'Tis the season to consider quitting your job.
With more time at home, space to reflect, time to review your year and plan for next year, many people return in January with a new resolve to leave their current job or company.
But the real reason people quit isn’t the job, isn’t the product, it isn’t even compensation, it is because of their immediate manager.
The break between the holidays and returning in January is a crucial time for managers of teams. Your own teams will be reflecting on the year completed and planning what is next for their customers, product development, and personal career.
But before you get too concerned who quits is far more in control than you might realize and here are three critical actions you can take before, during, and after the holidays.
Before the holiday break:
Pay attention to who you need to pay attention to who is ready for a move, maybe has outgrown their job, or is at risk for being whisked away by one of your competitors?
Set up a Team January Kick-Off meeting with your team. You can use my Galvanize Your Team as a checkpoint for the results you are creating.
Block a day of Personal Strategic Review where you can clear your mind, identify new opportunities, reflect, and challenge yourself about. Some of my executive clients choose to do this with me to allow them to have an external sounding board to explore what they and their businesses can achieve next.
During your holiday break:
Escape for some quiet thinking time with no expectations or distractions.
Consider the connection points you want to have with your team throughout 2020, both collectively and individually. Prioritize those dates and plans now.
Reflect on whether your product roadmaps, execution plans, and initiatives are running as fast and as effectively as possible, make that a focus for your January conversations if not.
After your holiday break:
Ask everyone who works directly for you what they hope to achieve in 2020 both for their business group and personally.
Ask how you can help support their career growth or success at work.
Ruthlessly manage your calendar to prioritize time with the right collections of people inside your group and across your peer groups. This could be short rapid focused conversations, or a broader strategic review, innovation experience, or deeper skills development training.
Follow this guidance and there will be no surprises when your team comes back and their resolutions will be centered around growing your business, not trying to escape it.
Reply yes please if you want to set up a conversation to talk about your upcoming year and explore how I may be able to help.
I’m in New York December 9-12, let me know if you want to connect while I am in town.
Dedicated to growing your business,
Val
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