Recently, a friend confided in me that she’s actively looking for another job. She works for a good company and earns a decent salary, but describes her boss as mean, unreasonable and a pain. And guess what? She’s leaving because she’s had enough of that boss. Her reason for leaving didn’t surprise me.

Why not?

For a long time, it was a widely held belief that employees leave their jobs because of poor pay. Well, recent research findings tell us otherwise. A Gallup poll of more than one million workers established that the number one reason people quit their jobs is a bad boss or immediate supervisor. Gallup wrote in it’s survey findings, “People leave managers not companies…in the end, turnover is mostly a manager issue”.

If a manager treats his employees badly, doesn’t care about them, is incompetent or doesn’t develop them, sooner or later, they’ll leave. They may stick around for a while because they need the pay, but as soon as an opening comes up elsewhere, they’ll leave.

Leadership expert John Maxwell arrived at the same conclusion following years of leading organizations, forming and leading his own companies and studying other great leaders. In his book “Leadership Gold”, he says that leaders would like to think that when people leave, it has little to do with them. The reality however is that the leaders are often the reason. Employees will leave good pay, jobs and companies if they can’t get along with the person in charge.

What does that mean for entrepreneurs and managers? Realize that if you exercise good leadership, morale will be high, productivity will soar and your business will benefit as a result. What does that look like in practical terms?

Under the acronym LCD, I share three things you as a business leader could do for people working with/under you.

Listen to them.

Take time to engage them in conversation and listen – really listen – to them as they express their joys and frustrations about the workplace. You may not be able to do everything they ask of you – and with good reason, you shouldn’t – but learning what is important to them will help you organize priorities.

Care for them.

Value them as individuals with feelings and emotions, ambitions and needs. Take time to find out what’s going on in their private lives. Of course this has to be done within boundaries, but communicate with your actions and words that you care for them beyond their contribution at work. Employees who feel valued are more engaged and perform better.

Develop them.

Is there training that you could send your staff to? Even if your company currently doesn’t have the budget for that, there are alternative methods of developing staff. Coach and mentor them. Give them challenging assignments that will stretch and engage them. Some people don’t develop their employees because they argue that if they invest in staff who then leave, the company will have doubly lost – resources spent on training, and staff who leave. Well, John Maxwell says that it’s better to invest in people and they eventually leave, than not invest in them and they decide to stay. Then you’re stuck with bad employees. Imagine what that means for your business!

Exercising good leadership is good for business. Listen to your staff, care for and develop them. Your business will benefit as a result.

As a business leader, what else has worked for you in retaining your best employees?

Article contributed by Joyce Kaduki an astute leadership coach/trainer and a John Maxwell Certified Coach, Trainer and Speaker.

View her profile on http://directory.biznakenya.com/listing/john-maxwell-certified-coach-trainer-speaker/