The Impact of Career Conversations on Employee Loyalty

Ever faced the dilemma of accepting a promotion that just didn't feel right? Learn from a relatable story of a graphic designer whose career almost took a wrong turn due to a well-intentioned promotion. In this episode, we unpack the vital role of career coaching and the powerful impact it has on employee satisfaction and retention. Drawing insights from McKinsey's research, which shows that 42% of employees are actively seeking new jobs because of the lack of career coaching, we underscore why leaders must prioritize these crucial conversations.

Listen as we share a compelling narrative about how an honest dialogue turned a potential resignation into a win-win scenario for both the employee and the employer. By understanding the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and recognizing personal preferences such as the desire for independent work, leaders can better align roles with individual strengths. Tune in to discover how regular career conversations can prevent dissatisfaction and turnover, ultimately leading to a more engaged and loyal workforce.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:37

There is a value in having conversations around people's career and I often suggest people doing it twice a year as leaders. And I think one of my favorite stories is a friend of mine who's a graphic designer, and this goes to the two levels of motivation, and the two levels of motivation are intrinsic someone who's motivated by the job, and extrinsic someone who's motivated by their present job as a catalyst or a stepping stone to going to that next step that they see for themselves. Now, career-based coaching is really critical. You know, mckinsey in 2022 and Q4 estimated in their research that 42% of people 42% of people were actively looking for jobs due to a lack of career coaching and conversation. So that begs the question have the numbers gone up or down? They've actually gone up, so it is incumbent upon us, as leaders, to dive into people's careers.

Speaker 1: 1:36

Now let me go back to my friend. I remember her calling me really upset, saying I have to find a new job. You know, management came to me it was a small graphic design agency and I said well, what do you mean? She said, well, they want to promote me to management. I don't want to be a manager. And she was really upset and I thought wait a minute. This is a really nice thing that your company is doing for you. Let's take a deep breath. Why do you think they want to promote you? Well, I've been here a long time. I really I guess I know what I'm doing.

Speaker 1: 2:08

And it's really funny because when you think about a graphic designer, you don't think about someone who's an introvert. My friend is an introvert and I said well, look, do you like where you work? She goes, I love it. Do you like the clients you have? She goes, I live for them. I said so you're going to walk away from that? What about sitting down with them and saying I don't know if I would be the right choice? And we crafted this whole conversation. She goes, has the conversation. They were like we are so appreciative of you talking to us.

Speaker 1: 2:41

Now they went to her friend, who was not half the graphic designer my friend was but she really wanted to go into leadership. Now there was a change in their relationship that they had to work on, because that's a big change. And my friend said what I like to do is I like my creative time, I like my time to create materials for my clients and I like to work alone. I'm not collaborative. I don't like to work in a team environment. See, a lot of times we have people who like to work on their own. For example, I personally like to work on my own. I work so much with clients. The thought of working with my own fellow staff members is not as appealing as working on my own, and they know that and I'm very transparent about it Doesn't mean I don't like working with them, but if I had a choice, I'd work on my own.

Speaker 1: 3:24

So my friend, friend, coworker. She got promoted. And then, when you look at this, think about this just for a second. What if my friend begrudgingly took the promotion, hated it and quit? Her friend probably would have quit because she wanted to go into management. My friend then would have hated it so much she would have left some of her clients because she would have gone into management.

Speaker 1: 3:48

And so, by having these conversations, guess what happened? Both stayed. Both are still employed there today and what that does? What that does is it gets us in a state where we can really understand what people want to do. Now my friend's management team are wonderful people. They wanted to promote her. It wasn't a bad thing. Yet they had never really sat down with her and said what do you want? She already had what she wanted, so they were so concerned about losing her, which is an incredible gesture and intent and it almost created dire circumstances. And so by her friend coming forward and saying I'd love to be the manager, and then my friend and her had to work on their relationship, et cetera. But that's why we have to have career coaching conversations If we don't put our voice in our people's ears, somebody else will, and it's typically called a recruiter.