In her article, 7 Reasons the Best Employees Quit, Even When They Like Their Job, influencer and leadership coach Lolly Daskal focuses on 7 areas that, if not addressed, can have the company's best talent head for the exit. All areas share a common thread of growth, connection and relevance. It reminds me of David Rock's SCARF model and when these areas are not addressed (Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, Fairness) our brains actually create a threat response. Working under a continuous threat response even the toughest and most resilient workers will eventually toss up there hands and leave.

Wired For Context

Global Creatives process incoming information more by association than by sequence. They relate to experience and context more than process and evidence. This means that if the context of the company they work for (mission, vision, story) is not relevant to them they lose interest and eventually leave. Clear and positive organization context that a GC can really buy into leads the way to huge GC attributes - curiosity and creativity.  No positive and compelling context, no creativity!  Fairness and relatedness are also tied to a healthy company context and are huge for the Global Creative — notice how Lolly's reasons undermine these two human qualities. All areas Lolly addresses are significant for the Global Creative but 1, 3, 5 and 7 jumped out at me as super relevant for the wired-for-context Global Creative...

Stagnation (1): Movement and growth are like oxygen for the Global Creative. Remove it from the equation and the Global Creative wilts.

Vague Values (3): Global Creatives are all about powerful visions but if there is a disconnect between daily operations and company vision or the Global Creative can't connect to that vision then they will lose motivation and a desire to share their own vision of success.

Lack of Recognition (5): Recognition reinforces a workers unique identity in an organization. For Global Creatives it also reinforces their location in an organization - where they fit in. If they don't see where they fit in and the roles they play then interest and attention go out the window.

Excessive Hierarchy (7): This approach puts an outdated emphasis on rule and authority and control above all. Global Creatives don't get this because their brains are not wired for it. It's a game they don't play because it makes no sense. Thank god this dinosaur approach is leaving town. The disruptive economy is here to stay. Just as Tesla and Uber upended hierarchical industries, bold visions matched with technology and a continuous need for efficiency and innovation will upend the last of the top down industries (think cable companies, big law firms, consulting agencies and healthcare).

People leave their professional positions for all kinds of reasons. In working with Global Creatives I’m realizing that there are certain parameters that are absolute musts to foster a great working environment. Positive people, positive relationships and positive visions where the Global Creative is a part of something bigger than themselves are something to strive for in a work culture. If you have these in place there may be no reason to leave.

Read the full article HERE.