Creating a Workplace Your Team Doesn’t Want To Leave

According to Mackenzie & Co., the great resignation is the quitting trend that just won't quit. When our team members don't feel appreciated and aren't fulfilled, they aren't as productive and they aren't as likely to stay. So in this episode, we're going to talk about how to create a culture that honors our team members, helps them succeed and love their work. The title is Creating a Workplace Your Team Doesn't Want to Leave. Hey, welcome to another episode of the Craig Rochelle Leadership Podcast, where we're incredibly passionate about helping you become a leader that people love to follow. If it's your first time with us, I kind of want to tell you about our rhythms so you can plan to invest a little bit of time each month growing in your leadership. What we do is we drop a new teaching on the first Thursday of each month and then we often drop bonus episodes on the third Thursday. In fact, we have two coming up that I promise you'll be very helpful to your leadership. We're interviewing Lisa Turcurs, who's a multiple number one New York Times bestselling author about her new book Good Boundaries and Good Bys. And then my good friend, Dr. Tim Elmore, who's one of the best on leadership, he's talking about his book on how do you interact with different generations in your organization. Now, if you are new with us, I need to tell you, get the leader guide. This is a guide that's jam packed with incredible content, additional links, more content, questions to go over with your team. You can go to Life.Church/leadershippodcast, click on the link, and we'll send you a leader guide with the release of each new episode. Now, my gift to you is I'm going to work very hard to bring valuable content to help you grow in your leadership. Your gift to me is to help spread the word. If you don't mind posting on social media, that helps a lot. Go ahead and tag me, and our team may repost you. In fact, I see you out there, Kyle Kay, Morgan Wilde, Rachel Mitchell, thank you so much. And if you're willing to write a review or to rate the content wherever you consume it, that often helps give us more exposure as well. Let's do everything we can to expand the leadership community so we can help more people grow in their leadership. Now, in the last episode, we talked about what's being called the great resignation. People are quitting their jobs at a record pace. If you're at a place and you're considering maybe I should go somewhere else and you haven't listened to the last episode, listen to it. We're talking about four questions to ask before you leave, because honestly, a lot of people are leaving where they are and they're regretting it when they do. Now, for those of you in any type of leadership role, if you've led for any length of time, you understand that excessive turnover is one of the greatest enemies to organizational health, to profit, and to ministry impact. Anytime your team members are turning rapidly, this slows down any kind of organizational progress. It's incredibly expensive financially, and it's even more costly to morale to your team dynamics and to your organizational objectives. So, what we want to do is we want to try to remember what do our people, what do our team members really want in a job? If we want to retain them, we need to understand what do they value, what's important to them, what are they looking for in their job? And I want to tell you, it's important to note that what your team is looking for today is likely a little bit different than it was two years ago, and we want to talk about those differences. So, I want to remind you of what your team members want in their role. Now, outside of the obvious, they're going to want fair compensation, they're going to want benefits, time off, all that kind of stuff. Outside of the obvious, it really boils down to four basics, and we're going to talk about those four basics, and then we're going to talk about three newer wants that your team wants in this day that's going to be different than they did a few years ago. So, what are the four basics? Number one is they want a mission to accomplish, they want a culture to embrace, they want a place to grow, and they want people to enjoy. Let me say it again, they want a mission to accomplish, they want to use their gifts. They want to enjoy the place that they work, they want to have purpose, they want to contribute, they want a mission to accomplish, they want to know that their work is meaningful and contributing to something that matters. Number two is they want a culture to embrace, they want value alignment. They don't want to use their hard work, their talents to contribute to something that they really don't agree with, they want a culture to embrace. Number three is they want a place to grow, they want to get better, they want to be promotable, they want to be able to grow in influence, they want a place to grow, and they want people to enjoy. In other words, they don't want to just do a job they like, they want to do a job they like with people that they like. And these are constants that we want to have at the front of our mind when we're creating a culture. These are the basics. But in a post-pandemic world, many employees, they have what I would say would be three new ones. And I want to focus on the three and we're going to spend the most time on the last one because I believe in our culture today, it's the most important. What are the new things that many employees want? Well, one of the new things is many want flexibility when and where they work. Many want more flexibility when and where they work. They want flexible hours, a lot of people like working from home. Some people don't want to come into the office all the time or at all. And there's different opinions on this. So I know in different parts of the world, you're facing different opportunities and different challenges. My personal opinion is that there's value in working together. But when