Leading With Compassion to Retain Talent and Drive Business Results

There’s a saying that people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. McKinsey’s Great Attrition Survey takes this adage even further, showing that more than half of employees who left their jobs in the past six months did not feel valued by their organization or manager, or they lacked a sense of belonging. This is particularly timely feedback in this post-pandemic moment as employees reconsider every aspect of their lives, including their careers.?

Putting People First

GDIT — as a federal services integrator —is first and foremost a people company. Simply put, our people are our future. We rely on exceptional talent with in-demand skills and certifications to enable us to compete for business and deliver value to our customers.?Accordingly, building a culture where employees feel valued and where they can build long-term careers that they love is critical.

Our focus on our people was essential throughout the pandemic, as we became increasingly aware of our employees’ lives away from work and needed to think through how we could support them in coping with the challenges they faced. We empowered our managers to lead with empathy, compassion and flexibility, and we were deliberate in communicating with our employees openly and often – letting them know that we see, hear, and value them. Despite pandemic complexities and headwinds, we continued to support and invest in professional development and career progression for our employees through access to targeted learning programs, in-demand certifications, and meaningful opportunities for internal mobility.??Our efforts also included our “How Are You, Really?” campaign to encourage important conversations around mental health and emotional well-being.

So many employees have shared with me how much they appreciated our company’s candor and support through this unprecedented time.?This approach enabled them to persevere for our customers and our business, leading 2021 to be a very strong performance year. ?

Compassionate Leadership

I recently had an opportunity to facilitate a conversation with leaders from diverse organizations and industries on the impact of leading with empathy and compassion.?We agreed that our collective experiences over the last two years have shown that our teams can be resilient, collaborative and productive during periods of major change, finding innovative ways to stay engaged and achieve great results. And, that the old ways of running a business no longer cut it.

In my conversation with these colleagues, we talked about the importance of several leadership traits:

• Empathy: Everyone is dealing with something. We have to meet our employees where they are.
• Compassion: Caring is the new currency.
• Trust : Trust is a two-way street; it is gained by action over time but can be lost very quickly.
• Humility: Let’s reverse the traditional mentor/protegee relationship. There can be tremendous value in taking the time to listen to – and learn from – early career professionals.
• Authenticity: Our people can tell the difference between generic mission statements and sincere commitments backed by action.
• Flexibility: One-size-fits-all approaches are not the answer. Finding ways to accommodate employees’ needs while also meeting customer requirements is critical.

We are in a period that is simultaneously dynamic, challenging, and opportunity rich. By being flexible, compassionate, and open-minded, we will raise a generation of leaders prepared to navigate their organizations through the crises of the future.??