We’ve heard it over and over again, “people leave managers, not companies.” At one time I was a skeptic of such a foolish notion, but perhaps with age comes wisdom… The first question is this…does your organization conduct exit interviews? If not, please start. If you do, what do those exits say? Why are people leaving? Without a doubt, all of the reasons for leaving with the exception of three are related to management. The three reasons not related are “military relocation,” “relocation in general,” and retirement. In order to start an effective management development program, these surveys, as well as employee opinion surveys, must be studied. Take all of that data, and summarize it. Bring it down to the top 3 areas that employees are concerned about in regards with management. My guess is that nearly 95% of the data will point to a lack of 3 things in your organization’s leadership: respect, recognition and communication.
