Research shows there are two main reasons why people quit their jobs—leaders and culture.
If you want to retain talent, you have to be a leader nobody wants to leave. You have to be someone who champions a culture that gives them a sense of belonging.
Kris Baird, President of The Baird Group, helps individuals work towards those goals every day. Kris shares a game-changing perspective leaders need to enact to truly engage their teams. As you listen, you’ll learn how to give and, more importantly, receive feedback to build a culture ripe for innovation and growth.
Truth You Can Act On
1. Organizations are Defined by Leaders and Culture
I did research on the subject of turnover. I conducted interviews with executives from across the country in all sorts of different environments, and then I took those and looked at the data from other quantitative research, and it really came down to two primary reasons why people leave their jobs—the culture and the leadership. The two are inextricably linked so really when you look at what it takes to keep your people engaged and energized, you’ve got to look at both of them.
2. Begin with the End in Mind
People want to get down into the tactics before they’ve really thought at a high level first, but when people start to look at leadership with the mindset of, ‘I need to have an unrelenting focus on people as individuals,’ it’s a game changer. Yes, there are a lot of tactics, there are a lot of things to do, but you have to start there and have a clear vision of who you want to be as a leader. One of the exercises we bring people through right away is having them begin with the end in mind—what do they want people to say about them as a leader? Then we do an analysis of where they are and what they really need to focus on as we go through the course together.
3. Identify Your Gaps So You Can Fill Them
Leaders need to get real with themselves about, ‘What is my skill set today? Where do I want to go?’ It’s one thing to have a vision, but you have to be honest with yourself about where you are no, because that’s the only way you’re going to get to a gap analysis. A gap analysis is going to help you understand, ‘Alright, here I am, and here’s where I want to be. What is it that I need to do to improve? That’s the starting point, and that’s where you begin creating your roadmap of this is what I need to work on.
4. Don’t Qualify Feedback, Just Take It
As leaders, if we ask for feedback, we need to be ready for it. You can set some parameters in receiving feedback and let it be known that ‘I want this to be a culture of feedback. I want you to give me feedback and be ready that I will give you feedback.’ Feedback isn’t negative or positive. It is neutral. It is just feedback. And people often say things like ‘constructive criticism’ or ‘negative feedback,’ or, ‘I want to give you some positive feedback.’ Take those polarizing terms out of the conversation and just call it feedback. It’s just what it is, but be ready and open to receiving it.
Book Recommendation:
- The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
- Atomic Habits by James Clear
Listen to the full episode: Episode Title: 161: Be the Leader Nobody Wants to Leave with Kris Baird
