The old adage that people don’t leave bad organisations, the leave bad bosses continues to hold true.
Countless times when we talk to candidates about why they are considering a job change they reference feeling undervalued or unsupported by the current leader.
Whilst many organisations have continued to invest heavily in their employee value proposition in an effort to retain staff that only gets you so far. Many employees are looking for some form of connection. A sense they are genuinely recognised, understood and valued for their contribution.
As a leader, many often struggle to find the balance between not wanting to become everyone’s friend, feeling the need to create a degree of distance between themselves and their team but at the same time building a connection with their people.
Here are some of the ways we think as a leader you can show you really do care
- Make the time to know them. Understand, their motivations, their interests outside of work. Make a concerted effort to remember important details about them as a person.
- Be transparent with them. Communicating clearly and inviting questions will help make everyone feel easier about talking openly and sharing ideas and challenges across the team. Share your own learns and prior career challenges
- Lead by example. Actions always speak louder than words. If you say you care, show you do. If you say you value your team, make the time to connect and invest in them. Don’t let tasks get in the way of 1-1’s.
- Don’t just listen, really listen. Take their points on board. You may not always agree and they may not always be implementable but as a minimum demonstrate you’ve heard their point/s and value the team and individual’s input.
- Give them compliments. But if you are going to share a complement make sure its genuine and get specific. Recognised something tangible the team/individual have done and how that has contributed to the success of the team. It can take literally seconds but done with sincerity can go a long way to show someone you value them.
Leading with genuine care has never been more important in continued uncertain and often challenging times. Demonstrating you care about your team is a huge driver for employee happiness and therefore retention.
Many of us within the recruitment team have been leaders ourselves and we are only too happy to share our own learns, candidate insights and any other practical advice and insights we can to help you lead with care.
Chris Young
Director
0488 006 567
chris.young@ralstonrecruitment.com