Keeping good people
Some level of turnover is to be expected because people only rarely work in the same place all their working life. However, there is a need to try to retain good people - and it begins by not pushing them out.
It is with the backing of evidence that we can say that people are attracted to organisations by the objective climate (what they can see, read or hear about from trusted sources) and think about quitting because of the subjective climate (what they ‘feel’ about working there).
Two ways of finding out whether people are thinking of leaving are:
- Periodic Climate Surveys that check this specifically
- Regular ‘Stay Here’ interviews instead of the final ‘exit interview’.
Exit interviews are too late to do anything about keeping the person who is leaving, and that’s why ‘stay here’ interviews are recommended. It requires, however, a healthy climate with high trust before employees will offer sensitive and valuable insights. ‘Stay here’ interviews are more likely to produce results if the interviews are conducted by people from outside the organisation, and if anonymity is offered.
Current employees are the best source of information and ideas about what keeps people in and what moves them out.
There are 4 forces that work on people to move from any employment situation to another. The forces may be internal or external, and may be push or pull - making the four combinations internal push, internal pull, external push and external pull,
External forces are applied by other people or conditions (economic?) that apply pressure to ‘force’ choices. These are not quality choices and may be of short duration until another way is available.
Internal forces are internal motivation - drive - to get something done. What I ‘want’ is an internal choice. What I ‘need’ may be external.
A ‘push’ force is pushing someone away from something. For example, a change of government may be more about getting rid of the incumbents than about wanting the newcomers. Also, if the building catches fire, we want to get out. We are being pushed out by the fire.
If my organisation starts doing things I disagree with, and if I am highly principled, I may push myself out. I wasn’t pushed - it was an internal push.
A pull force draws or attracts a decision - driven by ‘want’. Most people ‘want’ to succeed, be recognised, be accepted, be comfortable - and will make decisions based on those healthy wants.
The most powerful and effective decision is therefore one that is made by internal pull. If you want to keep people, you have to appeal to their internal pull so they want to stay. The pull is rarely money.
Call us for ideas and/or help on keeping more of your good people
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