This one hit me hard…

As an executive coach, I hear pretty much everything as it relates to how employees are truly feeling with their current state of leadership within their respective organizations.

With the “war for talent” building and getting more difficult with each day, talent retention is at the forefront of most discussions with every one of my corporate clients right now.

How do we maintain our current talent base?
What is the formula for success that addresses what employees are really seeking from an employer these days?

These are loaded questions as many employees are looking deep within themselves to determine what is most important to them during the changing times. Employers are also very cognizant of what it is they hear from their employees and carefully follow the many opportunities that are being shared out on social media and within their own professional networks right now.

My view corridor is a bit more intimate and often lacks any of the professional filters that senior leadership might encounter with the internal information vine. I pay close attention to those employees that I coach and what they claim to be experiencing in their minds right now. 

I have pulled some of those knowledge nuggets out of my memory for your consideration. This includes what many employees are feeling is most important. Sharing this information will hopefully provide you with insight if you are faced with employee turnover and retention issues.

One such topic that I hear about all the time hit me especially hard because it is such an easy fix. It is something many organizations are not taking advantage of today: it is becoming proactive in developing your leaders.

Offering programs or providing a budget for your leaders to grow and holding them accountable for their efforts is key. It shows that a company is willing to invest in their leaders' future. This is a topic I hear about all the time from my clients.

I will take a step further and offer you a scenario that I see play out over and over. It begins with an enthusiastic new leader being promoted into a leadership position, yet they have never been given any development opportunities to deal with leadership challenges that often arise. The usual case involves a top business development performer being promoted into an executive role. With the promotion came very little guidance to this individual despite never having managed people before. Look out as COVID-19 arrived on the scene, and now you have someone leading people through the ultimate of challenging situations and attempting to coach team members through the challenges. Let’s be honest, right now there are many difficulties in leading particularly when you add in the remote workforce.

Many organizations foster a “sink or swim” type of culture – most often unintentionally – and everyone is accustomed to figuring things out on their own. In some instances, I hear about instances where a leader was directed to watch a video on leadership training that didn’t allow them the opportunity to ask questions and practice what they had learned.

Most employees I engage are hungry to learn and grow within their role, but easily get frustrated with the limited resources available to help them grow and have an opportunity to be successful. I can relate to this from my past corporate experiences. As such, it hit me hard hearing about it again because I remember how frustrating this felt as I transitioned into my own leadership role.

This is a challenge presented quite often within my coaching conversations. There are so many frustrated leaders who are hungry to grow but the resources are limited, non-existent, or they have to pay for it out of their own pocket.

Listen to this…

Here is an example that I thought was brilliant. A certain organization created an employee allowance for growth and development. Each employee in a leadership role was provided with an annual allowance to spend in any which way they chose for executive coaching, leadership conferences, workshops, or education. Talk about being creative and empowering employees to use the option that they feel serves their growth and development best!

As organizations try to find creative ways to retain talent, a key question to consider is, “what do their employees really want?” I can tell you that your leaders desire personal development opportunities. This easily in the top 3 list of what employees are seeking based on my experiences.

I will share more of what employees are asking for in my upcoming articles so stay tuned.

What would you guess they are asking for in your organization?