My team member seems restless, what can I do to retain them?
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Restlessness can occur at any time but is, perhaps, more prevalent in the new year. People have had time to unwind and rethink where their career is going and how they feel about their job and the people they work with. If you are worried that a talented performer is looking around for a new opportunity outside your organisation here are some steps to take which might keep them on board.
What are the tell-tale signs that someone is dissatisfied with their role or career progress?
- Are they less enthusiastic and engaged?
- Has their productivity dropped or their willingness to do more than required dipped?
- Has their contribution to meetings diminished?
- Have they stopped volunteering for projects or one-off tasks that previously motivated them?
- Is their focus more short-term than long-term – are they showing reluctance to take on responsibilities that will require a long-term focus?
When did you last have an appraisal or career development discussion with them? What did they want to achieve? A promotion, or more responsibility, or exposure to senior managers for their particular skills set? Or was it about money or feeling valued? Did you support them, keep promises made, or did you fail to deliver because your workload got in the way? If this was the case, rebuilding trust for any future promises you make, will be that bit harder, so being honest with yourself is important alongside a genuine apology.
Were there valid reasons they didn’t achieve what they wanted? Was it their own lack of drive or motivation or did something happen at work to derail their plans which couldn’t be avoided? Can you regroup and help them make new plans to achieve their goal(s) in the coming year?
Take time to discuss what they have built, in terms of career assets, with the organisation;
- Reputation – it takes time to build a solid reputation, to be a known quantity which makes us a less ‘risky’ person to promote to roles we may not be the obvious candidate for, or to assign to leading-edge projects and assignments
- Networks – again it takes time to build our internal networks which provide us with moral support and valued friendships. Such people become our ‘career scouts’, are more likely to suggest us for interesting work or projects or alert us to exciting opportunities
- Contextual knowledge – it’s easy to overlook the value of context, our knowledge of an organisation and its history. This knowledge makes us more effective operators as we know what systems and processes need to be used to underpin our success
What if it is time to go? At some point, most of us will need to move on if only to experience new ways of working, new industries or sectors. In this case keep the relationship going, stay in touch with your talented team members, develop your own alumni network if there isn’t a formal network in place. This is a great way to recruit people back to an organisation; where it is recognised people need to move on to grow and where they have fond memories of those they worked with and the career development they achieved whilst with you.
TAKE AWAY
We can’t stop talented people leaving our organisations, but it is always worth talking to them about whether the timing is right, whether the career assets built up can be leveraged further, whether new projects or assignments will bring more, even quicker, success than moving on will. Don’t be afraid to have that conversation and be gracious if you can’t talk them around. Alumni networks are valuable future recruitment tools which you can always add their name to.