Gaining Commitment in a Low Commitment Job Market

As many are aware, there is a growing trend in America where people are moving from organization to organization or team to team when they do not feel as though their needs and career aspirations are being met. It’s happening everywhere. Collegiate athletics has long dealt with this trend on the coaching side, but they are now experiencing it with athletes that can utilize the transfer portal to easily move to a new team.

Organizations are also feeling the effects of employees that are no longer willing to stay with the same company if their expectations are not being met. Part of this is due to the emergence of the “gig economy” (a free market system in which temporary positions are common and organizations hire independent workers for short-term commitments). This year alone 36% of American adults engaged in some sort of gig work and this trend will grow significantly over the next 10 years. Clearly, remote and virtual work is here to stay and this gives talented people many choices that were once not practical or available to them.

A natural response is for organizations and teams to pull back when it comes to developing their people. I’m not talking about training a team member to do their current job but rather developing people to prepare and equip them for a future responsibility or job. “Why would we invest in people that are not committed to our organization and are likely to leave?” This is a fair question, should organizations use their resources to invest in the development of their personnel only to see them leave for the competition?

On a surface level, this seems like a reasonable response and fiscally responsible. The challenge with not investing in your people is that it creates the type of environment that make people leave.

Ten years from now people will (still) want…

• Purpose. People will still desire to have meaning and purpose in their life. As such, many will pursue careers and stay in jobs that connect to a deeper purpose.
• Value. Organizations and teams that are able to optimally leverage each team member’s unique combination of inherent ability, intangible traits, interests, and experiences will have a competitive edge over organizations and teams that are less effective.
• Trust. Leaders will still need to build trusting relationships with their people if they want to get the most from their team.
• Belonging. People want to feel as though they belong to a team (i.e., a tribe) and once they are part of it they will work to protect the members of their tribe.

When resources are diverted away from development initiatives it will only accelerate the lack of commitment members will feel about their organization or team. Unfortunately, I anticipate a trend where organizations and teams will likely put less emphasis on the development of their people.

The great news is that, in a world, where most companies are pulling back on investing in employees, making development a priority, especially in frontline leaders (i.e., managers and assistant coaches), will truly differentiate the best organizations and teams.

To achieve this, development needs to be a part of the culture, something that every leader in the organization takes part in. Gone are the days of just correcting poor performance and giving end-of-year performance reviews. Employees develop best with ongoing performance counseling that involves personal conversations that include developmental feedback on career advancement goals.

When leaders align the goals of the team member with the goals of the organization, they provide purpose. When that leader regularly attends to the personal and professional goals of their team members, giving them the resources to grow, team members feel valued. Team members who feel that their supervisor is looking out for their best interest give their trust to the leader and organization. A whole team of people who share the belief that they are supported by their leader and organization have the mental and emotional bandwidth to work towards common goals that bring them together. That is how the four factors above are achieved.

If you are already experiencing low team member commitment and high turnover, then expect that implementing a culture of development will bring about change slowly. You will still lose people. The very same people you have chosen to invest in. Whatever you do, don’t change course. You are not losing; you are gaining.

You are gaining frontline leaders with the skills to properly develop their people you will, at a minimum, have made better leaders, many of which are still working for you.

You are gaining a reputation within your industry as an organization or team that will invest in the development of their people. This will likely attract top talent, if for no other reason than to advance their own careers. And if I’m right….then 10 years from now your team will be performing at a much higher level because of the investment you’ve made in the development of your people.