When a good employee leaves, is he leaving your company…or his manager?

No matter how progressive and worker-focused your company is, a bad manager’s employees can’t see past the ugly brick wall in their way. The only choice many see is to turn around and look for a better view somewhere else.

You may be lucky enough to get this feedback in an exit interview. And frankly, it’s good news for you. If incompetent, unsupportive, or even abusive managers are all that’s standing in the way of keeping good employees, there are two very straightforward solutions: retrain them or cut them loose.

If a manager is abusive, the second option is obviously best. But in most cases, your best bet is to retrain and retain.

It doesn’t have to be a long, drawn-out process. You may not even need to provide formal management training. Consider mentors for your problem managers. Establishing a relationship and leading by example can go a long way towards changing attitudes and behaviors.

Encouraging a culture of recognition and reward, starting from the top, will give employees a more positive view of their managers and more incentive to ride out any rough patches on the job. See Just say, ‘Thanks!’, Recognize This: Tips for Employee Recognition or contact Award Concepts for a host of easy-to-implement ideas.

Finally, and most importantly, one key concept to instill in managers is to always exercise the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” followed by the Silver Rule: “Don’t do unto others what you would not wish done unto you.” This very basic premise can help managers to demonstrate honesty, empathy, respect and other positive behaviors. They’ll be pleasantly surprised to see their employees reciprocating…and staying on the job. And they’ll be even more pleased to stay on the job themselves!