Leaders and managers of an organization are often ill-prepared for their roles. In fact, according to a Career Builder survey cited in a Forbes article, 58% of managers said they didn’t receive any management training at all.
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If leaders across an organization were better prepared for their roles, many organizations wouldn’t experience high employee attrition rates—most employees leave managers and bosses, not organizations.
If you want to improve your employee retention rates this year, consider four things your leaders can do to be better managers listed below.
1. Practice Servant Leadership
Research continues to show that organizations with servant leaders are more successful. Not only do they usually experience higher profit margins and healthier revenue streams, but their employees are also happy and more devoted to their organizations.
Servant leaders are more emotionally intelligent and consider their employees’ and organizations’ concerns. They are also typically less stressed and perform at much higher levels than other managers.
2. Give Employees More Autonomy
Micromanagers are toxic to their workplaces. They stifle their employees’ creativity and ultimately cost their organizations a lot of money—not to mention that their employees have an increased chance of death while working for them.
So, if you want your managers to be more successful in 2019, teach them to offer flexible schedules and work arrangements, and show them the research behind how and why they should allow more employee autonomy. Employees thrive when they are able to make more decisions and have more control over the work they do.
3. Invest in Employee Development
Overall, 80% of working adults want the opportunity to continue learning and challenging themselves, and they expect their employers to offer them these types of opportunities. If you want your organization to be successful, encourage your managers and leaders to take a direct interest in their employees’ career trajectories, growth, and learning, and work with them to create employee career maps.
4. Learn to Better Manage Stress
Nearly 7 in 10 (69%) employees say that their managers’ behavior has increased stress across their workplaces. This has led to such consequences as decreased productivity levels and higher rates of employee absenteeism.
Additional research indicates that workplace stress costs organizations nearly $300 billion annually. As you’re developing better leaders for your organization, make sure that they are learning how to manage their own stress levels so they don’t stress out other employees.
To ensure your managers are the best they can be this year, have them implement the four practices outlined above.