Talk to Your Team to Boost Retention: Leadership Tips

Trying to determine the best strategy for employee retention? Go straight to the source and talk to your employees, says a recent Know Your Team posting.

Talking one-on-one with your team members—whether in-person or via video call—will help you understand what their current experience of work is like and how it can be made better. Author Claire Lew recommends having Three Stay Conversations to improve employee retention:

Ask clarifying questions to find out what makes the employee feel motivated.

• In the past few months, when have you felt most motivated or energized in your work (if at all)?
• Which of your skills do you feel is not being used in your current role?

Ask how the employee feels about the team dynamics.

• Is there any part of the team you wish you got to interact with more?
• How do you prefer to be recognized for work well done?

Ask how the employee feels about the organization as a whole.

• Is there any aspect of the organization that you wish you knew more about?
• To what degree would you say the vision of the organization is clear?

Source: “The 3 Stay Conversations: The best way to improve employee retention,” Know Your Team, Aug. 19, 2021

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Many of us have a natural tendency to avoid conflict. But this can lead us to remain silent, hindering the open exchange of thoughts and feelings—and innovation suffers as a result. However, if you’re committed to finding a resolution, conflict can actually strengthen a relationship and spur innovation, says leadership development and training expert Stacey Engle in a posting on the Fierce blog.

Engle offers these four tips for effective conflict management:

• Show curiosity and respect for even the most oddball ideas. Sharing ideas often includes brainstorming, where creativity can flow freely and strong merit doesn’t have to be present before expressing an idea. Respectful feedback can be a productive part of the decision-making process, but make sure to address and diffuse any criticism that becomes personal and is directed toward a person rather than an idea.

• Use objective data as a benchmark to help determine which proposed ideas have the most merit. This provides an effective way to reach a final decision without being dismissive of individual ideas.

• Own the decision. As a leader, it’s necessary to take different perspectives into consideration and avoid “the illusion of inclusion.” But at the end of the day, you must be the one to decide which direction will be the most beneficial for the entire company—and consensus is not a requirement.

• Address lingering emotions through follow-up conversations.

Source: When Heads Collide: How to Make Conflict Productive at Work

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