What makes your employee have a Periscope Moment?

You know the moment: The one that makes an employee open to looking at jobs elsewhere. Just thinking of that can bring a little churn to some managers’ stomachs if it is a trusted, well-loved team member who’s suddenly looking around. You are hoping this isn’t happening within your organization, right? Well, I hate to break it to you – it is.

I recently had a job change after being at my previous employer for over 25 years. This week, after the dust at my new job had settled, I had lunch with a thought leader. He asked me why I had left, and I gave him the honest answer: It was a windshield moment (what I left for) and not a rearview mirror moment (what I left behind – I truly loved what I did at a great company). He pushed back and rephrased his question. “I believe you wouldn’t leave unless you were excited for what you were going to do,” he said. “But what was the “periscope moment” that made you open to leaving?” I was speechless.

The root of his question is this: He has seen 3 well-entrenched employees leave respected organizations lately. He was pushing to get insights because he sees it impacting those around him, and he knows any organization – no matter how awesome it is – is not immune to the periscope moment. He didn’t want his organization or his strategic partners to be vulnerable to losing their best team members.

I have spent some time digesting that conversation and have 3 thoughts about how managers can help prevent employees from having those periscope moments (which I have elaborated on from the PI Management Strategy Guide).

1. Review how each employee interacts in the workplace: What communication style do they value, and how do they like to relate to their team? Do they respond best to an email or a conversation? Is a text to communicate a job well done or public shout out better? When you communicate in their style, you’ll have maximum impact.
2. Review how your employee takes action in the workplace: Do they have the environment that is helping them thrive? Some employees appreciate more support; others feel valued when you give them more challenging assignments. Are they growing?
3. Review how your employee deals with risk and decision making: Make sure they have defined goals, give support on key decisions or authority to make decisions. Some want additional experts to help them learn, while others have a greater risk profile and want more autonomy.

PI can help you give each employee what they need to thrive and feel valued. You’ll find great personalized suggestions and insights when you use the Management Strategy Guide within each PI Assessment. The main goal of the guide is for the manager to review how they are doing on supporting their employee and to communicate/understand the value of each employee better with the assessment data.

One of the things we feel strongly about at the BecomeMore Group is helping you use your PI data to eliminate unwanted periscope moments. If you need help finding this Strategy Guide or want to do more training as it relates to the Management Strategy Guide, please reach out to us for more information.