05 Reasons Your Best People Will Leave You

How Managers Blow It With Their Employees

Lets really zoom in on what the best leaders avoid doing to keep their best people from exiting, stage left. Here's what the research us saying.

1. Squashing the Talents and Strengths of Team Members

Not recognizing their unique strengths and talents beyond a job description, and how that translates to high performance, is certainly an engagement killer.

People love to use their unique talents and gifts. The best leaders will leverage close relationships with employees by finding out what their strengths are, and bringing out the best in their employees.

In fact, when managers help employees develop through their strengths and natural talents, they are more than twice as likely to engage their team members.

2. Not Communicating Enough

The second common mistake that leads to turnover is lack of communication. Employees whose managers hold regular meetings with them are almost three times as likely to be engaged as employees whose managers do not hold regular meetings with them.

But mere transactions between managers and employees are not enough. See, employees value communication from their manager not just about the job or task at hand, but also about what happens in their lives outside of work.

Studies are saying that employees who feel as though their manager is invested in them as people are more likely to be engaged. The key: be authentic.

3. Hoarding Information

The third mistake managers make that lead to turnover -- when this is done repeatedly, and intentionally -- is hoarding information.

Here's the real reason leaders hoard and withhold information: it's about power and control. And control is one of the most effective ways to kill trust.

The reverse of this is a leader who acts responsibly by sharing information and being transparent with his team.

Warren Bennis, in Transparency: Creating a Culture of Candor, cites a 2005 study finding that a group of 27 U.S. companies noted as "most transparent" beat the S&P 500 by 11.3 percent.

This takes the rarefied air of vulnerability -- a leadership game changer -- as I have written in the past.

4. Micro-managing

The fourth mistake that leads to turnover is a micro-managed environment. We all know what this looks like, so lets focus on how to avoid such a place.

First, ask yourself: am I putting the spotlight on my team members by focusing on their development? Do I truly value my people?

Secondly, are you giving your staff consistent feedback, and equally important, are you listening to feedback that will further support staff needs, and improve yourself (and your business, I might add) as a leader?

Lastly, are you letting them give input, express their creativity and allowing them to make decisions on their own?

 5. Failure to Listen

The fifth and last mistake that leads to turnover is when managers fail to listen. Sounds like a no brainer right? Well, I'm not talking about giving someone attention and nodding your head.

Let me put this into a business context. When a manager fails to listen to the collective voice of the team in pursuing a vision, chances are team members will not feel cared for, respected, or valued.

When a manager doesn't solicit the opinions of others, especially during change because change is often scary, trust begins to erode and morale goes in the tank.

So we're talking about a leader that has to stop getting the last word, a leader that allows for others to give input to important initiatives. And the only way to do that is to first listen receptively.