Cultivating Loyalty: How to Retain Top Talent and Build a Strong Organizational Culture | Episode 271

Scott McCarthy [00:00:00]:

It. Everywhere you go right now, organizations are facing retention crisis. They simply just can’t seem to get top talent and then hold on to them. For whatever reason, it seems that people are just simply leaving their jobs and moving on to new ones in droves, to the point where every organization seems to be struggling with their staffing levels right now. Today, we’re going to dive into how you can avoid this with a real life story. All right, folks, it’s all about retaining people today. Are you ready for this? All right, let’s do it. Welcome one, welcome all to the Peak Performance Leadership Podcast, a weekly podcast series dedicated to helping you hit peak performance across the three domains of leadership.

Scott McCarthy [00:01:01]:

Those being leading yourself, leading your team, and leading your organization. This podcast couples my 20 years of military experience as a senior Canadian Army officer with world class guests to bring you the most complete podcast of leadership going. And for more, feel free to check out our website@movingforwardleadership.com. And with that, let’s get to the show. Yes. Welcome one, welcome all. It is your Chief Leadership Officer, Scott McCarthy. It’s so good to have you tuning in to yet another amazing episode and going solo again today.

Scott McCarthy [00:01:46]:

Changing it up, going solo. And I just wanted to get behind the mic by myself, really. I enjoy talking, obviously about leadership, and sometimes I want to talk vice. Having a guest in today’s topic, we actually got brought up in our Leader Growth Mastermind, and we were having a discussion about it, and one of the people there posted up a meme. And I’m going to read you the meme right now. Actually, before I do that, what I wanted to do is let you know, hey, if you’re interested in this Leader Growth Mastermind or you want to learn more about it, feel free to hit me up. Okay, we are open. We are taking new members again.

Scott McCarthy [00:02:33]:

We were closed for a while, but we’re reopened again now. And essentially it’s our elite Mastermind community for leaders to help elevate themselves to new heights in whichever domain or all domains of leadership. They’re looking to basically level up their game. And you could be like, Scott, I’m not a leader. I don’t have subordinates. I don’t have people working for me. Doesn’t matter. We have solopreneurs in there.

Scott McCarthy [00:02:55]:

We have entrepreneurs in there. We have corporate executives, we have middle managers. We have it all from nonprofit, government and then for profit. So I am certain you will find a connection in there. So if you want to learn more, go to Leadumpos.com Mastermind. All right, again, that’s Leaddompos.com Mastermind, and I can’t wait to see you in there. It is a community like no other, and you are definitely going to benefit from it. All right, so in our Leader Growth Mastermind community, there was a meme posted up by a saying with Richard Branson.

Scott McCarthy [00:03:41]:

Now, if you don’t know what that saying is it is this train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to. So what’s Richard getting at here? He’s basically getting at that if you hold people back with training, skill development, they’re going to turn around and decide to leave. And often the scare is with many leaders or bosses out there, is that, oh, if I train them on all these new skills and skill sets and give them new capabilities, they’re just going to run away to a competitor and get more money. So I’d rather have them here. So I’m not going to train them so they’re not going to be competitive for the new jobs, but rather stay here with us. And that is just a horrible way to do business. Because of the second part, he says, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.

Scott McCarthy [00:04:41]:

And that is the key portion. If you treat people well enough, they’re not going to want to leave because they’re going to be too scared, basically, of what the other side actually is like. They’re going to be treated so well in your organization that they’re like, why would I want to leave? They treat me amazing. Look at all the training I’m getting, look at all the benefits I’m getting, look at all the new capabilities I have and so on. Treating them well enough so they don’t want to leave will keep your people around. Now, I added a third portion to this meme in the comments of this meme that was posted up, and I said, support them when they decide to leave. You’re like, probably like, Whoa, what? That’s right. Support them when they decide to leave.

Scott McCarthy [00:05:41]:

Everyone is not going to stay in your organization forever, hands down, point blank, okay? It’s not going to happen. People will come and go. It’s just a natural life cycle of work of any organization. People come and go. So if you don’t support them, what are you doing? You’re leaving a negative impression in their mind of the organization as they exit. Like, wow, I’ve worked here for five years, ten years, 20 years, whatever, and this is how they’re treating me as I leave. I’ve done so many great things for this company, and yet this is what I get as I leave. Thanks.

