#Quit September 20

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Recently I had a long conversation with a dynamic leader on what new managers sometimes miss especially early in their careers. The whiff occurs when talented team members QUIT the team they are leading.

That moment causes remorse and tension in many organizations. I believe there is a difference between someone choosing to QUIT and someone who has been launched to the next chapter of their career. That depends on leadership.

I have a quote I often share in presentations that goes like this:

“Players don’t QUIT the sport they QUIT the coach”.

One cause of people deciding to QUIT is the leader manages everyone the way they want to be managed. Not everyone is like you. Manage your people in a way where you give them what they need not what you know.

I learned as a Director of Athletics at a NCAA Division II university that it was better to listen to what people on my team wanted to achieve professionally and help them achieve that. Performance reviews always involved progress on their professional and personal goals with plans on how I could help in the upcoming cycle. High performers want to know that someone cares about their career. Excellent leaders also realized that a high performer will help any team get better results even if they had aspirations to leave.

Sometimes an individual sets a goal that can only be achieved by moving on. More often than not in my experiences leaving did not occur if you could keep growing your people. When someone did leave I believed that philosophy of helping people launch their career enhanced our university’s reputations when we went to recruit their replacement.

As a manager spend time listening and caring. Yes some will leave but hopefully it will be a launch and not a QUIT.

Coach4aday

My purpose in life is to coach. I am a former collegiate basketball coach, director of athletics, and chief of staff. I worked at four NCAA Division I & II universities during my career. At each campus I learned timeless lessons on teamwork and leadership. Today my passion is coaching others on what it takes to lead, serve, and succeed.

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