23. Leadership: Team Member Retention

Foreign. Welcome back to Leadership in a Nutshell. I'm your host, Kenny Chapman, and this is episode 23 where we're talking about team member retention. Yet again, a request from one of our amazing listeners who said, you know, Kenny, I know it's a big topic, I know it's a lot to cover, but let's have a little episode, maybe a few episodes on team retention. So I'm honoring that request. And today, my friends, I want to talk about five things that you can do to up level your game when it comes to team retention. When you think about it like, this is such a powerful concept. It's such a financially driven concept. It's such an emotionally charged concept. We all spend so much time recruiting, looking at, you know, what's the recruiting process going to be? What's a hiring process going to be? Sometimes we don't even spend a lot of time on onboarding, and. And we sit there and go, well, wait a minute. You know, it seems like I've got a revolving door sometimes. Retention matters, my friend. There are some studies that say, on average, check this out. On average, it costs companies $15,000 per team member to replace them. You go, oh, Kenny, come on. I just run a couple ads, I hit up Craigslist, I hit a couple online directories, make a couple Facebook posts, and I've got a new team beating down my door. Really? Because you and I both know that there's a loss of productivity. There's a culture hit that takes place. There's not just a loss of productivity. Oftentimes when we say that, we think, well, there's a loss of productivity because the team member is not producing. Maybe it's a field production team member. It's like, well, they're not producing revenue. What about the productivity that's lost because leadership has to shift focus or jump? You don't have this built system and this machine that just constantly is making this happen. It's like, wait a minute. This costs money, time, effort, sanity, perhaps. Yes. We're talking about leadership in a nutshell. And one of the biggest things in the nutshell is trying to keep our sanity as driven leaders. That's why I do these recordings for you, my friend. It's why we play full out together. So I want you to think about this for a moment. What's the last job that you left? And. And why? What's the job that you left? Why did you leave it? You know, I think back to the Army. I left a job. I've spent three years in the military. I spent. Sounds like I was doing time because I couldn't get out. Right. Would I have spent less time in the army? Could I have? Yes, I would have. Now, let's be clear about something. Could I have spent longer in the army if I could have? Yes, I would have. When I say could I, could I, you know, if I could have, let's say, what do I mean by that? Yes, I was an honorable discharge. When I say that if I could have, what I mean is, could I live where I want to live? Could I get stationed where I wanted to get stationed? Could I get promoted based on my performance and not just how long I was in something, you know, time and grade? Yes, I would have stuck around longer. Those opportunities didn't exist. I had to go. My friend, when you think about this for you and your own team, how does this show up? I think about another job. I used to drive a Tony's pizza truck. One of the divisions of the Schwann's company, right? That's right. I was a truck driver in the army. I got out of the army and I started delivering pizzas. Not the Domino's way per se, but I was going to the grocery stores and restocking and doing the different thing. I drove this big freezer truck around full of Tony's Pizza, Red Baron Pizza, talking to store managers, trying to get good placement right. That was a good job. It paid pretty decent. It was on performance. Because the better conversation I had with store managers or who was setting up the freezer section, if I got an end cap, perhaps I sold more pizzas. So early on, I started understanding relationships mattered. My promotions mattered, how I sold people, where the product could go. All that placement mattered. And that impacted my income based on how many pizzas got sold. Why did I leave that job? Because the culture of the business had me drive. In my opinion, very unsafe. The lovely Christie would say, I'm not afraid to drive in the snow, ladies and gentlemen. I spent many years of my life in Colorado and driving through the mountains and this and that. But they were wanting me to drive in a time that it was completely unsafe. There was a blizzard. They were closing roads. They said, no, you got to deliver. I'm not the mailman, I'm the pizza guy. It does not have to take place. Therefore, I had to change my game, and I ended up leaving. What about you? Here's the reality. You left your previous positions for the same reason. People will leave you unrealistic expectations, not being able to fit the life design that they desire. Those are some of the reasons that I left mine. The same is true for why people leave yours. Let's talk about this for a moment. You know, the reality is retention is like a relationship. It's kind of sales 101. And when we think about sales 101, what do we mean by that? It's like how, you know, what's, what's in it for you? What's in it for me? Where do these match together and in a good relationship, I think, you know, relationships, to me, marriages are strong. You know, like the. As far as a core relationship, your intimate relationship, some of the most challenging relationships that you have, also some of the ones that test you, the most challenging with the other person, but test you the most. And here's where the good ones really work. When you know what your role is and you know what their role is and you know where those come together and who's responsible for what part, who shows up, how, when, where and why. This sets people free. The same is true with team members. This is where you want to get the clarity. Five things I want to tell you about today. Number one, know your purpose. Know your purpose as a company. Know your purpose. I've got a previous episode where I talked about your prime purpose, your company purpose. It's so critical as leaders that we know who we are. It's so critical as we lead our businesses that we know why we exist, right? And so the fact is you've got to know what those things are so team can begin to rally around you and realize and discover and execute their own purpose through your organization. If those things don't exist, it's going to be short lived. People will not be able to grow with you. People come into your life and your business for three different reasons. Reasons, seasons and lifetimes. Amounts of time. Reasons, seasons and lifetimes. What does that mean? Sometimes there's a reason that somebody comes in to teach you a specific lesson you need to know. Sometimes there's a season where you know, in the service businesses that I'm involved in, you know, maybe there's a certain level of growth from 2 