Every month since July 2021, 4 million Americans have quit their jobs. In January this year, 4.3 million Americans (that’s 2.8% of the workforce) walked out the door.
Why? Because of bad leaders.
According to a Gallup poll of more than one million U.S. workers, 75% of workers who voluntarily quit their jobs said they did so not because of the job or the company, but because they had a bad boss.
With so many people heading toward the exit these days that’s a whole lotta bad bosses.
Why is that? What’s the impact? And what can organizations do about it?
Let’s start with the why.
47% of new leaders do not receive any leadership training.
People are often promoted to leadership roles as a reward for their individual performance or company loyalty rather than because they demonstrate the personal qualities that will help them develop into effective leaders.
All too often new leaders are put in a “sink or swim” situation – thrown into the deep end of leading a team and left to figure out for themselves how to stay afloat. Without leadership development early in their transition from individual performer to leader, new leaders may simply mimic the behaviors of a leader they’ve had in the past, and not necessarily a good one.
Research shows that the bulk of leadership development dollars are spent on senior leadership development. Yet by the time leaders reach that stage any bad habits developed over the years (or modeled after other bad leaders) are ingrained and difficult to correct.
What’s the impact?
It costs one and a half to two times an employee’s salary to replace them.
The tangible costs include recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and training the new employee. Add to that the intangible costs of decreased productivity, revenue loss, customer attrition, knowledge loss, and lowered morale of those left behind (who often have to pick up the slack).
What can organizations do about it?
Train your new leaders! Teams that have talented managers realize a 48% increase in profitability, a 22% increase in productivity, and a 30% increase in employee engagement scores (Gallup).
New leader training needs to be a key component of every organization’s learning and development plan. And it needs to give participants time to apply their learning, receive feedback, and get the ongoing support necessary (mentoring, coaching) to grow into the next line of senior leaders and executives.
Build and nurture a strong culture with clear values, open communication, and growth opportunities.
And be sure that every employee feels valued, connected, challenged, and recognized.
Till next time, keep it real.
Karen
