Retention! Part Three – Attention

One of my earliest blogs from 2011 was entitled “Falling in Love.”  It wasn’t about actually falling in love with your employees!  It was about the power of paying attention to the needs of the individuals who work for you – like you would for someone you cared about.  Four years later, with a more robust economy and lots of job movement, this is more important then ever.  So I bring you once again the story of Kevin and Susan.*

Kevin was a star performer.  Susan, his manager, believed your best folks want to be left alone.  At the start of the year, Susan and Kevin set goals and priorities and then she let him decide how to reach them, which Kevin appreciated.  Since Kevin was proactive about coming to her if he needed anything, Susan often cancelled their bi-weekly 1:1 meetings.  She thought her time would be better spent with some of his peers who were struggling.  She also figured he knew how much she appreciated him (he’d gotten a promotion) so she kept her positive feedback to a minimum.  Why embarrass him with too much praise?  She certainly didn’t want him to leave his current role so she avoided career development conversations. 

Kevin kept on producing, but one day he showed up with a job offer from a competitor.  He was leaving, and it wasn’t all about the money.  It was about  noticing the great work he was doing, honoring scheduled meetings, being curious about his career goals.  In other words, it was about the attention. 

*Names changed