People quit their jobs for many reasons, including being unsatisfied in their roles. The boss plays a critical role in employees’ workplace experience, and could also be the reason people leave or stay in the organization. Read on to see how you can help people find reasons to love their jobs and stay in the company.
Photo credit: Yan
Times are tougher than ever and for anyone to leave their job willingly, there has to be a very good reason or several, and a horrible boss could be one of them. Managers are ultimately responsible for employee experience in a given role, so if you want to retain your team members, you may want to start thinking about how you tailor their roles to them. Most companies simply create positions and hire people to fill them, but a good manager designs the role around the talent they hire. This is an opportunity for executives, supervisors, and managers to engage in self-evaluation and up the ante to become bosses people want to work with.
When employees enjoy the work they do, they are more confident that they are gaining the relevant experience and skills to develop their careers. They are also more likely to utilize their strengths frequently. Managers can customize the work experience for their employees in three important ways: creating a path for career growth while accommodating personal priorities, helping them utilize their strengths, and allowing them to do what they love.
Allowing people to do what they love in their roles
Most people have a passion they did not get to follow in their careers. It could be for lack of an opportunity or a lack of skill. Either way, this passion does not just go away just because you landed in a different career. Since most of our time is spent at work, we are not always able to follow these passions even as hobbies, so we try to find ways to incorporate them into our roles. However, in order for people to do this, they need to have support from the workplace to design their jobs accordingly.
The boss can play a crucial role in creating a meaningful and motivating role, and a good manager will do everything possible to help employees do work that they love. It can be through something simple like switching them out of a role in which they are performing exceedingly well to one that plays to their passions. It is not uncommon for managers to be unaware of the kind of work their employees enjoy. This can come out during exit interviews when talented people reveal why they are leaving the company. A good idea to try would be an entry interview and not the kind you are thinking about. Take some time to sit down with new hires to find out about their passions outside of work, their favorite projects, and times when they have felt most motivated in their roles. Once you have this information, you can design an engaging role from the get-go.
Maximize on people’s underutilized strengths
Today’s world is heavily ruled by specialization, and the age of the Renaissance Man is long gone, meaning that very few people are accomplished in multiple areas. Unfortunately, companies create such restricted job descriptions today that they are unable to maximize the full range of their employees’ skill sets. A smart boss will generate an opportunity for their team members to play to their strengths. However, designing new roles is not the only way to help people do that. Help people figure out what to do by learning which people are experts in what areas. Put your employees’ strengths on display, so people in the company know who to go to when they need something done.
Creating a path for career growth while accommodating personal priorities
In most situations, getting a new opportunity like a big promotion or a special project in our careers means we have to take a few steps back from our personal lives. This could mean weekends away from families or nights away from significant others. A great manager works with people to develop career opportunities that seamlessly blend in with their personal priorities. This could be in the form of a prioritization plan for essential personal matters. Supervisors or managers who provide this type of deep support give their employees the morale to come to work fully present and be there for their loved ones. People will deliver exceptional results and stay longer in the organization if they feel seen and heard. They will be proud to be associated with the organization.
People leave their jobs all the time, and it is up to the boss to develop roles that are too good for employees to leave. Set up defenses in the organization to protect employees from any toxicity that may arise in the workplace. As a good boss, it is also your duty to assign meaningful work and provide learning opportunities. This allows your people to work at their best, be motivated by their projects, and develop professionally without compromising their personal lives. When a manager cares about their employees’ lives, careers, and success, they will find it hard to imagine working in any other place.
