Is Your Poor Leadership Contributing to Employee Turnover?

It's easy to attribute high turnover rates and problem employees to a lousy economy or poor hiring decisions. But what if there's something else at play? What if it's also a top-down problem?

There's a lot of truth to the saying, “People don't leave jobs, they leave managers.” Gallup's State of the American Manager survey revealed that half of working Americans have left a job to get away from a boss at least once in their careers. 

The survey also revealed a cascade effect. “Employees' engagement is directly influenced by their manager's engagement—whose engagement is directly influenced by their manager's engagement.” In other words, as the owner-operator of the company, your behavior and engagement level can drastically alter the behavior of your team members at all levels. 

Your actions determine your company's culture. If you want a staff of honest, hardworking, and reliable employees, it's imperative that you serve as a role model for those behaviors.

Poor Leadership Creating Employee Turnover?

Tired of Poor Leadership in Your Company? 

Make sure you're taking these steps to become a better leader.

Be There From the Start

A large portion of employee turnover is directly related to a lack of job training. With the cleaning industry seeing turnover rates of 200% to 300%, you want to do everything you can to keep your good hires happy with the company. 

Make sure your employees know what's expected of them and what they can expect of you from Day One. An effective onboarding process gives new hires time to ask questions, familiarize themselves with the workplace, and understand your policies before they start day-to-day tasks. A good leader is there to help new hires understand their role and welcome them to the team.

Set Clear and Reasonable Expectations

When you delegate tasks, make sure your employees understand what's expected of them. Use the “Tell, Show, Do, Review” training method. Make sure your instructions are clear and understood before leaving employees to do the work alone.

Tell them clearly what needs to be done.
Show them how to do the job effectively.
Give the trainee a chance to do the task with your supervision.
Review anything they miss and praise a job well done. 

Make yourself available to answer questions whenever possible, and provide retraining as needed. One of the best ways to build trust with your staff is to show you're willing to help out when they need it.

Give Your Staff Opportunities to Learn and Grow

Part of leading a great team of employees is thinking ahead at how your team will change over time. It's unreasonable to assume that all of your cleaning technicians will want to be technicians forever. As a strong leader, you must consider how you want to build your leadership team as your company grows and your current managers retire, change jobs, or are promoted. 

Nurture the high-potential employees you know are destined to become great leaders. Make it clear you want to see your employees succeed. According to the Gallup survey, if you ask 10 people, only three would say they enjoy going to work every day. Make sure you're doing what you can to make sure your employees would be one of the three.

Look at the Big Picture

You're the ultimate decision-maker at your company. Too often, business owners get so caught up in day-to-day tasks that they fail to implement long-term plans. Take a step back at least a couple of times a year to ask yourself whether you're making choices that give your business room to grow.

Most owners enjoy thinking outside the box and consider themselves creative people. In your business, are you taking advantage of the entrepreneurial spirit that drove you to create your own cleaning company?

Make the Workplace as Enjoyable as Possible

The most productive employees are those who have fun at work. Your staff likely have a wide range of talents, interests, and experiences. Celebrate those differences and provide opportunities for people to get to know each other. One of the quickest ways to lose your team's respect is to show them you don't care about who they are outside of work.

Jump in to Solve Problems

Life in the residential cleaning world isn't always glamorous. When things get messy—literally—a poor leader might push the tough tasks onto someone lower on the organizational chart. 

You don't need to pick up a spray bottle every time your technicians run into a bigger-than-expected cleaning job. But as a leader, it's important to show you're there to help when problems arise. For some, it may mean you'll be cleaning on days you thought you'd have time for administrative tasks. At the end of the day, however, a good leader makes sure their team knows they'll always have the support they need.

Remember What Motivates Your Team

Employees' motivation is largely dependent on their supervisors' behaviors. When employees work with a leader who appreciates their hard work and includes them in the decision-making process, they feel invested in the company's future. People love opportunities to learn new things and grow their skill set. 

Provide your great employees opportunities to better themselves (within the company) and they'll have fewer reasons to seek out positions with the competition. Ongoing training and regular positive feedback are easy ways to ensure your staff are excited to move forward with your company.

A good leader is a role model for their employees.

If you regularly cut corners, take two-hour lunch breaks, and frequently play the blame game, your staff will assume it's okay for them to do the same. On the flip-side, when you show that you value teamwork, your staff will take more opportunities to work together to problem solve.

Your team is looking to you, their leader, for guidance. Make sure they're seeing your best qualities.