We have heard this statement over and over “People join organizations and quit managers.”  But is there any truth to it?  According to two different research reports, one reason people leave organizations is due to the boss.  Kenexa research shows that 30% of turnover is due to the boss.  Forbes completed a study titled, “Why Your Top Talent is Leaving in 2014 & What It’ll Take to Retain Them” and they cite that 37% of top talent is leaving due to Boss’ Performance.

Research conducted by Gallup, Inc. supports the statistics from Kenexa and Forbes.  They go on to quantify the qualities employees want in a manager. The top four are:

1. Managers who show care, interest and concern for their staff
2. To know what is expected of them
3. A role which fits their abilities
4. Positive feedback and recognition regularly for work done well

One of the reasons employees leave is because of their boss.  So, to improve retention, we need to improve boss’ performance.  How do organizations improve management performance?  Here are a few ideas:

1. Set clear performance expectations.  Your leaders need to know that you expect them to be good leaders and that you want them to show their employees that they care, are interested in them, provide feedback and recognition, to provide employees with a job that fits their abilities and that employees understand what is expected of them.
2. Train your leaders. Offer your leaders management development opportunities on the qualities and capabilities you want your leaders to demonstrate.  Ensure that the courseware helps your leaders apply the training on the job. Remember – your leaders will only become good at being a leader if they practice the content in the courses they completed.
3. Be a good role model.  Model the qualities you expect of your leaders.

Author: Cindy Pascale
Cindy Pascale is the CEO and co-founder of Vado and has 16+ years of HR, Training & Development and OD leadership experience and 12 years running talent management, development and assessment companies.  Vado is the e-learning courseware provider ‘changing the face of learning’.