Scott McCarthy [00:06:29]:

A very negative taste. So what’s going to happen as they get out into the real world? They’re going to talk to their friends. Remember what I said earlier? It’s hard to retain people. It’s also hard to find people well. When you have your former staff out there telling their friends, their coworkers, how they’ve been treated on the way out, how likely is it that people are going to want to apply for that person’s job or apply for any position within the company? It’s less likely. And now your problem is exasperating itself because you treated that person like garbage as they left. By supporting them saying, okay, thank you for your notice, or even before that, oh, I understand that you’re looking at other opportunities. Okay, how might I help you? Do you need a leather reference? Do you need some flexibility for interviews? And that may sound counterintuitive to you, but the thing is this you’re giving them an opportunity to see if the grass is even greener on the other side.

Scott McCarthy [00:07:43]:

Maybe they’ll go to these other companies and go like, oh, wow, I don’t want to work there. That place’s culture is messed up. Like, oh, it’s disgusting. Or if they do go, then you still have a former employee, as I like to say is a friend in court. They may come to your help down the line. They may be there to do business with and get preferred rates or benefits or whatever have you down the line, because you treated them well. So train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to support them when they decide to.

Scott McCarthy [00:08:29]:

That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you develop a strong culture, because that will enable people to truly decide whether or not going elsewhere is really worth it. So here’s a quick, real world example for you. And if you know me, I’m a diehard hockey fan. I love I’m Canadian. What do you expect, right? And my favorite team, of course, is the Montreal Canadiens. So we’re going to use them as an example. If you go back a few years, montreal Canadiens had a bad reputation amongst players. They had a hard time getting top talent coming to the team, and that was because there was a culture and aura around the team that it would chew up and spit out players the media was out there to get for them, and most importantly, management didn’t care for them.

Scott McCarthy [00:09:33]:

The management didn’t care about the players. All they cared about was the money and revenue that was being brought in. So a couple of years ago, a player by the name of Jeff Petrie great defenseman, by the way. Jeff, you’re listening? Enjoyed you in Montreal. Your time fantastic. But during the pandemic, Jeff had a rough time. His family, being American, had a rough time being in the province of Quebec here, not Canada. So what happened, long story short, was that his family moved back to Detroit, where they’re from, and he was in Montreal, and he wasn’t able to see his family.

Scott McCarthy [00:10:19]:

Fast forward a handful of months later, and they say he didn’t ask for it, but it was kind of a mutual agreement that he should have moved on. So he was traded. He was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Jeff was happy overall. His family moved there, played a full season there, and he basically went off and lived his life. Now, you fast forward to this offseason I e. The summer, and the Montreal Canadiens go in on a three way trade. With the San Jose Sharks and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Who should Montreal receive as part of that trade? No other than Jeff Petrie.

Scott McCarthy [00:11:12]:

And everyone’s probably was scratching head. Why is Petrie coming back to Montreal? Well, lo and behold, the general manager, Kent Hughes, called up Jeff right away and said, listen, I got you. We’ll take care of you, and don’t worry, you’re not coming to play here. It’s just part of the deal. He immediately is looking out after Jeff’s best interests. And the way the story ends is that Jeff ends up getting traded to where the Detroit Red rings his hometown, where him and his wife are from, where they want to settle down. He’s taking care, he’s supporting his member even though they’ve decided to leave. What effect is that now having? Well, the fact is this is that it’s been noticed by the players around the league that the new management team in Montreal cares about its players, cares about their well being, cares about their welfare, their family life and so on.

Scott McCarthy [00:12:20]:

Now, I’m not saying it’s going to happen today, but down the line they’re going to be able to start attracting that higher level talent because they are showing through their actions that they care that they support their members. So remember, ladies and gentlemen, train people well enough so they can leave. Petrie was one of the top defensemen on the team. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to leave. This case, he was treated well enough, but it was his situation. So when he decided to leave, support them, all right? So remember, train people well enough so they can leave. Treat them well enough so they don’t want to support them when they finally decide to, because that’s going to happen one day. All right, that’s it for this week, ladies and gentlemen.

Scott McCarthy [00:13:13]:

Hope you enjoyed this show, hope you enjoyed this episode. Feel free to drop me a line and let me know and give me ideas for topics I’d love to hear from you. All right, that’s it for me. Remember, as always, lead, don’t boss. Take care. Now. The world is ever changing, getting more complex and more competitive. We as leaders cannot afford to succumb, to mediocrity, but rather we, our teams and our organizations, need to hit our peak performance.

Scott McCarthy [00:13:49]:

And that’s where the peak Performance Leadership podcast comes in. In this interview show, you’re going to tap into the experience of myself, Scott McCarthy, the host with over 20 years of military experience, along with world leading experts in the three domains of leadership. Those being leading yourself, leading your team, and leading your organization so that you can hit the peak performance of all three domains, bringing you the most complete leadership podcast going. And for more, check out our website@movingforwardleadership.com. Are you ready to achieve greatness? I’m ready to go on the journey with you. So come and join.