Employee Retention? Not a Problem When Training Your Leaders

Seattle, WA - September 2, 2007 - Attracting and retaining employees is a topic of endless articles, conference sessions, books and Webcasts, as well as the basis – the "raison d'eªtre" – for numerous product launches. Yet retaining talented employees, while requiring effort and focus, may not be such a dilemma, according to Impact Achievement Group.

Superior management practices and effective leadership are key missing ingredients in many organizations, evident in the many organizations that Rick Tate and Julie White, PhD., senior managing partners for the leadership development firm, have consulted with through the years.

Companies giving low priority to developing leaders may eventually realize a domino effect through the organization in terms of retention. Recent research by Gallup™ has shown that competitive pay, benefits, and amenities are the market ante for any employee – superior, mediocre and poor performers. But according to Tate and White, how long people stay and how well they perform is determined in large part by their personal and professional relationships with their immediate supervisors.

"The exodus of talented individuals to other companies for positions with only a modest increase in pay or benefits is a compelling question," said Tate. "Why leave when there's not that much gain? Ultimately, it's because people don't leave companies – they leave managers." So when companies invest in developing competent leaders, they are aiming a direct salvo in the war for talented and committed employees.

Tate should know. He and White have been consulting and speaking for over two decades on the topic of leadership development, service quality, performance management, customer loyalty and communication aimed at solving problems.

Impact Achievement Group offers some real world advice for companies: The quality of your managers defines your company. Do they conduct purposeful workplace discussions, effectively problem solve, create an environment which engages discretionary effort, and is their behavior aligned with the organizational values?, Do your managers ensure people have the opportunity to do their best, listen to the opinions of direct reports and do they hold people accountable to performance standards? And importantly, do they have a passion for leading others?

Leaders must understand what high performing direct reports demand from their work environment to engage their best efforts and loyalty:

* Clearly communicated job requirements, focused on contributions instead of job tasks
* Resources to do their best work
* Ability to meaningfully participate it what affects them on the job
* Genuine acknowledgement of their contributions
* Genuine concern for their career
* A performance review process that differentiates excellence

Impact Achievement Group, www.impactachievement.com, is a training and performance management consulting company that provides assessments, coaching, story-based interactive workshops, and simulations for managers at all levels of the organization. Impact Achievement Group helps companies dramatically improve leadership and management competency for bottom-line results. Company experts and co-authors of "People Leave Managers…Not Organizations", Rick Tate and Julie White, Ph.D. are internationally recognized authorities in leadership development, human performance, service quality and communications.

Contact:
Lee Klepinger
888/248-5553
leek(at)impactachievement.com

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