One in three people leave a job within six months of starting. I read that stat today and it took me a bit by surprise. What could possibly go wrong in six months that would cause somebody to leave? Then, I married that stat up with another one of my favorite stats. Fifty percent of people quit managers, not companies. Ooh. Then I thought about another stat: One in three executives rated their onboarding experience as poor. Ouch. My suspicion is that many of our organizations work really hard to get new people in the door, but then they leave these new people alone in the wilderness once they have complete the company paperwork and received login credentials. Future leaders will need to intentionally create more connection with new hires if we want to attract and retain the best in a tight labor market. Personal connection. Connection to the organization. Connection to coworkers. Connection to the mission. Connection to the culture. Yeah, it’s another thing to think about, plan, and execute on. But, that’s the leader’s job, yo!
With your teams, don’t get out of the way, do this instead
"Get out of the way!" I often hear some version of this sentiment when talking about building a culture to incentivize high performance teams. "You have to find the right people, equip them, and then get out of the way." People who talk about getting out of the way...