we work together, we may need to understand that people want more flexibility. The bottom line is that people are coming in with higher expectations and flexibility today than they did before. Is that right or wrong? That's up for other people to decide that we need to acknowledge that they're coming in with this desire. Another new want that many people have is this. Is that honestly, many people don't want to work as hard as they did before. They just don't. Years ago, the grind was in and people say now the grind is out. And you'll read a lot about quiet quitting. What is that? Well, it depends on the article you read. Some would say they just want a paycheck, but they don't want to hassle of caring about their job or working hard. In fact, some people today want to do as little as possible, go under the radar, keep getting a paycheck, and it's kind of like quiet quitting. They're not leaving, but they're not passionate. They're checked out. Some people, they just don't want to work long hours. And you may argue with that. You may say that's stupid. Whatever your opinion is, you need to know that's the mindset that a lot of people have today. Now, the most wouldn't ever admit this out loud. The third thing I want to talk about and spend the most time here. I don't know anybody who's going to say out loud what I'm about to tell you, but I'm absolutely and completely convinced that this is one of the biggest needs that your team members have today. And that is this. Many of our team members just want to feel settled. They're not going to say it, but internally, even though they may not have the language, they're crying out for it. They just want to feel settled. And I want to spend more time on this point because it's really, really, really important. You have a lot of people right now that are all over in their lives. There's chaos and they just want to feel settled. And the reason is, is because a lot of people, they're still living with pockets of turmoil in their life. In fact, some people would tell you and they might be right. They'll say they have PTSD from the last couple of years. A lot of employers would mock that sentiment, but it's important to take notice. Many of your team members, they're still living with a variety of very difficult and complicated situations. They've got difficult situations in their family. Some of your team members, they've completely lost their relational support system. There's division over all of the issues that we know we've been talking about for the last couple of years, maybe division even in their marriage or in their family. They are right now dealing with very, very complex issues with their children that were not issues five, six, seven years ago and is weighing on them like crazy. Because of all the extenuating circumstances, a lot of your team members right now, they have marriage problems. I'm convinced that there are more marriage problems today than three years ago. And when they have a problem at home, that often creates a problem at work. There are people right now in this crazy economy with interest rates rising, with inflation soaring. They've got financial struggles. Their income is not keeping up necessarily with their increase of expenses. There are people with health fears. You have team members battling with depression. Good team members who were healthy three years ago aren't emotionally healthy today. They've got anxiety and other mental health issues and the list goes on and on and on. And so the reality is for many of your team members right now, very little feel settled in their life. They don't feel stable and they would love for someone to help them feel settled. So leader, team lead, whatever you are, this is just my suggestion. And it won't be true for all of you and it won't be true everywhere. But in so many cases, in order for you to care for your team members and in order for you to retain your team members, I would suggest that you stop assuming that most of your team is good for years. I just kind of thought if they're not complaining, if they're not quitting, if they're showing up, if they're smiling, they're probably okay, they're good. I would suggest that you do not assume that most of them are good. I would suggest that you assume that most of them need settling. This is so important. Assume that most of them need a little extra care right now. And if you're wrong and most of them are good, you haven't lost anything. But if you're wrong assuming they are good, when they're not, you could lose a lot more than you realize. So let's talk about it and let's go deep. How do you settle your team when so many people feel unsettled? I'm going to give you some thoughts. The first one is, as often as possible, schedule one-on-one time and listen. As often as you can, spend one-on-one time and listen. We have now 44 campus pastors. That's a lot of campus pastors. And I think I've talked to every single one of them in the last two weeks. Just brief one-on-one time. And what I want you to do is I want you to listen to what's being said. And I also want you to listen to what's not being said. Both of these things are really important. Because sometimes what you don't hear is as important as what you do here. For example, they might say some of the right words that you want to hear. Like they might say, "Yeah, I'm good. I like my job. I'm happy here. My family's okay," or whatever. But you may not feel any passion from them. Or if there's a lack of emotional buy-in, you want to watch for that. And you don't want to come in blaming them if they're not healthy or they're not emotionally bought in. What you want to do is you want to come in with an attitude to help them, to serve them, to love them. And remember, when you're talking to your team members, some of them, they're very nervous when they're around you. And they want to try to tell you what they think you want to hear. And that's why you want to work to listen between the lines. Listen to what they're