Mar 15, 2018
Let's talk about KEEPING PEOPLE, and employee retention!
I have been in management and leadership roles in excess of 25 years now. Owned businesses, managed businesses, coached sports at a high level, and now having been in automotive management for roughly 15 years. I’ve found that our people, our employees, really want some key things when it comes to retention. Having them stick around for the long haul, will increase your chances for your business to win!
Let’s talk about currently, this isn’t past data. I’ve worked in an automotive call center fairly exclusively for seven years. And currently, the average tenure of the employee within our call center is between four and five years. So if you know anything about either automotive, or call centers those are both very high stress, high expectation for results, and high turnover areas.
Throughout the studies of some psychology, management and leadership across medium’s from podcasts and online videos, training courses, seminars, and just the study of people; I feel this has given me some good insight and information to what employees want when it comes to their employers.
So today, I’ll share three things about what I feel are the top most important things that lead to people staying with an employer. These will retain people, will allow your business to grow and flourish. This isn’t necessarily from a leaders perspective, in fact, it’s probably more from a front-line person or an employee’s perspective. And, if you do these things, it will allow you to keep your people!
Here we go:
- Care about them – I said this in a previous episode (Love & Leadership – The FRONT #65). You must care about them as a person, care about their aspirations and hope and dreams. Care about what they view and measure as success. You have to listen.
- Be out front – This is at the core what this show is about. Cutting a path so that others are able to follow easier than how you had it. Having some level of fearlessness to get in front of your people, accept responsibility, plan, strategize and cast vision so that people WILL follow you. You’ve likely heard the term of endearment “Our Fearless Leader” – I think there is some level of truth to that. People want someone that is strong, but still humble to lead the way. Confidence, not arrogance
- Teach them and help them grow – The key is to accelerate them and make them the best that THEY can be. No one wants to feel that they in the same place, emotionally, skillset-wise, or financially, a year from now. When people feel like they are not growing, they leave. I’ve read about it, heard of it, and heck, watched it happen when someone will take less pay to go pursue – “opportunity.” Opportunity, by itself, doesn’t pay the bills – but the hope, vision, and growth that they will be better off a year later, that’s why people chase opportunity. It’s to be better tomorrow than they are today.
So if you are a leader listening today – do those three things and watch your business accelerate. The tough part is it takes you being genuine, and taking action, and really leading. Even if the execution isn’t perfect.
If you are an employee or a front line person – please share with me if there is something else that you think should be added to the list. What do you want from your employer, or from leadership?