“People join companies, but they leave managers.”

Do you have turnover trouble?  If you are all too often losing good people then you have a leadership problem.  Come to think of it, if you are losing bad people then you have a leadership problem as well: you’re not hiring well, mentoring well or firing well.

But if you just can’t seem to keep good people then you need to look at your leadership, or that of your key leaders.  Good people leave because they either see a lack of leadership, or poor leadership.  Sure, there are certainly times when good people leave for a wide range of “good” reasons, but I am talking about a frequent loss of good people.

If a leader is going to do everything he or she can to hire, grow and retain good people, then that leader must understand their roles as a leader.  There are 3 critical roles leaders must fulfill:  Mentor, Measure and Motivate.

Most leaders, I have found, tend to have a natural propensity toward one of these three roles.  Whatever your strength is lead in it, but make sure you are fulfilling the other two roles as well.

Mentoring involves ensuring that every employee understands their role, responsibilities, rights, performance expectations, and the program for their personal growth, development and advancement.  The Mentoring role of a leader is like a coach on a sports team.  The coach drafts the player.  The coach knows that player will not be perfect, or perfectly fit within the current team, so they coach them into their role as a high performer.

The Mentoring role of a leaders helps the employee to understand their “position” on the team, and how they fit in with the rest of the team.  The Mentoring role of the leader also involves ensuring there are appropriate “practice” sessions and programs to empower and equip that employee to grow their talent, and advance in their career.

And, a good leader clearly communicates the performance standards expected of that employee and how they can achieve those standards.

The Measuring role of the leader ensures that everyone on the team knows how you keep score.  How do you define success?  AKA, what does winning look like?  What are the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for individuals, departments and the entire organization?  AKA, how do they score points?  What are your goals and objectives?

If leaders do not clearly identify KPIs for the employees and for the company, it’s like target practice without targets – what are we shooting at?  It’s like captaining a ship with no rudder.  Where are we going?  We are just drifting along and letting the business environment take us wherever it wills, and that is often not a good place.  How do you know if you have arrived if you never determined your destination?

The Measuring role requires the leader to hold their people accountable to predetermined and pre-agreed upon standards of execution.  A leader needs to be able to clearly communicate to each member of their team how they are doing – both quantitatively and qualitatively.

The Motivating role of a leader involves encouraging, exhorting, and inspiring your people.  Leaders must continually remind their people who they are, why they are hear, where they are going, and how they are going to get there.  Often the metaphor that comes to mind is that of a cheerleader.  I don’t really think that does the role justice.

The Motivating role of a leader is more like the standard bearer rallying the cavalry on the field of battle, charging forward reminding everyone what the objective is, why we are doing this, and helping those who may feel overwhelmed by the difficulty of the task at hand.  The Motivating role is all about rallying the troops/players to wholeheartedly charge into their roles and responsibilities knowing the importance of what they do in the overall picture.

Every employee needs to understand the importance of their work in the bigger story.  They need to know who they are, and that what they do matters.  And, what your company does matters in the lives of your customers and your communities.

Turnover trouble?  Start to Mentor, Measure and Motivate.