saying and listen to what they're not saying. Look for tone. Watch body language. And you're not there to try to catch them. You're there to love them and to help them. And pay attention to the kind of questions that you ask. What tends to happen is a lot of supervisors, they ask questions about, "How's it going with your goals?" "Tell me about your objectives." You might even think you're asking a good question like, "Tell us what you think about our company culture." Or, "What do you think about compensation or benefits or whatever?" But I want you to remember what they want. What do they want? They want a mission to accomplish, that they want a culture to embrace. They want a place to grow. They want people to enjoy. And so what you want to do is ask open-ended questions and see if your organization is helping meet those needs and wants in your people. So here's some questions you want to ask and you can jot these down and we'll put these in the leader guide. You want to ask, "Hey, what do you love most about what you do?" It's an open-ended question and you're getting into their values where they're most satisfied. Then you want to ask them, "Hey, what frustrates you most?" And what you're going to do there is you might find out about some problems that you don't even know exist. Some things that are very easy to solve. This is a good question to ask later in the sequence of questions. Once you've established some trust, you want to ask, "Hey, what do I do that frustrates you?" This is really important. And they may not be tempted to tell you, but if they're not, just say, "Tell me one thing." And what you're trying to do is sometimes you're inadvertently or unintentionally doing some things that are slowing them, frustrating them, making it more difficult for them. And it shows them that you really care and if they communicate clearly, you may be able to fix a problem. What do I do that frustrates you? Here's another question you want to ask is, "What could I do to better support you?" Listen, your team, they're supporting you all the time and they need to know that you care about them. You're going to want to listen. What can I do to better support you? Ask them this question. If you could change one thing here, what would you change? It's a powerful question. What you're doing is you're giving them permission to lead up. You're giving them the ability to help contribute to the direction of the organization, which creates emotional buy-in. And you could make things better just by listening. If you could change one thing here, what would you change? Ask them this question. Where do you feel that you have more to offer? We're not just asking them, do you feel that you have more to offer, but where do you feel? And you may find where they feel underutilized, where they have more resources, where they could make the organization better. And then this last question is really important. Ask, "What else is on your mind that I haven't asked about?" And the way I ask this question is really important. Notice I didn't say, "Is there something else on your mind?" Because that's a yes/no question. What you want to do is say, "What else is on your mind?" You're going to assume it. And so you're trying to pull out of them anything that they can give you for you to help serve them better and create an environment that they're going to love in their organization. This is so, so, so important. Once you've heard what they're saying, I would say, "Repeat it back to them." And what you're doing is when you repeat it back to them, so you're saying, "Here's a suggestion." So you're saying, "Here's where you feel undervalued." What you're doing is you're showing that you heard them, you understand them, and you value them. How do you help them feel settled? You want to schedule one-on-one time and you want to listen. Number two, when you can make a change that helps your team, make it. Anytime you know something that could help create a better environment for them to be successful, fulfilled, and contribute, make the change. You might change some benefits or add some benefits. You might become more flexible in hours. You might change a reporting structure or one of the great things you can do is simplify a process. Sometimes we make it so difficult for employees to get anything done because we created layers of bureaucracy. You may just get them a piece of equipment that may change their game or let them take off an hour early to pick up a kid from school. It could be a game changer because the way schools are now, it's making it really, really difficult on our team members. So when you hear a need and you can meet it, meet it. There was a couple of team members in my office. I had no idea they sit at their desk all day and they just would prefer to stand. And when we found out they wanted standing desks, we got them standing desk, and they are the happiest two standards I've ever seen in my life and what I'm sitting right by me right now. No, you can make a change, make a change. Number one, schedule one-on-one time and listen. Number two, when you can make a change, it helps your team make the change. And number three, this is kind of tricky, but I'm going to say it. Be prepared to let some people move on or even say it this way. Be prepared to let or occasionally help some of your team members move on. And this sounds harsh or uncaring, but it's not. We have to understand that some turnover is always natural. Some turnover is actually healthy. People have changing family dynamics. They have different growth goals. They have new professional opportunities and on and on. So you want to be prepared to let some people move on. And whenever someone is miserable, their misery tends to spread. And so if you really try to help them be healthy, that's your first goal. But if you can't help them be healthy, then let them pursue their health somewhere else. And what you want to do is be prepared to help others see when it's actually time for them to move