How critical are leadership skills in the employee retention equation?
The answer, it turns out, is they’re extremely important. Forbes added some timely context on the profound effects of leadership skills on a workforce in a recent article:
You’ve heard it before — people don’t quit jobs. They quit managers. Poor leadership may burn down company morale and team productivity, but it also lights a fire under fed-up professionals who are fleeing toxic workplaces and bad bosses. Even one toxic boss can destroy trust in the entire leadership team and have workers updating their resumes on their lunch breaks.
That’s a powerful statement!
This post will discuss four leadership skills that are essential to keeping your people and teams engaged and motivated to succeed. Everyday tasks like active listening, focusing on employee strengths, and recognizing a job well done will result from exceptional leadership skills.
Practicing these acquired skills will keep employees engaged, motivated, and feeling appreciated. That’s good for employee retention, and loyal, motivated employees are always good for business.
Our team can also help you with all of your recruiting and staffing needs, from direct hire to contract workers, temp to hire, and everything in between. Call us today at 908-964-7575.
So let’s get started with the four crucial leadership qualities to instill in your leadership teams at all levels of the business.
Excellent communication skills are at the foundation.
Leaders must practice straightforward, candid, bi-directional communications.
The quality and effectiveness of executive-level communications will set the tone for the rest of your organization. The use of appropriate communication channels should be understood, documented, and practiced by every employee.
With the various communication channels available, like Slack, email, text, video, chat, phone, etc., the world of corporate communications can get confusing for companies and their customers.
Starting at the executive level, it’s essential that every employee knows which communication channels are appropriate for which types of communication. And this always depends on the tone, purpose, and intention of the communication.
When every employee is comfortable communicating at all levels of your business, your people and teams will be more engaged. And that’s always good for employee retention.
Courage and integrity under fire are must-haves.
The old saying, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” applies to business leaders. Real courage and integrity are really just opposite sides of the same coin.
HR professionals and hiring managers know that good leaders thrive and poor leaders crack under pressure.
Pressure in many forms can impact leaders. These include sales and production quotas, filling open jobs, difficult, complex goals and deadlines, and personal circumstances. Great leaders will always be available, honest, and communicative with their teams and superiors when they’re under pressure to perform.
A good leader is equally respected by their team and their superiors. And respect gives rise to loyalty and longevity.
Good leaders demonstrate accountability and personal responsibility in the workplace.
These two qualities should be integral components in every corporate culture. Leaders can only expect their teams to be motivated, engaged, and accepting of individual responsibilities and duties if leadership acts the same way.
What is accountability in the workplace? It’s taking credit where credit is due, for both good and bad circumstances and outcomes. And personal responsibility is taking action based on accountability.
These two qualities are contagious and inspirational for employees.
Exceptional leaders will have credibility with their teams and other leaders.
So far, we’ve discussed three leadership skills inherent in great leaders—excellent communications skills, integrity and courage under fire, and accountability and personal responsibility.
These characteristics will engender credibility across the entire spectrum of the workforce when practiced consistently. Your leadership characteristics will form the foundations of a positive, well-respected, and admired corporate culture.
And an excellent corporate culture will attract and retain talent.
Could you use some assistance recruiting the best available talent in this challenging hiring market?
A laser-focused recruiting firm can streamline the hiring process by helping you find that critical group of candidates to interview from a diverse hiring pool.
The recruitment team at Patel is highly tenured, trained, and experienced in competitive sourcing (passive candidates), reference recruiting, and networking. We meticulously place the right candidate whenever we engage with a client to fill a direct-hire, temporary, temp-to-hire, or contract position.
Are you a hiring manager or human resources professional with a job search or searches underway? Are you looking for workforce management solutions?
Maybe you just have questions about how we can help you with your staffing needs.
At Patel Consultants, we help clients like you find that perfect candidate every day!
Contact Us Today!
Call us today at 908-964-7575, or get in touch online. Our expert recruiters are waiting for your call.
