Often, yes. When the same seat keeps turning over no matter who you hire, the cause is usually inside the business: roles that were never written down and managers who were promoted for doing good work but never shown how to lead. Those are things you can start working on now.
Key Takeaways
- High turnover is usually a symptom. People leave confusion and communication problems more often than they leave a paycheck.
- Two causes show up again and again: unclear roles, and managers promoted for their work instead of their leadership.
- "Nobody wants to work anymore" keeps you looking outside the business for a fix you can make inside it.
- This week, ask two people who left what would have made them stay, ask two people on your team what isn't clear, and look for the overlap.
Do You Recognize This Pattern?
You hired someone you were excited about. Six months later they're gone, and you're writing the same job description for the third time in 18 months to post on Indeed again. At some point you start to wonder if good people even exist anymore.
A few other things tend to come with it:
- The same seat keeps turning over, no matter who you put in it.
- New hires start strong, then fade and go quiet.
- You promoted your best person to manager, lost your best worker, and ended up with a struggling manager.
- So you cover the gaps yourself. Again.
None of this means you're a bad boss or that you're bad at hiring. Most owners were never shown how to lead a growing team, or how to fill gaps in any way other than filling them personally.
Why Is Turnover Usually a Symptom?
Because the reason people leave is often something they ran into after they were hired. In my experience, people leave confusion and communication issues more than they leave a paycheck. Pay matters, but a person who doesn't know what's expected of them, or who keeps getting mixed signals from a manager, will eventually start looking.
That's why high turnover deserves a closer look. If the same problem keeps showing up with different people, the people probably aren't the common thread.
What Two Leadership Gaps Show Up Most?
Two things keep showing up again and again in growing businesses.
1. Unclear roles
The real job description lives in the owner's head, not in the employee's. You know exactly what the front office lead or the shop manager is supposed to own. They're guessing. Sometimes the fix is as simple as writing it down and walking through it together.
2. Managers promoted for good work, not for leading
Most managers in a 5 to 50 person business got the job because they were great at the work. That makes sense. Being great at the job and being able to lead the people who do it are two different skills, and most new managers are never shown the second one.
| What it looks like | What may be underneath | A place to start |
|---|---|---|
| The same seat keeps turning over | The role was never clearly defined | Write down what the role owns and talk it through |
| New hires start strong, then go quiet | They aren't sure what a good job looks like | Ask them what's unclear, then clarify it |
| Your best worker became a struggling manager | Nobody showed them how to lead | Treat leading as a skill they get to learn |
What Happened When I Promoted My Best Worker Too Fast?
I've made this mistake myself. One hire that didn't work out for me was a manager I promoted way too fast. He was great at getting the job done, but he wasn't a leader yet.
And I didn't have the tools in my owner toolbox to recognize it, or to develop the leader inside that manager. I just promoted my best worker. What happened is I lost my best worker, and honestly, I got a pretty mediocre manager out of the deal.
He didn't fail on his own. I put him in a seat I hadn't prepared him for. That's a leadership problem, and it was mine to fix.
What Stories Keep Owners Looking in the Wrong Place?
Notice the stories you tell yourself when someone quits:
"Nobody wants to work hard anymore."
"People have changed. Nobody has the character we used to have."
These stories feel true, and there may be some truth in them. The trouble is where they point. A staffing problem keeps you looking outside the business for the fix: better applicants, a better job board, a different generation. A leadership problem is something you can work on right now. In ontological coaching, we pay attention to stories like these because the way you explain a situation shapes what you believe you can do about it.
Helping owners and their managers lead a growing team is a big part of the leadership coaching we do with Central Valley owners.
What Can I Try This Week?
Ask the people who left, ask the people who stayed, and look for what they have in common.
- Think of the last two people who left. Ask yourself one question: what would have made them stay?
- If the relationship allows it, ask them. Call or text: "I want to have a bit of a difficult conversation. Is there anything we could have done as a company that would have made you stay?" Now that there's been some time and separation, they may tell you more than they did on the way out.
- Just listen. You don't need to explain or defend yourself. Listen for anything that lands with you. If something makes you feel a little uncomfortable, that's probably worth thinking about.
- Write down what you hear.
- If you're really brave, ask two people on your team now. Bring them in one at a time: "Is there a part of your job that's not clear to you? Is there anything we could do to make it clearer what you're supposed to be doing and how to get the best results?"
- Look for the overlap. You'll probably hear the same thing twice from different people. Circle it. That's where you start.
You don't have to act on everything you hear. The goal is to listen first. If you're also finding that every gap lands back on your desk, why everything still runs through you looks at the owner's side of the same pattern, and why teams don't take ownership looks at the team's side.
Questions Owners Ask
How do I know if turnover is a leadership problem?
Look for repetition. If different people leave the same seat for similar reasons, or new hires keep starting strong and fading, the cause is likely something they walk into, such as an unclear role or a manager who was never shown how to lead.
Should I stop promoting my best workers to manager?
No. Your best workers can make great managers. Treat leading as a separate skill, talk about what the new role owns, and give them support while they learn it.
What if a former employee won't talk to me?
That's fine. Only reach out where the relationship allows it. You can still ask yourself what would have made them stay, and you can always ask the people currently on your team what isn't clear.
How Trail to Summit Can Help
If your managers and your team are where you're feeling it most, that's a big part of the work I do. On a free 30-minute strategy call, we'll look at the seats that keep turning over and what might be underneath. No pressure and no pitch. If I'm not the right fit, I'll tell you.
Book a Free Strategy CallNot ready to talk yet? Take the free Summit Scorecard to see where your business stands.
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