As you try to put together a highly functioning team, turnover will be a challenge. Some of my best teams had the highest turnover. Why? Because they were great people and great people are always in demand. When I was trying to build a team, I poached people and you can expect the same. So who’s in demand and how can you retain them?
Junior staff are the most easily poached. Think back to the beginning of your career; changing jobs was vital to increasing your salary and getting more responsibility. So clearly those are your challenges as a team leader. More responsibility is easier to manage. I’m a big believer in giving people a challenge and letting them succeed or fail without micromanaging the process. Almost all of my people have responded well, those that haven’t are probably better off elsewhere. The pay side is tougher. There are a couple challenges here, timing and internal limitations. Most companies I’ve worked for adjust pay once a year. Your junior staff may be expecting more. Make your own Millennial joke here, but I don’t blame them. The job market moves quickly and they have plenty of options. You can assume they get pinged on Linkedin at least once a month. There isn’t much you can do if your company policy dictates only an annual process. But you should be showing the love the best you can through dinner, drinks, and a few extra days off. These apply to all title bands.
Mid-career staff are generally looking for career progression. Or at least the good ones. It’s a challenge because each org only has so much room at the top. Money is still important (to us all) but liking the function and the day to day is important here. You can do a lot in this space by giving authority. Yes, that means you need to back off a bit. By this point, you should have established a culture. Let that culture do the work for you. I’m on the record about thinking year end reviews are bullshit. But that means that you should be giving feedback in other more meaningful, less formal ways. A quarterly lunch, where the goal is friendly banter with a little feedback mixed in goes a long way here. Your mid-career staff aren’t looking to bounce around job to job. Don’t give them a reason.
Finally, your most senior folks. Each one of these people should want your job. That’s a good thing. Once they are near the top of the career ladder they are looking for control (and yes, still money). Depending on the size of the org, you should be able to give them major groups to run. If you are in a smaller org, these people have probably already left looking for a job that can satisfy their ambition. Time to look at your own career goals here. Have you been in seat 5 years or more? Why haven’t you moved up to make room for your stars?
Remember, function titles don’t equal love to your people. You can call someone “lead chief director” of something and it’s usually just a way to tell them you can’t give them more money or responsibility. Time to get creative. You know your people. Tailor your approach to the person and you have a much better chance at retaining them.