Leaders are 3X more likely to leave in the next year because of this behavior, and three things you can do right now to reduce that!
Out now!
Results from the most extensive leadership study of its kind, Global Leadership forecast 2023, commissioned by ddiworld.com, backs up these points neatly. And much, much more.
54% of companies saw turnover increase last year. Even though right now, as a CEO, you know it’s your top concern and….
Are you doing enough?
“Above all, leaders seek growth. They strive for opportunity. Growth is crucial, not only in attracting and retaining top talent, but in building a pipeline of leaders who can quickly pivot to address shifting challenges.” (DDI)
At the inception of Thryvv, I started by asking all of the senior leaders I’d been coaching over the years – What keeps you up at night?
Aside from some somewhat off-the-wall responses (do I have chicken in the fridge?), 76% of the leader’s answers were in three pots.
- Attracting & Retainer people
- Getting everyone aligned
- Hitting the numbers
From there, we developed and refined our Thryvv-ing Leadership Team Cultures Programs to solve these issues, but that’s a longer topic.
So what is the problem, and what can you do?
The number one problem is that….
Leaders are 3X more likely to want to leave in the next year if they see senior leadership as having ineffective interpersonal skills….
(their leader is commonly referred to as a bit of an ar$e, or something similar).
We have learnt that it’s common for CEOs who believe that they have a CXO or minus one leader who is technically gifted and is known for lack of interpersonal skills (let’s call him Geoff) – and that that is just the way it is.
Firstly the data shows that…
You can no longer afford to take that hit anymore,
….the knock-on impact on other leaders affected will be huge. Secondly- It is not so bad! Every team has a Geoff, and if you can’t see one, maybe it’s you! (A cliché, but where is the 2% truth in that statement?)
THE GOOD NEWS
The good news is that your stuck feeling about Geoff is not accurate. Geoff CAN increase his self-awareness and become massively more skillful in the way that he connects and communicates. Moreover, Geoff can do this and still be an authentic leader. In my experience, much more authentic and, as a result, much less stressed.
How – loads of things! I’ll share a few easier ones here
1 - BE HUMAN
Get Geoff actually to connect with his team. Take half an hour in a meeting, design confidentiality, clarify people only need to share what they are comfortable with and ask each team member to share:
- a) Where they were from.
- b) How many siblings.
- c) A challenge from childhood.
Geoff goes first and “models vulnerability” – if vulnerability isn’t a Geoff thing, you can use less w@^ky coach speak and get him to share something that makes him feel a little bit uncomfortable.
We’ve done this in hundreds of thryvv-ing team culture workshops, and the emotional ROI is off the scale. This isn’t even the most effective version. We typically start here and gradually build trust and vulnerability from there.
2 - LEARN NEW SKILLS
Introduce Geoff to more skilful ways of dealing with conflict and interpersonal defensiveness. Some of this is incredibly easy, and yet it can be scary to do. You can always get a coach to support this journey too
One of the most impactful tools (and this changed our founder’s life completely) is a phraseology for difficult conversations. Write this down.
This is difficult for me to say because…
And its important to be because…
And so…
Then insert what we call BFI, and Simon Sinek calls FBI. He asserts that the order doesn’t matter, and we disagree. It’s just a bit weird to do it any other way than the one below.
Behaviour – be exceptionally specific and recent, and ensure it was an observable act. NOT “you are always late”. So – “On Monday when you were late were 15 minutes late for the 3pm sales meeting….”
Feeling – Who can disagree with how you feel? Imagine – “I felt undervalued.” “No, you didn’t” – it’s not going to happen, is it?
So feeling: “…..It made me feel insignificant.”
Impact – “….. and the impact on me was not to want to include you in the next project” – Then you have two good choices, 1) to “shut up” and let the colleague talk themselves out, and repeat the process – or better 2) to calmly ask open powerful questions, and either way, ensure you listen.
“First seek to understand, then be understood.”
I’ll create an article on open questions soon.
3 - ASK FOR HELP
Get Geoff to ask for help. Now this is a biggy in many ways, and so impactful. First asking for help is one of the most important leadership skills there is. It models vulnerability, builds trust and connection, and it makes people happy. Expel feel valued when they are asking for help, and like helping.
That’s nice in theory but ask for help in what. Well in increasing interpersonal skills of course – that’s why we are helping Geoff – because the leader in his team are 3X more likely to leave remember?
How? This the great thing, a really easy, structured technique called feedforward, created by Marshall Goldsmith the number one leadership coach in the world. This can re-pointed at any arear of development or even commercial or operational issues too.
If you want drop us a mail at [email protected] and we will send a workbook, with the guidelines for Geoff to work through.
This will completely change how Geoff is perceived by the leaders in his teams.
So help Geoff to help himself, and reduce the risk for attrition at the same time, your teams journey to a Thryvv-ing Leadership Team Culture has begone.
