Employee Retention? Not a Problem When Training Your Leaders

Leadership development may be a key way for companies to win in the war for attracting and keeping talent

SEATTLE – August 31, 2007 – Attracting and retaining employees is a topic of endless articles, conference sessions, books and Webcasts, as well as the basis - the "raison d'e tre" - for numerous product launches. Yet retaining talented employees, while requiring effort and focus, may not be such a dilemma, according to Impact Achievement Group.

Superior management practices and effective leadership are key missing ingredients in many organizations, evident in the many organizations that Rick Tate and Julie White, PhD., senior managing partners for the leadership development firm, have consulted with through the years.

Companies giving low priority to developing leaders may eventually realize a domino effect through the organization in terms of retention. Recent research by Gallup™ has shown that competitive pay, benefits, and amenities are the market ante for any employee - superior, mediocre and poor performers. But according to Tate and White, how long people stay and how well they perform is determined in large part by their personal and professional relationships with their immediate supervisors.

"The exodus of talented individuals to other companies for positions with only a modest increase in pay or benefits is a compelling question," said Tate. "Why leave when there's not that much gain? Ultimately, it's because people don't leave companies - they leave managers." So when companies invest in developing competent leaders, they are aiming a direct salvo in the war for talented and committed employees.

Tate should know. He and White have been consulting and speaking for over two decades on the topic of leadership development, service quality, performance management, customer loyalty and communication aimed at solving problems.

Impact Achievement group offers some real world advice for companies: The quality of your managers defines your company. Do they conduct purposeful workplace discussions, effectively problem solve, create an environment which engages discretionary effort, and is their behavior aligned with the organizational values?, Do your managers ensure people have the opportunity to do their best, listen to the opinions of direct reports and do they hold people accountable to performance standards? And importantly, do they have a passion for leading others?

Leaders must understand what high performing direct reports demand from their work environment to engage their best efforts and loyalty:

• Clearly communicated job requirements, focused on contributions instead of job tasks
• Resources to do their best work
• Ability to meaningfully participate it what affects them on the job
• Genuine acknowledgement of their contributions
• Genuine concern for their career
• A performance review process that differentiates excellence

About Impact Achievement Group

Impact Achievement Group provides assessment, coaching, customer loyalty and leadership development training that focuses on employee selection, retention, employee engagement and customer engagement. By integrating and blending the world's best assessment and recruiting processes, workshops and eLearning training, coaching and measurement programs, Impact Achievement Group helps organizations improve human performance to achieve bottom line results.