How to Retain Your Most Promising Employees

Consider a highly capable employee in your team. This individual typically goes above and beyond, willingly takes the lead on projects, boosts team morale, and shows eagerness to grow within the company.

Imagine if this employee suddenly becomes less vocal in meetings, withdraws from team interactions, and starts leaving the office earlier than usual.

Perhaps you'd subtly remind them of their value to the team and organization, yet feel unsure about directly addressing the issue. Eventually, as you might have partly expected, the employee departs.

This scenario is all too common in today's workplaces. Talented employees often plateau and eventually leave, partly due to the very qualities that made them stand out. Leaders may feel powerless in these situations, which isn’t surprising. Most organizations lack consistent training for leaders in effective retention and talent management, especially for disengaged high-potential employees. This may stem from the assumption that these employees will inevitably seek external growth opportunities, higher pay, or better benefits elsewhere. Organizations often feel that their only option to retain talent is to make counteroffers, which can lead to retaining an even more disengaged employee at a higher cost.

Attributing employee turnover to external competition absolves the organization and its leaders from responsibility. It's an easy out, implying that turnover is beyond their control and, therefore, not their problem to solve.

This mindset is contradictory, especially since leaders are often held accountable for turnover rates in their departments. So why aren't organizations equipping leaders to reduce turnover through controllable factors?

As I mentioned in "The Dangers of Searching for Meaningful Work: A Letter to Employers and Employees," the best retention strategy is empowering employees to take charge of their happiness at work. This approach focuses on elements within a leader's control.

Leaders can't control external job offers or personal decisions, but they can influence the workplace experience (encompassing all aspects of an employee's work life).

For instance, leaders can shape their leadership style, define work responsibilities, manage how tasks are performed, oversee team dynamics, and provide necessary resources. This comprehensive workplace experience can make employees more engaged, meaningfully contributing to their reluctance to pursue external opportunities, even in the face of attractive offers.

Over my years of working with organizations and leaders, I've found that an employee's workplace experience comprises four key elements a leader can influence: Trust, Environment, Assignments, and Meaning. These form the TEAM© model for motivation-driven management.

Trust involves building a safe, supportive atmosphere between employees, leaders, and the organization. How have you recently demonstrated care and trust towards your team?

Environment encompasses the resources available for employees, the social dynamics among coworkers, and customer interactions. Do your employees have the tools they need? Are team dynamics and customer interactions managed effectively?

Assignments refer to the actual tasks employees are responsible for. Are you in tune with your team's preferences and dislikes? Is the work tailored to their strengths?

Meaning relates to the sense of purpose employees find in their work. Do you understand and reinforce the reasons your employees are committed to their jobs and the organization?

The TEAM© model provides a straightforward framework for leaders to positively influence their team's work experience. It prioritizes internal factors over uncontrollable external ones, empowering employees to love their current job.

How would this model reshape your leadership approach, focusing on each employee's unique work experience?

What changes could you make in your daily routine to implement the TEAM© model?

How would your organization's culture transform if it created individualized work environments and took responsibility for retaining top talent?

It's crucial to recognize that employees often seek other offers not because of the offers themselves, but because they were already prepared to leave. Organizations must understand their role in employee retention, focusing on developing leaders who can effectively shape each team member's work experience. A leader who truly cares about their team concentrates on what they can control - their TEAM©.

I invite you to reach out to me personally at contact@benjamin-ritter.com if you are interested in learning more about the TEAM© model of managing to motivate and how you can implement it within your own organization or leadership practices.

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