Only Half of the Job
David Freund, Chief Leadership Officer

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of learning more about MACNY’s Career and Talent Platform. It’s a great tool that aids organizations in finding the employees they need. However, it struck me as I was listening that hiring is only half of the equation. We spend countless hours and thousands of dollars working to find the best people we can and then think our job is finished once we’ve hired them, when the real work has only just begun. It’s our job as leaders to keep our employees satisfied because the reality is; people don’t leave companies, they leave bosses.

So why do they leave? The answer is very simple: we aren’t being effective leaders. We need to ask ourselves, are we adding value to their lives, or are we a burden to them? If we aren’t adding value we could actually be driving them out of our organization. Let’s take a look at factors we can control as leaders that might be driving them out.

• We’ve overloaded them. Remember the saying, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person”? Emerging leaders are always ready to take on a challenge, but, if we tend to keep going back to the same person when things need to get done, and continue to pile things on, it will become too much.
• We hire them and then micromanage them. When we presented the job offer, we told them how much we looked forward to their insights, ideas, and how valuable their experience would be to our team. If once they join the team, we reject their ideas, dismiss their experience, and expect them to do things just the way we would, then we’re not valuing them as a team member.
• We don’t make them feel valued. Do we let them know that we care about them? Do we have any idea what they are passionate about? Do we know the names of their family members or perhaps their hobbies? Do we know what their growth goals are? Have we taken the time to share our goals, the company vision, and how all of those pieces fit together so everyone wins? Or are we showing them that we care more about ourselves and our own life by expecting them to carry the load, work extra hours, or move vacations while we go off and do our own thing?
• Are we properly dealing with poor performers? One sure way to drive great employees away is to allow poor performers to skate along without facing the consequences. As a result we end up losing the best and keeping the rest.

So, what can we do? It’s simple: be an authentic leader. Ask​ yourself a simple question: would you follow you? Care about your people, talk with them, be real with them and encourage them to be real with you. If you believe in them, you can help them grow and then watch them blossom.