The cost of losing (your best) people:

• High performers are up to 400% more productive than the average employee
• High performers are a top-risk for turnover, with the latest figures from 2022 at 47% leaving their companies in that year
• When employees quit, it costs companies 50-60% of their salary in the near-term, but can often cost 90-200% ultimately (for a 100-person company, this costs approx. $660K-$2.6M a year)
• 52% of those who quit say their organization could have prevented their resignation

Most leaders invest their time in the wrong people...and the right people leave.

You May Be Investing Your Time in the Wrong People

?Excerpt from The Cave, The Road, The Table and The Fire:

?I’m not sure this is a true story, but it makes a great point. My father passed it on and I’ve applied it to great effect in my leadership.

?'You get to choose who you lead and who you lose!’ he said emphatically to me. I was bemoaning the levels of opposition and churn in the organization I was trying to lead, and he was trying to get me to prioritize apprenticeship. He went on to tell me Napoleon would divide his army into thirds.

Napoleon (allegedly!) believed a third of his forces were so loyal to him, the empire and the cause, that when they caught sight of the enemy, he had to hold them back from just attacking. They were up for it!

?With another third, he had the opposite problem. Made up of conscripts and criminals, they were disloyal, didn’t care about the empire, and had no real love for Napoleon. In contrast, when they saw the enemy, they were more likely to desert, to run away. The final third, Napoleon reasoned were waiting to see who was going to win the argument. Are we attacking or fleeing?

?My father explained that in his experience, most leaders deployed almost all their energy trying to persuade the leavers not to leave. Consequently, three things happen.

1. The Learners leave: They want to be invested in, promoted and developed. What they experience is very little attention. They think you’re oblivious to their talent, which quenches their enthusiasm. They leave you to find what they need in someone else.
2. The Laggards learn: They learn that if they threaten to leave and act in a disloyal manner, they can get your attention and input. So that’s how they act, and over time they create a culture of fear and discontent (with your help).
3. The Leavers leave: You can’t stop them. They are not loyal to you or your cause and no amount of your investment is going to change that. They may well do better following another leader with another cause.

You get to choose who you invest your time in. I say: choose or curiosity. Choose those who are up for growing and keen on learning from you and invest your time disproportionately. Choose to give most energy to Learners, give no oxygen to the Leavers, and give grace to the Laggards. Trust that your attention given to the curiosity of the Learners will create a culture of keenness in those whose disposition is to wait and see.

Think about it...

Who specifically on your team gets the most of your time presently? Should they

Who should get more of your attention and mentorship?

Who might you simply need to allow to leave, because you know they're slowing you down?

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In a Sense

From Team Arable: A curated list of things our senses have encountered that are worth passing on.

??All organizations have Multipliers and Diminishes (those who get the best out of people and those who shut others down). Liz Wiseman's talk on The Multiplier Effect based on her book give practical ways to lead getting the best from your people.

?? Seems like everyone is talking about Jonathan Haidt's most recent book, Anxious Generation. An essential read for anyone wanting to course-correct our digital obsessions, especially for future generations.

?? Cocktail made summery. Try this cool-you-down spin on an old favorite, the Frozen Bourbon Old Fashioned.

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