Communication

According to Inc.com, the Top 3 Reasons Employees Quit are lack of advancement opportunities, work life balance, and then money. The Top 5 Deal Breakers are: your boss doesn’t trust you; expectations during time off; difficult coworkers; boss blames you for mistakes; work isn’t flexible.
 
According to Forbes, the top six reasons employees quit is:  no vision; no connection to the big picture; no empathy; no effective motivation; no future; no fun
 
Bottom line, employees leave their managers – their leaders – not their organizations.  So, what do all these things have in common, and how can we as leaders mitigate these issues?

We need to learn to communicate better.  The key to effective communication is clear, concise, and frequent feedback.  Some things to think about include:
 

1.  Set expectations so you are both on the same page
2. Direct – ask them how they think things should be done, then push them in right direction; lead by example
3. Be accessible
4. Take responsibility
5. Listen well
6. Provide effective channels of communication
7. “What can I do to help make you more successful?”
8. Reviews – should be redundant because you should be having regular conversations and giving regular feedback – you should also be receiving regular feedback
9. Let employees solve their own problems
10. Celebrate successes publicly
11. Document, document, document
12. Consistency (which does not mean doing everything the exact same way)
13. Fairness – within reason – you still must treat people as individuals
14. Ensure rules are clear and everyone understands them
15. Never over promise

Where to start?  Choose one thing to work on and make a conscience effort to improve it over the coming week.  You just might surprise yourself with the results.