Good Turnover

One of my clients recently had the word “turnover” on their issues list.   After working to really identify the root cause of the turnover, and coming up blank, they asked me to help.   The first thing I always ask is… “Is this good turnover, or bad turnover?”

What?!?

We all feel that one of the indicators of a HEALTHY company is low turnover.   One of the contributors to great profit is low turnover… so how can high turnover ever be good?  When there is turnover of the wrong people, or people in the wrong seat within the company.   Let me explain.

There are people within your company right now, who are NOT the right people for your company.   They may be productive, but they do not share the core values of your company and therefore, are not playing by the rules, get political, think of themselves before the company and in general, are not unified with the vision.  There are also people in the company who are in the wrong seat.  They may share your core values and are pleasant to work with, but they are not living up to the roles that belong to this function (or title).

Two things happen when you allow these types of people to continue to work for your company:

1. If the wrong people (a poor core values match) continue to work in your company, they are chipping away at your culture on one end, even as you try to build it on the other end. Other employees see you as weak and not courageous enough to call this employee out on the core value violations.
2. If we allow people to sit in seats that are above them in their capacity or ability, we are killing our productivity and profitability. Additionally, if you leave an employee in a seat where they are not being productive, it sets a precedent to the other employees for low performance.

Turnover of the wrong people or people in the wrong seats is the definition of Good Turnover!    Do you ever wonder… “Do I have the Right People in the Right Seats?” Email me for a free tool designed to get the answer to that very question.

This month, I challenge you to make one great “people move” to get the right people in the right seats.   I promise you, you’ll be glad you did… and so will your bottom line.