Your Top Performing VP Just Resigned – We Know Why and What to Do About it (Episode #3)
A Cautionary Tale for Today’s Business Leaders
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The Coaching Culture Company
Episode 3
Wow!” exclaimed Joe…
…as he sat facing Charlie across the desk and took in the number Charlie had just offered him as part of a new compensation package.
“Charlie, I am honored and flattered that you consider me valuable enough to rate a salary that high,” Joe paused to gather his thoughts and chose his next words carefully. “So I want you to understand two things very clearly.
First, please know that getting a better deal from you had absolutely nothing to do with my decision to move on. I would never have played you like that. I respect you and value our relationship too much; and besides, that’s just not how I roll.
I also want you to know that the compensation I will be getting from my prospective new employer is just about the same as what I currently make here.”
There was a long silence as Charlie stared at Joe in disbelief. Dumbfounded by what he had just heard, all he managed to get out was, “What the hell…?!”
“Getting more money was simply not part of my motivation, Charlie,” stated Joe.
Joe continued, “I didn’t even understand this clearly for a long time; I only knew that I was feeling increasingly discouraged, disengaged and empty – even as my pay increased.
It wasn’t until the new company approached me and I saw their culture and how they did business – especially internally – that I realized what I had been missing. After a lot of thought and even research, I decided that it really boiled down to three things.”
“Alright, Joe, I hear you” responded Charlie, irritated, but trying hard not to let defensiveness and disappointment close his mind, “Lay it out for me. What are these three things that are so damn important to you?”
“Ok, probably the most immediately important to me is my direct manager. Scott runs his department well and his team adequately, but I rarely get 1-1 time with him, even when I request it. I don’t even get performance feedback more than once a year, let alone the coaching, mentorship and leadership that I want AND need to be successful.
Which brings me to the second item: a clear path of career advancement, and the professional development to support it. I work hard to be one of your top performers, and I raise the bar year after year, but I still see no tangible sign that the company has a plan for my future. I don’t know about other folks, but without that I find myself losing passion for my work and loyalty to the company.
And number three is “culture”, Charlie, that’s a BIG deal to me. People here seem disinterested in each other and often competitive. Frequently it feels kinda adversarial between them and the company. There is little sense of collaboration between departments and divisions, and people don’t seem to pay any more attention to learning, growth and a better future than the company does.”
“Damn, Joe, that’s pretty overwhelming from where I sit. What can I possibly do in response to all that?”
“Nothing right now Charlie. Don’t feel too bad; most companies are like yours. I guess that’s why I have never made a move before; I didn’t realize that there was an alternative. This new company has all those things in spades, but they have been working hard to achieve it for three years. They have a comprehensive program that they have been steadily implementing all that time to get where they are today.
So there’s nothing you can do in time to change my decision, but I REALLY want to encourage you to start moving in that direction. This is a great company, Charlie, but more companies are working to build that sort of high-performance culture; and if you don’t, you are definitely going to keep losing guys like me.”
“Where would I start?” asked Charlie, discouraged, but being a can-do sort of guy, also determined to take action.
“All I can tell you is what this other organization has done – it’s the same thing I’ve been finding in my research.”
“I’m all ears!!!,” said Charlie.
What’s the solution that Joe’s new company has discovered? What CAN Charlie do to keep this from happening again?
Stay tuned for our fourth and final email next week and find out the answers to these questions.
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Epilogue