Top reasons people leave leaders, not organisations

Many of us believe the primary reason people quit their jobs is because of pay. Not so, according to a Gallup poll of more than one million employed workers. Poor leadership is the number one reason employees leave and go elsewhere.

So where are our business leaders going wrong?

1. Do they need know how much you care?

If you want to attract and retain the best and brightest, leaders need to embrace their people and take steps to ensure they feel they are their organisation’s most valuable asset.

Most leaders know less about their own people than their people know about them. Do you know what they are missing? Do you know what they need to feel engaged and happy?

What we feel is influenced by what we truly value, and we are all motivated differently. Take the time to learn more about your people’s wants and needs, who they are and what drives them.

2. Empower your people

Successful companies are moving to a more flexible organisational structure that empowers, allowing employees to make more of their own decisions and avoid the rigidity of traditional models.

Employees thrive when they are given a sense of ownership to accomplish their work with fewer approvals and checkpoints, and with a smaller degree of intervention.

Challenge them to take on more responsibility, let them set their key accountabilities, and hold them accountable for the results. Equality promotes unity and trust, encouraging your employees to share honest opinions and ideas.

A dictatorial approach is one of the most effective ways to drive an employee out.

3. Practice habitual leadership

Habitual leadership is ongoing, and it’s all about actions. Trustworthiness does not happen overnight. Leaders earn it over time based on their positive personal attitudes and behaviours towards others. Leaders who are deserving of trust are dependable, reliable, forthright and ethical.

They care for and recognise their people, exhibiting openness and transparency. Conversely, employees flee when managers are unfair, lie, cheat, offend and deceive. The most effective way to create a dynamic culture (which has a flow-on effect of engagement) is to lead by example.

Richard Maloney is the author of The Minds of Winning Teams – Creating Team Success through Engagement & Culture. Richard specialises in the development of high performance teams, individuals and organisations. He leads a team of engagement specialist coaches as CEO of Engage & Grow.