Posted 7 hours ago7 hr comment_9630 According to the latest Gallup State of the Workplace report, employees are seeking new jobs at the highest level since 2015. This trend has been coined “The Great Detachment.” A key reason for this is increasing employee dissatisfaction with management. For instance, Gallup’s research shows that those who work in companies with bad management practices are nearly 60% more likely to be stressed, and stress is the second most-cited factor influencing employees’ decisions to quit. People’s values have also changed post-COVID-19. Employees prioritize well-being. They expect their contribution to be recognized, and if they aren’t valued or supported, they aren’t prepared to tolerate it. The rise of Gen Z in the workplace also needs to be considered. They now make up 27% of the workforce across the 38 high-income countries that make up the OECD. This generation wants to be coached, not directed, and if they don’t feel that they’re progressing or that their employer wants to cultivate them, they’ll simply leave. Yet, management practice has remained unchanged, with managers still using outdated and clunky methods unsuited to today’s workplace. Managers are ill-equipped to give feedback and handle challenging conversations in this rapidly changing work environment and consequently default to directing employees rather than enabling them. Companies need to upskill their middle managers urgently to keep employees engaged and stop hemorrhaging talent. After all, talent is critical for success—companies in the top quartile of employee engagement achieve 23% higher profitability than those in the bottom quartile. If you’re losing your top talent to your competitors and suspect poor management may be a cause, here are three things to do: 1. Shift the prevailing management mindset from ‘managing’ to ‘enabling’ Managers are often high-performing employees promoted for their technical strengths rather than their people skills. Their management style is typically “command and control”—simply directing and providing solutions for employees’ problems without engaging their capabilities. This can be incredibly demotivating for employees, signalling their ideas aren’t valued or welcomed. Over time, they lose autonomy over their work and wait for direction from their managers before following their instructions, leading to increased disengagement. Managers urgently need to change their mindset from perceiving themselves as the manager and solver of all problems to becoming the enabler of other people’s talents and capabilities. Affording team members the space to contribute creates opportunities for them to grow and advance. To do this, managers need to adopt an enquiry-led approach by learning to ask powerful and insightful questions that encourage reflection at the point that would be most helpful to someone’s thinking. Instead of asking “why” questions such as “Why did this happen?” shift to asking “what” questions. For instance, “What are the reasons behind this outcome?” or “What could have gone better?” “What” questions remove the personal sting from a “why” question and promote reflection without triggering defensiveness. This simple change signals a shift from being the all-knowing manager to being a supportive enabler, which is beneficial not only for employee growth but also for building an inclusive and collaborative team culture. 2. Give better feedback to stimulate high performance Giving feedback is often associated with challenging conversations, as managers try to share something they want people to change or improve upon. Moving to more intentional, appreciative and developmental feedback can support employee development. Instead of constantly identifying problems or behaviors that need fixing, managers should seek out moments when someone has excelled in a particular situation. Visibly pointing out the skills or behaviors that made a positive difference to outcomes is a great way to build trust and an openness to constructive feedback. It also creates an environment where employees look forward to coming to work and are motivated to build on their strengths and contribute at their best, increasing job satisfaction. 3. Encourage more collaboration within teams Rather than defaulting to a “command and control” style of fixing everyone’s problems, managers must develop their awareness and tune in to coachable moments throughout the day. For example, instead of stepping in to solve every issue brought to them, managers learn to recognise the potential for a better outcome by engaging team members to explore their problem-solving capabilities, giving them the space to suggest ideas and talk them through. They might ask what ideas they’ve thought of themselves that could offer a way forward and explore the steps they would need to take to progress those options. Using a more purposeful approach to asking questions intended to stimulate other people’s thinking in the flow of work has been recognised as an advance in management practice known as Operational Coaching.® Practitioners learning this new approach stop firefighting and instead adapt their management style to engage their team, acknowledge their capabilities, and invite greater collaboration. This demonstrates that employees’ thinking and contributions are valued, increasing employee satisfaction, and managers win back valuable time from not stepping in to every problem. Why these strategies help retain top talent As a result of the behavioral work we were engaged in, we developed the STAR® model to help managers apply these skills in their daily lives. STAR® consists of four steps: STOP – Step back and change state THINK – Is this a coachable moment? ASK – Powerful questions and actively listen RESULT – Agree on next steps and an outcome from the conversation By applying this model, managers can learn to adopt new coaching-style “behaviors” in the moment, enabling them to challenge, support, and grow the capabilities of their team members in ways that measurably benefit both the individual and the organization. When employees feel valued for their contributions, have autonomy in their work, and sense their managers care for their development and advancement, their relationship with work improves. As workplaces evolve, businesses must recognize the need to shift managers from their task-focused mindset to a people-focused mindset. This simple but vital step will help foster an environment that values every employee and ensures that top talent is appreciated, nurtured, and retained. View the full article
