The reasons for taking a particular job are strongly influenced by the brand and reputation of an organisation. People accept a job because of how they perceive the organisation. However, when the time comes to leave, studies now show that it is often their manager and the leadership that they are leaving, not the organisation. So why do people join an organisation but leave their managers and how can leadership change this?
What we know is that in many instances, when a person leaves and organisation they do so because of external factors that are linked to a particular issue within their team and/or manager. Influencing those “external factors” needs time and effort, and in many cases doesn’t bring the results you were hoping for, leaving you frustrated and deflated. By changing our focus from problem solving to solution centric, create initiatives to retain top talent and be the change we want to see in our team, we can work towards preventive measures.
When managers and leaders change their perspective and look for factors they can actually influence, they start to look at the possibility, not the problem. By changing their perspective managers can look at the opportunity to positively influence and improve the overall performance, mood and essentially influence the results of the team. It is during the practice of this behavioural exercise that people come face to face with factors that are within their control, mainly because it is up to them to modify or change their own outlook and behaviour.
Modifying the behaviour that takes you from the “Why Not” (reasons that make it difficult or get in the way) to the “Why Yes” (what is in my control and reach that I can influence) is one of the most liberating behavioural exercises. As a team we can come out with actions that will change the course of our results, the level of team engagement and the retention of top talent.
In most instances management and teams know what the problem is and consequently spend most of their time and energy discussing the problem, leaving the solution to last when energy and clear thinking is not at their peak. By the time we get to the solution, the energy has been otherwise invested and staff and employees are already emotionally switched off and disengaged. It is therefore how we manage time, energy and focal point that ultimately has a strong impact in the results we achieve and the results we achieve motivate us to stay and work for an influential leader.
Greg Savage has spoken about this topic from his experience in the recruitment industry in this article.
Stephen Covey often speaks of “starting with the end in mind”, I often push my team to “start with the solution in mind”?
How would you motivate your team to be solution centric?
Coaching 2 Excel 