on. Let's talk about it. If you have a team member that's toxic and rebellious or apathetic, they're divisive, they're disengaged, they're not carrying their weight. Your first goal is to help them be successful. How do you do this well? Well, let's talk about how you coach them. First and foremost, you want them to know that you are for them. So when you're coaching them toward improvement, you're like not some mean boss who's correcting them. In your heart, your biggest win is to help them be successful. And so you want to let them know, "I believe in you. I want you to be successful." But you tell them very directly there are some things that are going to need to change. And what you want to do is you want to clearly state the problem. And you want to clearly state the solution. Here's the problem and here's what's expected. And you want to tell them exactly, specifically, what you need to see and by when. And so your goal is to give them a clear pathway or a plan to succeed. Tell them this is exactly what needs to happen and by what time. And as often as possible, give them something that's measurable. You might say like, "Hey, sales revenue needs to be up by 5% in the next 60 days. That's specific and measurable." Or, "All emails need to be returned within 24 hours. That's specific and it's measurable." Now, there will be some things that are not measurable. Like you may have some team members with a bad attitude and you're going to tell them you want a better attitude. Or you might say, "You need to come prepared to a meeting." What you want to do is you want to be clear of whatever that looks like and clear of what it doesn't look like. If you're coaching on attitude, you might just tell them, "Hey, you got a sulky body language." Or you're always asking critical questions instead of solution-oriented questions. And so you'll tell them, "Here's the type of questions you want to ask." Whatever it is, you're going to be as specific and as clear as you can. And your only goal is to help them rise to the occasion and thrive. Then this is really, really important. You want to let them know clearly and lovingly if they do not hit the target, we're going to need to make a change. And then you simply keep your word. You do everything you can to help them. You celebrate if they get there. And if they can't get there, you help them move on. If you do not do this and you tolerate unacceptable performance, bad attitudes, a toxic mindset, if you tolerate that on your team, then that team member is no longer the problem, you are the problem. And you have no idea how much credibility you lose if you don't address people and help them improve or allow them to leave. So what are we going to do? We're going to try to help people feel settled because we care for them and their life is in chaos. So we're going to schedule one-on-one time and listen. When you can make a change to help them, you're going to make the change. Number three is you're going to be prepared to let some people move on and some people you may even help them move on. And then number four is you're just going to lead, just lead. What do we know about today? One of the biggest reasons that many people feel unsettled today is because the last couple of years have taught them not to trust. You watch different news sources, you listen to different reports, and people are much, much more skeptical today than they were before. Good people who were totally bought into your vision before are now maybe not trusting your leadership. So what you want to do is you want to help people settle, you want to help give them a reason to trust, and you want to give them a place this easy to love. How do you create trust? How do you give them a place to buy into? Well, you just tell the truth. You don't hold back, you're very, very direct, you're very, very transparent. You cast a compelling vision, you care about people, you set goals, you celebrate the wins, you reward the winners, you create systems, you create a great culture, you brag onto your people. You promote those who are promotable, you pay generously, you take ground together, you make money if you're in business, you make a difference no matter what. And you have a blast doing this because this is what great leaders do. So, to help them feel settled when they're hurting right now, they feel tense. You want them to know that you care about them, they matter so much, why? Because your team members, they are not a commodity to be leveraged, they are people to be loved. And when you love them, when you care about them, when you're a you-oriented leader, not a me-oriented leader, together you can create something that's really, really special. Your team members, they really want to know that you care about them for who they are, more than for what they produce. They're not just here to contribute to your goals, you care about them as people. And when you care about them as people, you don't just care about what happens at your office, but you care about them when they leave your office and go to their families. And that creates a culture that people will love. What do we know? You will never be a leader that people love to follow if you are a leader that truly loves people. One more time, let it sink in. You will never, ever, ever be a leader that people love to follow if you aren't a leader that truly loves people. Now, before I send you back out to lead once again, I want to remind you we have a bonus episode dropping on the third Thursday of this month. Lisa Turkhurst will be with us talking about good boundaries and goodbyes. I want to tell you thank you for being a part of our community and I want to acknowledge I know it's really difficult right now. So go out there and lead. Do what you do. Bring your best. Love people. Care about them. You can do it. It's in you. You have what it takes. Step up. Be confident. Lead strong. Love well. And grow in your leadership because we know that everyone wins when the leader gets better.