Be a Leader That Gets Star Employees to Stay

Many important factors can affect your organization’s ability to find and keep great people. Are they hired and compensated fairly and equitably? Are they encouraged to have a life outside work and to take advantage of useful benefits the company offers? Are their efforts to succeed in their role appreciated, enabled, and recognized? Are they given help to grow and develop professionally?

Beyond the basics, one of the greatest factors is you. As the saying goes, people don’t quit bad jobs, they quit bad bosses. As McKinsey put it, “Relationships with management are the top factor in employees’ job satisfaction, which in turn is the second most important determinant of employees’ overall well-being.”

This is true of peer and collegial relationships, too. Someone doesn’t need to be your official manager to affect your work. You can probably immediately recall times when those around you made your workdays much better (…or the opposite)!

How can you use your influence for good?

Respect and support take many forms. The above-mentioned McKinsey report said, “In many ways, there is only one question… How do I make my team members’ lives easier—physically, cognitively, and emotionally?” Here are a few examples of excellence in action – including a personal story from inside EVERSANA INTOUCH – to help you think of additional ways you may be able to help your team shine… and stay!

ples of excellence in action – including a personal story from inside EVERSANA INTOUCH – to help you think of additional ways you may be able to help your team shine… and stay!

• Individualize your recognition. Some people are natural self-promoters, while quieter stars may do excellent work but keep their heads down. Pay attention to how everyone’s contributing. Also, be sure to show appreciation in ways that feel right for the individuals in question. While one person may thrive as the center of attention, another might feel a bit horrified by that. Seek to understand what motivates and makes someone feel comfortable, and respectfully reflect that in your actions.
• Speak up. Positivity and feedback shouldn’t be confined to official reviews, or held for only red-letter achievements. Say good things about people to their faces, and to other people about them. When an effort is noticed when you don’t expect anyone to appreciate it, that feels great. Call out the everyday greatness that you see. Tell people when you hear good things said about them – and don’t forget to tell their manager about it too!
• Listen and learn. Do you have the ability to offer more flexibility for those with whom you work? Stay aware of what’s going on with the people around you, and see if you can think of personally relevant ways that their work life can be (as McKinsey said) easier and better.

Here’s a great example from within EVERSANA INTOUCH. Pornima Jaju is a Senior Project Manager. She’s also a single mother of a five-year-old daughter. The abilities to work from home, to adjust her schedule (her hours are 1-10 pm ET, because she’s based in Ahmednagar, India), and to work for a company that does not assume she will always be available outside of working hours, have been instrumental in Pornima managing her responsibilities both at work and at home, and choosing to stay with EVERSANA INTOUCH. Pornima says that, while she’s seen a great deal of turnover in the industry in recent months, the flexibility and respect with which her managers, David Shupe and Pete Berg, have structured her role has meant that she is happily continuing with EVERSANA INTOUCH while she watches others changing jobs. And so, EVERSANA INTOUCH, and our clients, all benefit from Pornima’s expertise, experience, and continuity, at the same time as she and her family benefit too!

It’s difficult to overstate the impact that consideration, respect, support, and kindness can have. When you consider the effect it can have on your team’s success, on their job satisfaction, and on the work we’re able to do to improve healthcare, taking the time to consider how you can improve the experience may be one of the best investments you can make.