Managers keep employees by building personal relationships and understanding what each person wants from their career. Then sit down together to create concrete action plans, hold regular check-ins to track progress, and show you actually care about their goals.
do feel like it's a hypercompetitive job landscape, meaning a lot of employees are happy where they are, but they're being sought after quite aggressively. And while they may not be looking, when someone comes to them with an opportunity, maybe there's only so many times they can decline that opportunity, and eventually they take a call, and that call is of interest to them, and they take that second call, then One thing leads to another and here we are. We have another sort of opportunity to compete again. So, you know, I think you have to have that, that relationship with your team. You really have to understand what is important to them and what is not important and what their personal goals and objectives are for the position that they have at your company and make sure that you're clear on what it is they want to get out of this experience. Right? So, as the employer, there are things that you want your team to do and they need to be making an impact and contribution to help the business accomplish its goals. But at the same time, each of us as individuals have our own personal goals and objectives that we want to accomplish during our time here. So, what I always say is very important is really understanding what that is for each person, knowing it's not the same for everybody. And really taking the time to sit down and fully understand what that is for the individual. And most importantly, once you have that information, taking action and, and creating a plan that allows them to understand what they need to do in order to accomplish those goals and objectives. And then periodically track that progress or lack thereof and sit down with them formally and say, hey, we're on track. You know, you wanted to do this, you wanted to do that. Great, we're, we're achieving the milestones that we've both agreed to in order to accomplish this goal. Or, hey, you're doing this really well, but you're falling behind in this area, and in order for us to be on track, you need to improve. So by doing that, it shows them that not only did you listen, but you put a plan in place, and that you're actually monitoring the progress or lack thereof, uh, and that you care enough to spend time and sit down with them.
From Stuck to Leading, Episode 2 — Meet the 5 Inner Fears Destroying Your Leadership
