Invest in Your People & Develop Loyalty

Leaders, have you ever heard this?

“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough, so they don’t want to.”

Most leaders have heard something along the lines of this Richard Branson quote. And I would guess that all leaders believe that an investment in their people develops loyalty. However, I would also guess that most leaders do not intentionally live out this quote daily.

Why is this the case?

I do not believe that it is done on purpose, much less maliciously. Still, people tend to be disengaged or quit because of their boss or how the boss designs their position.

The Harvard Business Review just completed a study that showed employees leave a job because of three main issues:

• Their job was not enjoyable

• Their strengths were not being used

• They were not growing in their careers

And even though employees may not cite their leader as the reason they left the job, these issues fall upon the shoulders of leaders. This is how leaders invest in their people – by paying attention to how they design their employee’s work—most companies and leaders design jobs and then slot people into them. The best leaders sometimes do the opposite: when you find talented people, be open to creating roles and responsibilities that best fit them.

Leaders, this is how to invest in your team members:

1. Craft Jobs with Enjoyment in Mind

   Passion is the foundation of professional success. People need to care about what they spend most of their waking hours doing. Without passion for the work, people become burnt out, disengaged, and then leave.

   Leaders can play a significant role in designing motivating and meaningful jobs. The best leaders go above and beyond to help their team members do work they enjoy. However, leaders usually do not know enough about what work people enjoy. They wait too long to ask. Get to know your team members early and ask about their favorite projects, times when they feel most energized, and times they’ve been completely immersed in their jobs. Take that knowledge and provide more of those opportunities.

2. Make Strengths the Center of the Work

   No one likes doing work for which they are not suited, prepared, or gifted. When people work in their areas of strength, it is exciting and creates the passion discussed previously. And it also leads to results.

   Leaders create opportunities for people to utilize their strengths. If you have someone gifted at communication and connecting with others, do not have them working in isolation. Think outside the box and create new roles or shift responsibilities to make the best use of your team’s talents.

3. Provide Opportunity to Grow, Personally & Professionally

   Too often, opportunities at work come with a personal tradeoff. The special project or promotion takes time away from our families. If leaders have that type of expectation from their people, no loyalty is established.

Leaders can find ways to support their team and prioritize personal development and wellness. Leaders who give this kind of support find that their team members deliver and stay longer. Because they’re proud of where they work and they feel valued by who they work for.

It is not always easy to figure out how to invest in team members. It is up to leaders to design jobs that are too good to leave. Great leaders protect their employees from toxicity, burnout, and frustration. They ask questions, listen to answers, and learn about their people. Using that information, they open doors to meaningful tasks and learning opportunities. Leaders enable their people to be energized by their projects, to perform at their best, and to move forward professionally without taking steps backward at home.

When you have a leader who cares about your happiness and success, your career, and your life, you end up with a better job, and it’s hard to imagine working anywhere else.

For more on DREAM4 and its impact on organizational wellbeing and leadership development, please schedule a call today.