Should You Ever Convince Someone Not to Quit?

What is the difference between increasing retention or decreasing turnover and convincing someone not to quit? Are they one and the same, or are there differences between these two situations?

Many people would make the argument that convincing someone not to quit is a situation-specific occurrence that requires higher levels of engagement and communication. These situations often require a deeper connection and have a larger problem at the root.

However, when a team member wants to quit, should there be extra attention placed on these situations? Or is there too much damage done for the situation to be mended?

Does this paint the wrong picture for other team members within an organization? One of the biggest questions is whether you should convince a team member not to quit when it comes to performance management.

If you’re dealing with or have dealt with this situation in the past, this article can provide insight on how to handle the situation. This article explains whether you should convince a team member to quit or stay.

Management Standpoint

From a manager’s point of view, it can be difficult to hear that someone no longer wants to remain with your organization. Sometimes it can be difficult not to let personal feelings get in the way, and tempers can flare, leading to unsavory situations.

Many times, a team member’s desire to leave can be blamed on situations far beyond your control. However, other situations may present the opportunity to rectify the situation, with the root cause being something you have control over.

In this article, we’ll examine whether this is the right thing to do from a management standpoint. One of the biggest concerns is that when a team member thinks about leaving, the thought has already crossed their mind once, and it may be easier to suffer subsequent challenges.

Good Retention vs. Bad Retention

There is a stark difference between good retention and bad retention within any organization. When your company is experiencing high retention, encouraging someone to stay may seem like the right thing to do.

While it may feel like a win at first, there are situations where bad retention can happen within any company. Let’s examine the differences.

Good Retention

Good retention is when you successfully retain team members because they’re a valuable part of your organization. In these situations, these individuals have probably created a lot of value for your company. Most likely, these individuals will only leave when the best possible outcome for their personal well being lies outside of working for your company.

However, these situations will almost always happen, regardless of the specific organization. There comes a time for every individual where personal growth and development happen in other places.

The best possible scenario would be placing them within another department where they can experience their newfound growth. However, the problem is that, most likely, the opportunity won’t be present like it would be with a different team. Now, let’s examine bad retention.

Bad Retention

Bad retention is when you have a system in place where nobody hardly ever leaves, but for all the wrong reasons. This happens when nobody has any motivation to do or accomplish anything new, and complacency becomes a real issue.

There could be a department or certain position where nobody has left in over a decade. This may seem good on the exterior; however, rarely are these situations rooted in any type of development or growth.

How Do You Know When You’re Going to Have a Retention Issue?

Retention always falls on management and not the team members. It is corporate’s job to find out what makes employees stay for the long haul.

The price of hiring and training is incredibly high – in fact, this is one of the biggest expenses any organization will incur. One of the last things you want as a company is a constantly revolving door of talent in and out of your organization.

It seems simple, but sometimes the best way to decide whether you’re going to have a retention issue is to just ask. When it comes to your performance management software, pose two questions on your engagement surveys.

• True or false: I rarely think about looking for a job elsewhere
• True or false: I still see myself here in two years

What these questions accomplish is to measure the alignment between team members and an organization. You find out whether their goals are in sync with those of the company, providing answers regarding issues with retention.

When these questions are posed in this manner, you’re not asking team members to commit to anything. You’re simply gaining insight into their perception of their direction with the company over the next several years.

What to Do When Someone Wants to Leave

Most likely, when someone wants to leave, they’ve already fired you as a manager in their own mind. This means that admitting your mistakes may provide the turning point needed to retain them.

Maybe they’re not leaving for the right reasons, or they don’t have all the information they need to make the proper decision. If you honestly realize that you made a mistake, you still have a chance to rectify the situation.

It’s possible that you just haven’t given them the support they need throughout their tenure. The first step is to make them understand that you realize you didn’t do the best possible job you could in explaining the opportunity they have at the organization.

Next, you can outline what you’re going to do to resolve these issues through pain points. Then, you can ask them to stay. It’s important to note that this only works when the organization admits a mistake on its part.

You need to truly gain a firm understanding of why team members are leaving before you can achieve success in asking them to stay. If it’s for the right reason, there’s nothing wrong with asking someone not to quit. However, it’s important that the situation is genuine and real progress is made.

You’ll rarely get the chance to resolve the same situation twice, so it’s vital that you correct the mistakes the first time. The chances are that if the challenges continue, you won’t receive a second chance to retain the same employee again.

Using your PMS platform in an efficient manner allows you to gain valuable insight into situations like this. By using the information to your advantage, you can retain your top talent and lower your turnover rates. The eLeaP continuous performance management system provides organizations with powerful options to attract and retain high caliber team members.