Something very disturbing will occasionally happen in business. You may have even experienced it yourself …
Really awesome team members quit.
I’m not talking about part-time folks or college kids doing repetitive, entry level tasks. They can easily be replaced.
I am talking about your
… Office Manager of the past nine years (who had been thinking about maybe opening a satellite office or possibly taking over the business when you retired) that just walked out because she reached her breaking point.
… Sales Superstar who had for two years been crushing it writing new business, but didn’t come back from lunch last Thursday.
… Customer Service Champion who spent the last 14 years cultivating relationships and trust with your clients, but put in her notice because she didn’t feel appreciated.
When things like this happen, we must question our actions and attitudes as business owners.
A few things, big things, I’ve noticed which can cause great employees to quit are poor leadership, an overwhelming workload, and lack of promotion/recognition.
Perhaps even more important than the 3 things above is: we must communicate with our team on a regular basis. Doing so will keep us informed about what’s going on daily in our business.
Weekly accountability meetings are a great way to accomplish this. I, and many others, use the 10-10-10 rule for these meeting.
- The first 10 minutes is for your team member. They can use this time to speak about personal and business life and goals. This allows you to really get to know your team members and everything in their life – family, stress, pets and more. You don’t truly know them unless you know what they are going through.
- The next 10 minutes is for you. This is your time to tell your team member about what is going on in your life and express appreciation for the team member.
- In the final 10 minutes you get down to business. Discuss projects/items the team member is currently working on and make sure there are no obstacles holding them back. Talk about the business in general, future projects and set goals for the following week.
Make sure you are paying attention to your team and show them appreciation often.