By Alan Dobzinski and Allen Hatton

The estimated cost of replacing an employee is four to five times the cost of retaining one. Yet the turnover rate in most industries today is 40%.

You know it’s always preferable to retain good employees whenever possible, protecting your investment in them. Higher retention rates are reflected in higher bottom line profits, fewer problems, less stress, and more time and money to devote to other personnel matters.

Employee retention, however, is not the sole responsibility of the human resources department. It is the responsibility of every company executive and manager who has contact with subordinate workers, whether on a daily basis, or through an occasional meeting or memo. The best managers are those who intuitively recognize and apply the essential leadership skills that directly affect employee productivity and morale — with a corresponding positive effect on retention.

Managers who continue to operate under the old “command and control” system of management, without adjusting for the changes in today’s more empowered work force, will have an increasingly negative effect on retention. Part of your mission must be to identify these managers and help them adjust their thinking. They can no longer just tell the staff what to do, but must manage through leadership.

Former military commander and U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “The art of leadership is getting someone else to do something that you want done because he wants to do it.” To do that, managers must focus on seven vital leadership competencies and incorporate them into their everyday practices.

1. Vision — sharing the grand plan so everyone understands the common goal. Employees who don’t know what they are working for tend to lose interest in what they are doing.

2. Trust — allowing your staff to do their jobs without fearing mistakes or failure. Employees who are constantly afraid of losing their jobs will seek other positions with more security.

3. Communication — establishing and maintaining an open two-way dialog with the staff. The best policy is to keep employees in the loop, good news or bad, to head off rumors and water-cooler gossip that can severely damage morale.

4. Caring — demonstrating that the company’s leadership is interested in the success of all staff members. If employees don’t feel that someone is looking out for their personal and professional well being, they will grow to resent the managers they are working for.

5. Strengths Building — finding the best that each individual has to offer and capitalizing on that resource. Each employee wants to feel that he or she is making a positive contribution to the corporate effort, but dwelling on a worker's weaknesses quickly becomes frustrating.

6. Accountability (With Love) — assigning responsibilities and following up in a kind yet firm manner to make sure employees understand the consequences for not accomplishing their task. Without that understanding at the beginning, employees can feel they are being treated unfairly when held accountable at the end of a project.

7. Engagement — interacting with workers directly, asking their opinions and ideas, and truly listening to their responses. Employees want their employers to know and have consideration for what’s important in their lives.

In addition to higher rates of retention, these competencies form the basis for a stronger overall corporate leadership. Progressive companies, which actively support training and executive coaching programs to foster these leadership traits among their management, experience enhanced performance, creativity, momentum, and resiliency in the face of the continuous change that has become the norm in today’s business environment. These positive results, in turn, have an additional positive effect on retention, creating a cycle of success that affects employees at all levels within the company.

Internal and external executive leadership coaching programs have grown quickly in popularity. Coaching equips managers with the tools, knowledge, and opportunities they need to fully develop their personal commitments to their company, their work…and their own careers. Coaching compares very favorably with other methods of honing leadership skills. The current business bestsellers can teach the latest buzzwords, but they can’t tailor their information to fit personal situations. Seminars provide a chance to ask specific questions, but they won’t be around when the next real problem pops up. And colleagues at the office may have vested interests that don’t coincide with every other managers’ success.

Coaching is a positive approach for developing break-through leadership power. It uses knowledge and experience to help each manager create his or her own best practices, network, and resources, while developing coaching skills that can be brought to focus on any area of company interest, turning problems into opportunities.

About the authors:

Alan Dobzinski is a principal of Executive Development Group, a leadership development and executive coaching company headquartered in Columbia, Maryland. As a professional Executive Leadership Coach, Alan has successfully conducted coaching groups for managers and business owners for the past seven years. He is a graduate of Coach University, a certified licensed group coach facilitator, and a member of the International Coach Federation. His business experience includes 14 years as an entrepreneur and business owner, and 12 years as a consultant to business and industry, coaching entrepreneurs and executives of Fortune 1000 companies to improved performance in sales, productivity, employee retention, and customer satisfaction. He has also served as director of two trade associations and chairman of another.

Allen Hatton is also a principal of Executive Development Group, a professional Executive Leadership Coach, and a member of the International Leadership Association and the International Coach Federation. He works with business owners and executives of Fortune 500 companies, who want to increase business results in sales, productivity, employee retention, and customer satisfaction. Allen received his coach training at Coach University and Corporate Coach University. He is a successful entrepreneur and has served in the turnaround management field as interim CEO for companies in a variety of industries.

website: www.LeadershipThatLasts.com
contact e-mail: AMD@LeadershipThatLasts.com

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