A/E Turnover Tipping Point 2: New Management
As part of a series of four occasions in which your firm is most apt to lose employees, I’d like to present Part II.
Tipping Point 2 of 4: Change in Management/Ownership
Getting a new boss is not an automatic turnoff for most employees. As any new manager knows, they are entering a period of evaluation — ascertaining the strengths and weaknesses of the team they have inherited and deciding how best to position the same team for future challenges.
At the same time, your new employees are evaluating you as the manager: What is the new manager’s leadership style? How does s/he communicate? What can I learn from this person? Do we have good personal chemistry? Do I trust him? Does s/he care about what I want to achieve in my own career?
If there has been a recent acquisition, the process of evaluation by acquired employees is much the same, but the questions are on a grander scale, and not about a specific work relationship: What does this change mean to me? How will my day-to-day/role/career path be affected? What changes in corporate culture can I expect, and can I (or do I want to) adapt?
All of these questions take time to answer. Universally, I have seen that employees give themselves a one-year deadline to form opinions/answers to these introspective questions. There is something magical about this one year mark. Many consultants predetermine this period for evaluating their new context. and they stick to it. At the one-year point, your consultants know the answer to the question “Should I Stay or Should I Go?”
For some, the milestone marks the beginning of their next job search.
The lyrics aren’t relevant, but I am tickled at being able to incorporate the title of a rock song into a piece of business-related writing, so please enjoy this flashback…
Exciting projects, new project manager, and the staff is challenged to perform to a new level of involvement. It is amazing that even in a challenging field such as engineering, sometimes the level of involvement, or dedication to details is lacking. It takes a certain dedication to reinvigorate the troops, and sometimes new blood, or a new leader is the answer. No more work as usual, budgets are too lean to not perform, and you are being evaluated.
Go forth with the new manager, you both are being challenged, and it will take both of you to succeed!
I would add the Enya tune, “Only Time” will help this economy and construction slowdown. Our leaders and elected politicians need to take the next step and commit the dollars to our infrastructure.