I’ve recently been asked to speak at a 2-day event in Dallas at an event called “Retention Summit” and I’ve been asked to specifically cover two aspects of “retention” 1) Customer retention and 2) Employee retention.
The process of preparing for this talk really got me thinking about the intriguing dynamic we all face when it comes to employee retention. In a sort of “counterintuitive” situation, we find ourselves striving for 2 things at once that at first glance seem like they co-exist……
Can one really achieve both “Extreme Accountability/productivity” AND “Employee Happiness and retention” at the same time?
When one conjures up an image of the typical corporate team-building event, most of what we are shown is a sort of “happy camp”. It Is my experience that a “happy camp” culture is not always a guarantee of a high-performing team that achieves great things or makes an impact.
Great leaders Call BS!
I’m currently watching the documentary called “Chasing The Sun” which follows the South African rugby team during their successful defence of their World Cup title in France in 2023.
In the film we get an intriguing behind the scenes look at many of the team meetings and half time talks. One particular scene gave me much to think about.
After an intense quarter final that would see South Africa beat the tournament hosts, and arguably the tournament favourites France, South Africa would find themselves playing England in the semi-finals.
Most didn’t give England a chance as their pre tournament form left much to be desired and yet at half time South Africa found themselves behind and being outplayed in just about every facet of the game. Things looked ominous for South Africa and the odds of them exiting the tournament looked likely.
In a behind the scenes video clip of the half time speech, I witnessed the most amazing thing. No “any given Sunday” motivational speech, no words of wisdom, no praise nor “you can do it” but rather just the blatant and hard to hear truth.
I’m paraphrasing, but in short, it went like this.
“Before the game, you all gave me your word that you would play as if this was the last game EVER together as a group and you gave me your word that this would be your best effort of your life that you would run harder, tackle harder and scrum harder than your opponents ….. BUT YOU ALL F***EN LIED!”
Do yourself a favour and google the clip. It gave me goosebumps. Grown men looking at the floor not being able to maintain eye contact. While they may not have purposefully set out to deceive anyone, the coach was right, they had not done what they said they would and their leadership was not going to let that go unsaid.
Imagine having that trust within your team!
It’s not about what he said that struck a chord with me. It’s in that the leader of that team had developed an environment of so much trust that almost anything could be said.
There were no excuses given, nobody walked out or quit.
If nothing else you should recognise one thing from this story and it’s that the best performing and healthiest teams mess up and also argue/get called on their BS.
So if you haven’t had ANY arguments or had to call anyone for their lack of performance then you are simply not leading. Abdication of any “hard truths” is your modus operandi.
Business, teams, and leadership are not a “happy camp” with everyone telling each other how wonderful they are. There are real consequences, jobs, rent, and people’s lives that we serve at stake. That’s serious stuff and should be taken seriously.
The Right People Not the Best People!
One of the simple mottos of the Springbok team is that the coach feels quite comfortable saying that you could be the best player but if a player shows more heart, and attitude and puts the team first they stand the best chance at maintaining their spot.
In a business context that looks like you surrounding yourself with people who are open to receiving feedback and LOTS of it. The best sports teams on the planet sit around a tv after EVERY GAME and analyse their performance, yet employees and owners alike think that it’s “below them” to do the same.
While we may not all have the courage to be as direct as that coach, we should strive to foster a culture where team members feel comfortable addressing issues head-on. True teamwork involves holding each other accountable and pushing one another to strive for “better”.
I can’t tell you how many times someone complains about their team meetings being a waste of time because nobody does what they said they would when reviewing their “to-do’s” and commitments set in the previous meeting.
That’s on YOU not on them. You train your team how to behave and if you haven’t cultivated an environment where it’s totally acceptable and expected to question why things are “not done” then it’s on you. That may sound harsh but it’s the truth. This is my “half-time England speech” to you. 🙂
“You said you would do it .. but you didn’t, Explain?”
So, ask yourself this: do you have the ability to rally your team with tough love? If not, it may be a sign that trust within your team needs to be strengthened. Remember, a company is not a family – it’s a team. In teams, performance is required to maintain your “position”.
Have you simply stopped expecting performance and started rewarding “turning up” over actual productivity?
Kamikaze Pilot Warning – DON’T BE ONE!
I know there is someone that’s reading this that is fuming right now. A realisation that you let the standards slip and you’re eager to correct the status quo but, you can’t expect them to all of a sudden behave differently when you’ve accepted a certain behaviour for a long time. You’re going to have to “turn the ship around” slowly by first having an honest conversation with the existing team (probably one on one) and understand that there will almost certainly be some “fallout”. People hate changes and raising standards when there have previously been “low standards” is quite a change.
The single biggest advice I can give you from this article is that raising standards in an existing team will have to be done gradually but one need not take the same approach with new recruits
When hiring, be extreme with your expectations expressed from the start, in the interview process already, and give IMMEDIATE and fast feedback for everything that you see that is not EXACTLY the way you want it.
THAT’S THE ONLY WAY .. Immediate and unfiltered before behaviour sets in.
But you MUST set context correctly first, that that is how you run your ship BEFORE they join your team, and ask them if they not only think that they can handle it but think that that’s a place that they can be happy. Then actually follow through.
Flip the table moments
Every organisation needs an re-alignment of values and standards at times. Even the South African rugby team (World Cup champions and currently number 1 ranked team in the world) needed it. I call these flip the table moments. Of course, one must maintain some form of decorum and these can be effective without screaming and shouting and using profanity … but they MUST be direct and more often than not “awkward”.
What’s the point?
The why is important. If you don’t have a big mission or vision or goal and you don’t want to serve a lot of people at a high standard and aim to not only change your clients lives, but your own, then, by all means, accept mediocrity. If on the other hand, you want an exceptional practice and life then you’re definitely going to have to have some difficult, direct conversations. That’s the “price” you pay for being a leader in a high-performing team. Direct, and often awkward, difficult to give feedback is part and parcel of the “job”. You’re not going to escape that so stop trying.
Take back control of your “ship” for you are the captain and nobody is coming to save you.
Love and light
Ryan
