inflation but also in how they feel at the end of the day.
Companies should rightly be concerned if they can’t attract or keep the talent they want, as The Great Resignation is a reflection of the vast changes of the last few decades, with the pandemic taking a loose thread and unraveling an entire workforce. This devastation comes from an overwhelming lack of leadership coaching opportunities, with managers being left to discover the best way to lead on their own—and often failing.
How Can We Fix It?
There are a variety of ways to approach the Great Resignation, but the first step should involve introspection, reflection, and a reality check for what your employees really need. Poor leaders will only continue to exacerbate the issue by driving talent to new companies or even moving into an entrepreneurial opportunity.
They tend to point the finger outward at everyone else while good leaders invest in self-awareness, both individually and organizationally. Executive teams and leaders: Ask yourself if you’re taking the right steps to help your management grow and refocus. Do your managers, even those only managing interns, have the tools and resources they need to lead effectively? Are there clear opportunities for growth, development, and climbing the career ladder for your employees in your organization? If you can’t confidently answer yes, it’s time to take a step in a different direction.
Here are three tips to help you implement a leadership development program at your organization:
- Start a leadership book club and discussion group. Pick one book per month around leadership, read it and then discuss it in a structured, action-focused way.
- Create effective feedback loops. One from the top down (traditional), one from the bottom up (relatively novel), and peer-to-peer. Normalizing this kind of communication and feedback within an organization can go a long way toward creating an effective culture long-term if it’s done authentically and in earnest.
- Create mastermind and accountability groups across the organization. This helps with goal-setting and goal-tracking, generally sharing challenges and brainstorming together, and can be a nice parallel or combination with the book club.
There are a few things you should avoid doing, as well:
- Do not just try to train lower- and mid-level staff without having the upper-level leadership undergo the same, if not more, training.
- Do not focus just on training alone; that’s great as a short-term solution, but it’s really the integration of the new skills and knowledge that causes change. Training without reinforcement and a plan for integration through some kind of after-support is, frankly, money wasted.
- Do not try to focus only on short-term incentives like gifts or salary bumps, because that won’t change the culture. It could actually make it worse rather than better.
Your Organization is Only as Good as Its Leaders
Many executives think the solution is to pay employees more, and while that might seem like a good solution in the short-term, it will only reinforce the fallacy that money is the solution. In reality, your employees will only stay until they get a better salary offer. Take an honest look at your compensation plans to ensure you’re competitive, but then consider that workplace culture matters as much, if not more than salary.
The solution for the Great Resignation lies in leading with integrity, honesty, and accountability, demonstrating respect for employees and simultaneous commitment toward their growth and your business’ mission. Investing in leadership development across your organization allows your leaders to be empowered, supported, and ultimately grow themselves, their teams, and the culture of the organization. Strong leaders will create stronger teams, and those strong teams will support the continued growth of your organization.
This blog was originally published on Forbes as part of the Forbes Coaches Council. Read more from Dhru and the Coaches Council.
Recent Comments