A leading contributor to turn-over that you may not have considered

This day and age, keeping your employees highly engaged and satisfied with their work is harder then ever. Turn over is a real and major challenge for all businesses, and the global job market continues to present new opportunities for talented workers. And of course we all understand that keeping your employees in the organization leads to improved results, better customer experiences and more profits. Yet, do we really understand why our people leave us? Is it the pay? The environment? It is the boss? Although there are certainly many factors that contribute to employee turn over, it has been proven time and time again that the boss is a major factor. This we've known for many years.

'It is said that employees don't leave companies, they leave people' - Dale Carnegie

The knowledge that employees leave their bosses is not new, but do we really understand why they leave? I believe that with this knowledge many leaders are working to better endear and engage their staff. They are bettering the work environment, and offering more 'perks'. But they have failed to implement one key ingredient effectively which is a major contributor to turn over. That factor is challenging leadership.

Challenging leadership is an often misunderstood, and under utilized component to a strong leader. The work force of today wants to learn skills, they want to be developed and pushed. They have many job options and often pick the opportunity where they feel they will be able to 'grow' the most. The problem is, they often aren't getting pushed, or challenged by their leader. I believe that when most leaders think of challenging leadership, they think of it as being aggressive and running the risk of offending others. 'Challenging' is often connected with being confrontational, and rude. And as and employers work to increase the inclusive and positive work environments (which is certainly necessary) sometimes they remove accountability and challenging components for fear it will interfere with improving the environment. Unfortunately, this is a flat out mistake. Think about the best coach you ever had, or best professor, or best boss. I guarantee there were times when that person pushed you and challenged you well outside your comfort zone. They saw in you things you didn't see in yourself, and stretch you to achieve them. It may not have been fun while you were in the thick of it, but once you achieved those goals, I am guessing you attributed many of your successes to that leader and how hard they pushed you. So a failure to challenge your people effectively will lead to them not fully reaching their highest potential. In addition to this, you will alienate your top employees by not challenging others enough. The best employees, who perform at the highest levels will wonder why you let other people off the hook for lack of effort or execution. Having a healthy challenging style of leadership is essential to achieving a high producing team. Ultimately, when you don't challenge your people enough, and there isn't enough accountability, the best employees get bored, don't grow enough, and end up looking for employment elsewhere.

So a failure to challenge your people effectively will lead to them not fully reaching their highest potential

But there is good news. Challenging leadership can be included in your leadership style. It can be done in a positive and productive manner that does not interfere with creating an inclusive and endearing environment. In fact, I estimate that it will dramatically improve your environment, and significantly reduce turn over.

Here are 3 tips to help you get started with creating a positive, and challenging work environment:

Know your employees 'WHY'. If you want to be able to positively challenge your people, it is imperative that you first understand their why. Not their 'why do they work for you?', but the reason they get up in the morning. Nowadays, employees need to know that you truly know them and understand their personal and professional goals. Take time to talk to your staff, ask them about their personal goals and aspirations. Understand WHY they do what they do, and what the end game is for them if they accomplish their professional goals. Gone are the days where employees follow you simply because you have a strong vision for the team and are a great speaker. If you know what they are really after in life, you can offer them perspective, guidance and inspiration to push themselves harder through difficult times in order to achieve them. You need to offer them real insight that serves to better their lives, regardless of the impact to yours. That will not only inspire them to push harder, but it will build more loyalty towards you as their leader. But this must be done with authenticity. If you don't authentically care about their personal goals, you will come up short here every time.

Be direct. When you have feedback for your employees, positive or negative, be direct. Don't sugar-coat the message, but deliver it with honesty and directly. Now, your tone, voice inflection and body language are critically important here as they will certainly impact the message. If you are providing critical feedback, your tone must be sensitive and understanding, not aggressive and loud. Your voice inflection must demonstrate that you understand the challenge, and that you believe this person can rise above it. The majority of communication is non-verbal, so be aware of your posture and body language too. If you have to give critical feedback, try role playing it with a college several times prior to the actual delivery. But whatever you do, be direct. Provide clear feedback on the opportunity, and clear direction on how it can be improved.

On the flip side, when giving positive feedback, also be direct. Don't over-indulge the message, but give appreciation, gratitude and admiration for work well done. After giving the feedback challenge your employee to continue to look for ways to elevate their skills as they work towards their long term goals. Remind them that continuous growth and development are important ingredients to long term success.

Consistently raise the expectations. Top performing teams, and top performing employees are always looking for the next accomplishment. Be sure to consistently review the expectations, and strategically increase them. And I'm not just talking about results-specific expectations. Sure, those need to go up consistently to develop a world class team, but don't forget about all the soft skills. Raise the bar on communication skills, leadership skills, mentoring opportunities. Challenge your team to think of new ways to elevate the physical, and emotional environment of the team. Allow them opportunities to be creative, and seek out new solutions to current or potential future challenges. Build a team that is always looking for ways to improve, and lead them by example. Always look for more from yourself and for new ways to re-introduce yourself. Don't ever be satisfied with the status-quo.

Employees of today want to be successful. They want to work at an organization that helps them find the best version of themselves, and helps them have the largest impact. Challenging leadership is a fundamental component to leading your team, and should never be set aside. Always seek new opportunities to develop your style of challenging leadership and I am confident it will reduce your turnover, and improve your team's success.