Why Poor Leadership Skills Cause Your Best Employees to Quit

It might come as a surprise to hear, but many people attribute their leaving a company to poor leadership. As a leader yourself, you know the cost of turnover is one of the highest that any organization faces. But the good news is if you focus on providing the great leadership that top talent needs to thrive, you can build stronger and more self-sustaining teams.

There are many things you can do to make your employee more happy, productive and profitable. If you see your company struggling to keep your headcount filled, here are some questions to ask to drill down to the root of the problem.

  1. Are your teams overworked?

Overworked employees is not a workload problem, it’s a priorities problem. Leadership needs to be aware when their teams are struggling to achieve everything on their to-do lists. Workload management is something all employees count on their managers to help them achieve. Don’t fall into the trap of not recognizing the very human limitations of your employees. A culture of overworked employees always leads to a high rate of turnover.

  1. Are your teams feeling appreciated?

Appreciation is one of the important things that will drastically increase the productivity of the people who you have working for you. It’s easy to forget about this important leadership principle, but appreciation (both verbal and financial) is an important part of how employees feel recognition for their hard work. The better you are at recognizing your employees, the better performance they will achieve, and the better you will look as a manager.

  1. Do you know your employees personally?

There are many leaders who simply don’t know how to talk to their employees. The more you talk to your employees, the better you become as a leader. The faster you learn, the faster you grow. Everything is related to people, and if you don’t know how to handle the people you have working for you, know what is driving them, motivating them and encouraging them, you will eventually lose them to another leader who does. Good leaders know how to get the trust of their employees and help them build their careers. They know when to appreciate them and when to discuss performance. That all comes down to building relationships.

  1. Are you still committed?

The less you find yourself being true to your word, the less your people will take you seriously. You need to be consistent in your communication. If you say you will promote an employee, you need to follow through. This is one of the core leadership skills that will help you build and maintain the trust of your employees and establish you as a leader. Your commitment to being a leader matters in this way, because often the easiest way out of a conversation is to say what your employees want to hear to get them to work hard for you. But the minute you betray that trust, you lose their faith in your leadership. Your commitment to them is what will guide you successfully.

 

Looking for more advice on how to lead stronger teams?

Contact the Ag staffing experts at Ag 1 Source today.