It is not enough to describe your leadership style or indicate your intentions. A Situational Leader assesses the performance of others and takes the responsibility for making things happen.”

- Dr. Paul Hershey, a founder of the Situational Leadership model.

Several years ago, there were two Weblogs that received a lot of attention. 

• The first was ‘Managers Get the Employees They Deserve’ (Read it here).
• And the second was 'Maybe Managers Get the Employees They Deserve’ (Read it here) which was a response from loyal reader and great writer, Nick Mirick, who added to parts of the theory and rebutted other parts.

The original blog was inspired after my wife and I went out to breakfast at the 122 Diner in Holden, Massachusetts about two miles from our house. Sunday morning, 9 AM packed house. Great food, great service, and plenty of employees.

Make that plenty of trained, motivated, and enthusiastic employees. As I sat there watching the eight "front of the house" employees expertly interact with guests, deliver each other’s food, pour coffee refills around the room, and grab booster seats for little ones, I was thinking to myself that any so-called ‘employee shortage’ that was in the news at the time wasn’t having much of an impact on this operation.

My immediate conclusion was that there must be good management or good ownership or both, because this small-town restaurant was cranking, and as long-time readers know, one of my favorite cliches is that “it is hard to hide a good restaurant”.

My thoughts shifted to ‘why?’ Why did this location NOT have an employee problem? Why was ownership and management successful? And as I looked around and saw many of the employee faces that I’d seen over the years, I realized that it had enough quality staff because the good ones…stayed.

After a few years of consulting and peering into organizations that are not my own, I have a theory about a new Leadership Yardstick that is permeating organizations, whether it is stated or not.

My original premise that managers get the employees they deserve was inspired by the debate about why employees quit. 

Forget the human resource surveys and exit interviews, those are likely accurate but dominated by very disgruntled or kinda-sorta-unsure vanilla responses.

From my time as a people manager, I have believed that there is a much simpler explanation for why many people quit a job.

You might think my answer is ‘money’ and you'd be partially right. Money is very important in a job, and obviously a factor in 99% of the decisions we make, and not limited to employment decisions. I don’t believe, on its own, it is the most common or primary reason people quit jobs.

It’s the manager, more often than not.

People may quit managers more than they quit companies, but in all fairness to most employees, their manager IS the company or at least the part of the company that impacts them the most. Gallup has also done a number of surveys that the theory that turnover and the manager are intertwined.

Why are managers the reason that many people quit? Well, the most obvious reason is that leading is not easy, it is hard, and many managers struggle to lead.

People quitting simply happens more often in situations where leaders struggle to lead and that is why I believe that an updated leadership yardstick is turnover.

In my years of leading, and leading managers, and leading the managers of managers, as well as training managers to lead, I've arrived at three common things that leaders struggle with in many cases that contribute to employees quitting.

If, in fact, the new leadership yardstick for many is related to turnover, in my opinion and experience, there are three basic things that good leaders, and those aspiring to be good leaders, can do to 'measure up.'

1: Good Leaders Put People First

Most leaders, especially those promoted up through the ranks, have a high degree or expertise in a field or have a high level of technical knowledge. That’s what gets them promoted.

Unfortunately, once they become part of management, that technical expertise is NOT primarily what they are judged on, not what they earn their living by, and not the expectation of employees they supervise, or the person they report to.

They are judged based on their ability to give direction.

Many new leaders, and some experienced leaders, fail to understand the primary role is to lead others, not to continue to be the technical expert. Additionally, many leaders seem to be totally unaware that sometimes 25% to 40% of their time should be spent listening to employees, giving them feedback and suggestions and monitoring their performance.

It is called supervising or leading.

When I was a leader, sometimes people would approach me and say: "I know you are busy" and I responded 100% of the time with: “I am never too busy to talk with you." It is a great mantra for a leader to share with her or his staff.

Many years ago, in my formative days as a leader, it was shared with me that the number one factor employees use to evaluate a boss is the leader's answer to the following question “Do you care about me?” 

Care more to reduce turnover. Putting people first is a validated method to reduce turnover and increase engagement.

2: Good Leaders Adjust Their Leadership Style

Most managers have a dominant style or a style they naturally use. Terms like 'autocratic' or 'participative' are common. The reality is that all leadership styles work...some of the time. A style works in leading another person if that person responds well to that style.

But leadership is all about meeting the needs of the follower, not meeting the preferences of the leader.

To use a highly directive 'do this, don't do that' style with an experienced follower will move them to move on because of 'micromanaging.'

Conversely, to use a participative style with someone who is brand new to the situation or task and initially clueless will move them to move on because they will be overwhelmed.

Failure to vary the leadership style based on the skill, ability and willingness of a follower for a specific task is a blank check for increased turnover.

It is common sense that leaders should vary their style based on who they are leading and the task they are performing. A new employee and a 20-year employee do not have the same readiness to take on a specific task and should not be lead the same way.

Taking the time to assess where each employee might be in relation to each assignment is a great first step and a validated method to reduce turnover and increase engagement.

3: Good Leaders Learn the Easy Way

I believe that there are three kinds of selfish managers:

1. Those who put themselves first in any and all situations. (Not accidental)
2. Those who are in over their heads.
3. Those who are doing something for the first time.

I have no extensive comments on the first kind of selfish manager, otherwise known as a turnover machine.

But I have also learned that there is little difference in impact for a leader who is in over their heads or doing something for the first time. Because in both situations, the employees tend to see more than the leader in many cases and constantly and consistently wonder ‘why?’

My personal explanation for why this is true is that when you are in over your head or doing something for the first time, you are too worried about yourself: how you are doing or how you look, to worry about your employees. You are focused inwardly, instead of being externally focused. Even if employees don’t verbalize it, they know when they are working for someone who is in over their head or doing something for the first time.

They always know. It is not fun to be an employee in any of the three environments.

There are only two ways to move out of an ‘in over your head’ situation or a time where you are doing it for ‘the first time.’

• The first way is to push through it, collect the scar tissue that comes with a rough experience and learn from it. Personally, I have collected a lot of scar tissue over the years.
• The second way is to get a mentor. It is the easier way to learn. Personally, I have seen the benefits (and speed of learning) of being mentored, and mentoring.

Mentors can diminish the gap between your personal experience and the experience you need to be effective. Mentors can not only be found in other areas of the organization but also outside the organization.

Being mentored on leadership is a validated method to reduce turnover and increase engagement.

Turnover of staff might not be THE Leadership Yardstick, but turnover certainly impacts an organization in multiple ways. Leaders who recognize that putting people first, adjusting their style based on the needs of their followers, and utilizing mentors will certainly have had and will have an edge.

Think about the type of leader you'd like to work for or with and if you have the chance, be that person.

Boston professional sports fans should put the current situation in perspective.