People Don't Quit Organizations

I don't believe people quit organizations. 

I believe people quit people. 

Here are some examples of why I quit jobs in the past. 

When I was a teacher I did not see a path for professional advancement from my principal and district. So I left for a charter school that showed me a two year plan to be the Director of Exceptional Children during my interview as a Special Education teacher. 

When I was a Grants and Special Projects Leader at a University I wanted to travel to local school systems and assist principals and utilize my skills as a trainer, I left because the Dean shut down all travel and asked me to "just do research".

When I was a middle school director of a charter school I wanted to was not considered for the head of school position by my superintendent, I left to become a state wide consultant for the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) that provided me a platform to be more and do more. 

When I was at DPI after three years my boss said to me, "I don't know how much longer I can keep you and I don't know how to grow you." Within 90 days I quit my job and founding my company, Leaders Building Leaders to be the difference maker in the leadership development of individuals and organizations. 

In each of these examples it was not the school or organization that impacted my decision. It was the people in charge. The leader was not giving me (in my mind) what I needed to feel valued and heard. So I moved on. 

I have had great employees leave the school I led and my company now, Leaders Building Leaders. And looking back at each "regrettable loss", it is because I did not give them the same value as they believe they were giving to me. I was not able to fill all of their needs. This is something I definitely need to work on as a leader and business owner. 

Now, not all loss is regrettable. There are some employees that simply need to go. But as a leader. you only get so many "non-regrettable" losses in your pocket before you lose your credibility. 

If you have more than three years of "non-regretable losses" you either have a bad hiring plan or bad professional development plan. Luckily, those are both fixable. 

Join Our Principal Leadership Academy and you'll get my 16 step hiring process and over 100 behavioral based interview questions so you can hire the right person every time as well as over 40 leadership lessons and resources to equip your team. For the next 48 hours use promo code SEVEN and get 70% off as we are finishing our seventh school year as a business owner. 

Here are key steps to reducing regrettable loss:

1. Identify your backbones. Who are your top 20% employees? If you are not sure, download this quick assessment to make sure you are pouring into the right people. Download now

2. Schedule a 1:1 session with each of them and get a good understanding of what they value. Where do they see themselves in the next two to three years.

3. Flip your schedule as a leader to spend 60% to 80% of your time with these identified leaders. (Watch How to Prioritize)

4. Schedule a time to meet with these leaders once a month and paint them in the picture of the school's long term success in a position that they described their goal to be in (coach, interventionist, mentor, administrator).

5. Create the path and work towards those promises. 

There is a famous question posed, "Training is expensive, what if we train our people and they leave." 

The answer is, "What if we don't and they leave anyway? Then all we have left is the untrained and unmotivated to drive our plans."

Or as Richard Branson put it, "Train people well enough so that they can leave. Treat them well enough so they want to stay forever."

Not sure how to do this or want a thinking partner to improve your training programs and school culture, simply click the blue button at the top right of this page to schedule a call or send me an email ([email protected]) with your best two days and times and I'll schedule a meeting for the two of us to talk about your goals and objectives. 

Keep making a difference,

Dr. Tom

Oh, don't forget about the Principal Leadership Academy offer. It is great for any level school leader (Teacher to Head of School). And, for 48 more hours, it is 70% off the regular price. You'll have lifetime access and I add lessons and resources to it every single month. Join Our Principal Leadership Academy (Promo Code: SEVEN)