Keeping Valued Team Members

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RuthBlack

Keep valued team members sweet.

Which members of your team would you miss most if they left tomorrow? And what makes them so valuable?

Chances are, they've been there long enough to know exactly how the organization works. Highly competent at what they do, efficient, organized and with excellent soft skills, they know who to talk to in other departments to solve major problems. As such, they're the "go to people" whenever things get difficult.

When you've got these kind of people around, your team achieves more – not only through their direct contribution, but because they set the standard in attitude, behavior and results for everyone else. As a manager, you really want to keep these valued players happy, so that your team continues to benefit from their exceptional performance.

But what if you notice signs that some of your leading people may feel that their futures lie elsewhere? If you get to the point where you receive their resignations, your team will likely be in trouble. Just a few of the consequences are loss of knowledge, disruption, lower collective morale, and the time and effort wasted recruiting and training replacements. All in all, it might take months – or years – to rebuild your team.

Understanding how to handle this sort of situation, or even better, being able to avoid it happening in the first place, is critical to keeping valued team members happy, effective and engaged.

This article helps you to recognize and avoid the issues that might push a team member to leave. Use our step-by-step approach to help avoid potential pitfalls, so that you can continue to get the best from your team's star players.

Step 1: Identify the Warning Signs

The sooner that you detect that someone might be thinking of leaving, the better chance you have of changing their mind. This is why you should always be on the look-out for significant changes in the behavior of your members of your team.

The kind of signs that you might need to be concerned about include:

• Impatience, either with people or tasks.
• Disengagement from the team, perhaps by being "absent" mentally, or using increased sick leave.
• The venting of negative feelings in "water cooler conversations".

Be aware that any change in behavior may be significant when it comes to making sure that valued team members are happy. In some cases, a seemingly positive change may be just as much of a warning sign as an obviously negative one. For example, a team member whose productivity suddenly increases may perhaps see this as a way of impressing a potential new boss in another department, or she may be anxious to leave with a clear desk and conscience.

Similarly, a colleague who used to stay focused on his work, but who begins to chat at colleagues' desks, may be avoiding doing work that he no longer enjoys.

There's no need to become cynical about such changes, but do consider them in the context of that team-member's performance and behavior. Then you can decide the best way to sustain that person's contribution to the team.

Step 2: Understand Possible Problems

Of course, it can often be difficult to link the symptoms of unhappiness with their underlying causes. For example, one team member may withdraw from office chit-chat because she feels overworked. Another with the same problem – feeling overworked – might take refuge in muttered discussions at the coffee machine.

However, there are several tools that can help you understand why someone might want to leave a job...