Why Are They Leaving?

In a 2022 study by Flexjobs, looking at the reasons over 2000 individuals quit their jobs, they found that toxic company culture was at the head of the list. A company’s culture is simply the collective personality and value structures of the leaders represented in the workplace. We talk about culture as if it is something that simply happens, but it isn’t. The result of repeated experiences with leaders, managers, and supervisors forms an emotional reaction to the organization.

Toxic cultures often happen when we don’t train our people up to lead in a positive and effective manner. Without a leadership framework, or a common model for how we handle people issues, toxic cultures creap in. The framework includes aspects of how we connect, correct, direct, and project our teams forward. The following is a breakout of the skills involved in each of those four areas.

• Connect
  * Appreciating Diversity — By understanding why people are who they are and embracing the diversity of thoughts they bring to the table, we create an environment that is truly inclusive.
  * Motivating Our People — By creating motivational models that help people discover their strengths and put them to work regularly, people naturally motivate themselves toward success
  * Authentic Communication — By mastering the skills of setting clear expectations (a lack of this is the 2nd leading cause of disengagement) and reflective listening (a lack of this is tied directly to toxic cultures), we create a pathway to fulfillment and engagement for our people.
• Correct
  * Coaching For Performance — Coaching others toward success is an everyday requirement for those who wish to be great leaders. It is about setting expectations, observing behaviors and outcomes while staying tuned in to your people, following a 2-part model for creating accountability, and teaching them to take charge of their future success.
  * Conflict Resolution — Conflict often escalates for two reasons. Either the leader attempts to ignore problems in hopes they will go away or they address problems in a way that makes it personal. A behavior-based framework for resolving conflicts creates the highest likelihood of success.
  * Corrective Counseling — When a person does not change or continuously repeats their past mistakes, a stronger form of behavioral correction becomes necessary. There is a specific 3-part model for creating internal accountability in employees. The moment a person accepts responsibility for their life, they have gained the power to change it.
• Direct
  * Goal Setting and Tracking — Less than 5% of individuals set trackable goals in their lives. Roughly the same percentage of businesses do. This explains why only 4%, or roughly 17,000 businesses in the U.S. are at the 50 million a year mark in revenue. Goals are the basis for thinking through the challenges we face and the guide for fulfilling the purpose of the organization.
  * Problem Solving — Most problems are solved incorrectly because people get in a hurry to get to the answer. By using research methods that unlock the root cause of a problem, we can clearly identify the gap between where we are and where we want to be. Then, the framework for creating the problem-resolution plan can come into focus.
  * Decision-Making — As we navigate the goals, problems, and opportunities in front of us, we desperately need a framework for making decisions that will keep us on track for our values, mission, and vision. This framework ensures that a company never compromises on who they were founded to be.
• Project
  * Building High Performance Teams — More than 80% of teams within U.S. companies are stuck in a conflict loop that is preventing them from achieving the success they desire. By understanding how to lead your teams through the key stages of team growth, good companies become great, and profits increase by as much as 20X, according to research by Jim Collins.
  * Ethics, Values, and Culture — The ethos of a company is the nervous system of the culture. The values that guide the nervous system ensure that it stays functional and productive. By mastering the models of ethical leadership, our values and overall leadership personality will lead to an engaging culture. Great cultures keep great people. Toxic cultures keep toxic people.
  * Priority Management — Ultimately, the success of a leadership team will be rooted in their ability to keep the wrong things out of their way, making room for the things that truly matter. When we manage priorities, we have time for the things that mean the most.

I have been teaching these 12 skills since 2002 and have found that every culture gets better with the mastery of these skills. When the culture improves, so do engagement and retention. When those things improve, overall employee performance rises sharply resulting in significant increases in profits. Though all of this is incredibly logical, there are still people in charge who refuse to develop the leadership skills of their people, simply because they don’t think it is important. Over the next decade, with the significant changes coming to the U.S. workforce, those who do not invest in their leaders will be left behind. Build your frameworks of success with your people now!