I asked, you answered and most nailed it! The most effective way to retain staff today is to upskill managers.
Yesterday’s leadership practices don’t work for today’s workforce. From Frederick Taylor to Jack Welch, the 20th century was about efficiency, process and policy.
As a result 85% of the global workforce is disengaged and that figure hasn’t changed in the 14 years I’ve been tracking it.
The 21st century must be about bringing humanity back into leadership. We must ditch ‘one size fits all’ policies and trade them for managers who take the time to connect with their teams, get to know what they need to be high performing and highly motivated – and then deliver on or manage those expectations.
This is hard work. Much harder than the old way of leading.
Retention bonuses are nice – but the stats show they only work for 6 – 12 months. If someone is unhappy the high of a nice raise or bonus wears off quickly.
Employee opinion surveys are great – but you need to act on them. Something which, unfortunately, too few companies do well.
I’d love to know what the people who answered ‘other’ had in mind. Unfortunately there were no comments to explain. 🙂
So the research shows that leadership is the key.
Leadership is not for the faint of heart. I applaud those who take it on and do the work that it takes to lead well.
