Managers - Don’t wait for that resignation letter – take action now!

Even though there’s been much written lately about the numbers of employees quitting and on average over 50% of currently employed people are looking for new opportunities, most managers are surprised when their employees resign.?

The reality is, for multiple reasons, most employees don’t share with their manager when they’re dissatisfied with their job or the work environment, yet most managers seem to expect they should.?

Of course, one of the reasons why employees don’t express concerns with their manager is because they are dissatisfied with their manager, another is they are fearful of how their manager will react, and lastly, many employees and managers don’t have a relationship that fosters open communication. ?

So, what needs to be done?

1)????Managers need to watch for changes in their employee’s behavior, which are often more obvious than one would imagine.?The most common changes include what I refer to as the “less likelies” (they may not exhibit all of these, but will likely exhibit more than one):?they are less likely to volunteer for work/projects, to share ideas, to show interest in their work, to participate in meetings, to work as many hours as they used to, to exhibit excitement, passion or a positive attitude, to act with a sense of urgency, and to be proactive.?They are also more likely to take time off and to take days off on short notice (usually because they are interviewing). ???????

2)????Managers need to have a retention discussion with their employees, which they might want to do on a semi-annual basis or when they see the types of behavior changes listed above.?So, what should managers ask in this discussion??Here is a sampling of questions:?What do you like most about your job??What do you find most fulfilling about your work??What motivates you to perform??What do you enjoy most about the people you work with regularly??You are not only assessing the actual answers, but you’re also assessing how they are answering (are they answering with low energy, struggling to come up with answers, giving very brief answers, and/or giving answers that don’t seem believable – they seem like canned answers?) ?

Managers then want to ask questions like: What are the top things about your job that you find most frustrating, most boring, least challenging, and least motivating? ??

3)????Since managers can be the reason why an employee loses their level of engagement and becomes more of a retention risk, the manager’s manager should have skip level meetings and ask a few of the questions I just shared, and also ask about the employee’s manager. To make it easier for employees to be more open, a manager's manager would ask:?If you had to pick some things that your manager does well, what would those be? ?And what are some things you would suggest your manager did more and/or less of to help them become the best people leader they can be??Again, how they answer can be just as telling as the answers they give.?If they think well of their manager, it will usually be pretty obvious, but if they have concerns, they will either share them or answer questions in a very cautious/political manner. ?