million to 4 million, from 4 million to 10 million. Some people are with you for that season and some people stick around for a lifetime. And the people that stick for a lifetime are the people that allow you to continue to evolve and grow as who you are as a leader, as an organization. And they are also able to grow and execute their selves through that exact process with you. Second thing. So first off, know your purpose. Two, speak and deliver truth, my friends. You got to have integrity. You got to have some work life balance, right? That's like, well, you know, wait a minute. Everybody wants to just work 80 hours a week and different things. You know, I work more than most people that I know and I don't, quote, unquote, have to from a financial standpoint. I do it because I'm executing my purpose and my creativity through the businesses that I'm involved in, through the people that I get to play with, through the clients that I get to coach. That's why I work a lot. There's a work life balance, meaning I take free days, I take complete days, I take vacations, I take time away. That's all part of it. But you got to perpetuate that through your own organization. You got to let people decide, what do they want to do, how do they want to show up? What's that look like? You got to speak truth. You got to tell people like, exactly. You know, you can't say, oh, we're all about family. And then you can't have time off when somebody needs it. It's super important. Otherwise people will leave. Third thing, be transparent. Be transparent and actually lead, my friends. What do I mean by that? No, you don't have to show all your dirty laundry or whatever it is that you're afraid of. I personally am a very transparent person. What you see is what you get. In the speaking world, it's called front stage, backstage. Oh, there's a certain. You're going to get a certain Kenny in the front stage and then going to be totally different in the back. That used to be me, but I have complete integrity with who I am. What you see is what you get. I speak my truth. I'm going to tell you the truth. If you ask me a question, you, you're going to know I'm transparent. I'm not going to force my beliefs, my opinions, my philosophies on you because you're in this life to discover what's true for you. However, I don't have anything to hide. I'm going to tell you what it's like. I'm going to tell you the things that. That are true about me. If you're on my team, you're going to know the good, bad, the ugly, the indifferent. You're going to know some of my idiosyncrasies. We're going to play full out together because we're doing this life together, not this business together. Let's get clear about that. We are doing this life together, not just this business together. Too often we get stuck and go, well, I've got my business side of me and I've got my career side of me and I've got my buddy side of me and I've got. Stop it. You got one life and all these other components make up who you are and how you show up. You can think you've got front stage backstage, but it's only a matter of time. Just like a secret. There's no such thing as a secret. A secret is simply information that's waiting to get discovered. Right. It's going to be found out eventually. Number four, set an example. If you want to keep people you want to retain, set an example. That doesn't mean you've got to work the most hours. It doesn't mean you've got to be the top performer. It doesn't mean you've got to lead every category of performance or whatever the case is. But you've got to lead by example, with transparency, with communication style, with your heart, with your relationships, with how you show up. If you're saying, yeah, family is important, make sure you take time off. We run into this a lot with leaders that we coach. Oh, yeah, it's important that you take the time off. Really. When's the last time you took a free day? Think about that. That just hit some of you, didn't it? Some of you went, oh, man, I do tell it. We value family, but I haven't been exactly spending time with my own family at a level that I could. Right. Last thing, certainly not least, make sure you crush gratitude for your team. I make it a conscious point that has almost become unconscious. I want to love on my team. I want them to know how much I care about them. I don't have children. I have a small family. So I build businesses where I create people that I love in positions around me so I can have that and speak that truth. And if people aren't in alignment or can't grow with us or whatever, then that's okay for people to not leave what I don't want or to not stay on the team. I should say what I don't want is to be surprised. I don't want people leaving where I'm thinking, we've got one kind of a relationship and yet another one is going on. See, it's about full transparency. It's about speaking truth. It's about being who you are, but it's about telling people the truth. If you really are grateful for them, tell them. If you're super, you know, Please, on performance, let them know it's not about lip service, it's not about minimizing or whatever. I want you to exude gratitude to them. Here's the reality, my friend. You're a leader. You're listening to this. You don't have a business without your team. How about that? Some of you just found some gratitude for your most frustrating team members, didn't you? You went, man, my top performers drive me crazy, man. They're the highest maintenance that I've got. Guess what? They're making it rain for you. And for that you're grateful. So what is the level? Where are you showing it? Because if you're not crossing the boxes, checking or crossing the T's, checking the boxes, making sure that these things happen, my friends, you will find yourself having that revolving door, having challenge keeping team members. We have clients that are continuing to stick team for long periods of time, going and recruiting brand new quote unquote green team members that are building careers in service companies and ultimately becoming managers. Sticking for long periods of time because of these things. Know what your purpose is. Speak and deliver truth with integrity. Make sure you're transparent, you're not trying to hide anything. Set an example by living your truth and being who you are. And make sure that you exude and share gratitude for them. Gratitude for life. Gratitude for this opportunity to play the game together. I'm Kenny Chapman, the host of Leadership In a nutshell. This 23. If you're not subscribed, please make sure that you subscribe. Do me a favor, share this with somebody. If you're digging what we're doing here, make sure you kick it to somebody that you know. We're only 10, 12 minutes. Hey, it's a couple minutes a day, couple minutes of time you listen. Make sure you do that, please. And get a copy of the Six Dimensions of Change 2.0 Kenny Chapman.com until we talk. Make it a better than fantastic day. We'll see you real soon. Thanks everybo.