3 Signs a Team Member is Leaving
The best leaders provide stability and encouragement to their teams and recognize signs indicating a team member is about to leave.
The leaving we are talking about here is not the expected attrition or change that comes as people grow enough to take on new responsibilities. Neither are we thinking about people who desire to expand their knowledge by exploring new areas of interest.
Rather, the leaving is a sequence of behaviors that harm the team.
When an individual behaves in ways that interfere with the ability of other team members to complete the mission they are signaling their intent to leave. It is the leader’s responsibility to perceive and take action.
When a team member consistently acts outside team norms, trust is eroded. The exemplary leader concerned for their team cannot leave this unaddressed for long.
How do you know a team member wants to leave?
1) Shared values are no longer shared
The core of every team is made up of the shared values of each team member.
While the level of commitment to a particular value (integrity, respect, empathy, etc..) may vary across the team, when a team member is found contradicting foundation team values, they lose influence and become less effective.
Likely, they will begin looking for a new team that aligns more closely to their new values.
Helping them find their way to a new team early can be positive for them, the existing team, and the new group they may join.
Having core values is a cornerstone to team stability and productivity.
2) Unethical Behavior
Building trust between team members requires 100% ethical behavior. Trust is earned daily, but can be lost completely in a day. When a team member steals, cheats, or looks to take advantage of others through manipulation they will not be able to maintain follower-ship. Simply put, when people will no longer follow them, they have lost their capability to lead.
3) Missing Positive energy
Only people with positive energy can effectively lead a team consistently over time. Work is difficult enough without someone siphoning fuel out of the tank.
Everyone has a bad day, but every day should not be bad.
Our responsibility as leaders is to positively influence others to action, provide encouragement, and make their load a little lighter as we remove impediments.
Could it be that if a person on our team consistently makes our work harder than it should be that perhaps they are not on our team after all?
Actions to consider:
Select one a person on your team that you can recognize for being positive. Do it today.
Review each member of your team in light of the shared values you all profess and determine how each is fulfilling their commitments.
One of my favorite books on building a team is tribal leadership.
