They is quitting, and what to do about it

Over the years my teams have gone through waves of attrition. And typically those waves of attrition hit me like a punch to the gut, because every time they have happened, I was asked to do a dive and catch.

I was asked to try and convince someone to not take a job that they had already accepted. And that’s a tough place to be.

And it sometimes worked, but most often did not.

And even it did, they probably quit within 6 months.

And especially for senior people, their departures at critical phases of a project or business was very disruptive.

So if you get int that situation, what can you offer?

1. Offer more money

2. Offer another title

3. Offer time off

4. Offer a new project.

But the problem with these offers is that you are just buying yourself some time. Whatever underlying issues caused the person to quit will resurface after 6 months.

And what really upset me was that I was always felt they were leaving, not going. That we failed to show them the opportunity and deal with their real legitimate grievances.

So why bother? Because you get six months to figure out, on your terms, what the transition plan should be.

And that brings me to what you actually have to do.

From painful personal experience, I learned that 1×1’s are the best path to ensuring that folks are feeling connected to the organization.

The more 1×1’s you have across the org, the more people are connected to the team, the more you can deal with problems earlier rather than later.

Sometimes people leave, and that’s okay. Change is not a bad thing. But you owe it to your team for them to feel that there was a better opportunity somewhere else, and that they are not fleeing a bad place.

And so in my latest gig we mandated that our teams and leads do 1×1 and report the number of 1×1’s. And our attrition rate dropped to historic lows. Yes, part of it was the awesomeness of the Project Pacific, and our stock price, and part of it was that folks were feeling very connected to the mission as a whole.

And I am doing a lot fewer dive and catches these days….