Are You Forcing Your Employees To Quit?
The boss is never wrong. His/her decisions are right and for all the obvious reasons; he knows better, he has the experience and he was put in charge because he’s the best qualified person the company has. Come on now, you know that’s B.S.!
More great employees were “forced” to quit because of the failure of leadership than for any other reason.
What I mean by “forced to quit” is that they were put in a position where their efforts were in vain. Their belief was that quitting is better than staying at a job/company where they have no future. At least not if they wish to be an integral part of the business.
Sure, if they wanted to stay in their entry level position where little is expected of them, they may ultimately retire from the firm. But since they have ambition and strive to be better, they joined the ranks of management. They hope and expect their service and knowledge will help grow the company.
Boy, were they wrong.
Micromanage
You did many things well years ago. You hired the best and provided the training for them to be a positive force within the company. Soon they mastered their job and became be the leader you asked them to be. Then you squashed their initiative by micromanaging them.
You can’t helicopter-in every few weeks and then dictate how procedures are done.
Do you know the challenges they face daily and why they do as they do? Oh, you don’t? Guess you didn’t want to micromanage that part, did you?
Steal the Spotlight
Believe it or not, the business is not you. The business is your employees and how successfully they interact with and provide service to your customers. Your customers are your business. Without them all your bright ideas are meaningless.
Oh, you don’t? Why, because it didn’t come from you? Are you so vain that you are unwilling to identify the employee who has come up with a new and improved procedure or process? What a shame…
You Don’t Provide the Tools
Tools to do their job consists of more than just office supplies. Why are you consistently understaffed in many areas? Why do you not reinvest your capital funds in equipment needed for your employees to perform better and more efficiently?
Your customers should shop in an environment as clean and hazard-free as possible. But that doesn’t happen. How can you expect your business to be long-lasting and successful without this?
Show Favoritism
The days of the “teacher’s pet” are long gone; today’s Human Resources Departments have usually taken care of that. But you still don’t manage equally.
New projects get funded while the bread and butter operations still suffer with faulty equipment or lack of staff. Because they are willing to take a chance and try something different you hand down punishment to those eager to go above and beyond.
But the constant poor performers and under achievers go unnoticed. They are treated as nothing more than a departmental cog and little is expected of them.
Too Many Meetings
You can’t hold people accountable when they spend most of their time in meetings and taken away from their primary responsibility of managing their departments.
Meeting after meeting comes and goes and still there is no difference. What do you even talk about at these meetings? How can you, the boss, allow your employees to sit in a room for 30–60 minutes every few days without an expectation that hard and fast changes or improvements will be acted upon based on what was just discussed?
Wonder why people always come late to your meetings?
Culture of Mediocrity
“Good enough” has never been good enough. But you seem to be alright with that. Yet, you state your intentions, no, your expectations, that everything must be perfect at all times but do little to make that happen.
Products or departments that have carried your business for years go unnoticed. Standards are loosely kept while you chase the latest fad. Employee concerns fall on deaf ears time and time again but you promote your pet projects above all else.
Little oversight and supervision leads to complacency. Complacency leads to apathy. Apathy leads to chaos. Is this what the founders intended, or expected of you? I assume not.
Why should your employees care when it seems you don’t?
Morale
So much is written about creating great employee morale. We read about it in most business journals and on countless websites. New startups build their businesses around effective employee morale and work environment. Can they all be wrong?
You don’t hire the best. You manage through intimidation. You don’t provide an adequate work/life balance. Your communication skills are poor and you fail to see the failures.
Why should someone work for you?
A business must understand that a “business” is more than just the physical plant/building or the product it produces. It’s the people that make a business. But apparently you don’t realize this.
You’d rather treat your company like the neighborhood playground where you rule supreme. You get to go on the swing first, you pick the teams, you cast out those not part of the clique. And you wonder why business is bad or your employees quit. You created an atmosphere where no one can be successful or appreciated.
Look at the customer service leaders of today; Zappos, Amazon, Southwest Airlines, Ritz Carlton, et al.
Their products are not much different than the scores of others they are in competition with. But something IS different.
They value their employees and provide them with the tools needed to be successful. Employees are treated equally and allowed to work without the heavy hand of senior management. They rejoice in employee achievements and create a culture of caring.
Can you compete with those who operate like that? I doubt it.
So why do you force your employees to quit?
