It's Not All About the Money
“If you want people to work for you, figure out how working for you and your organization will help people accomplish their dreams.”
In this episode, Tony Ferraro, Senior Executive Coach and Director of Training Services at Floyd Consulting, and our host, Kate Volman, are chatting about both sides of the retention coin—why people leave and, more importantly, why they stay.
Unsurprisingly, money is a big factor, but when employees are engaged, they are significantly less concerned about salary. Listen in for a discussion on the simple but powerful key to unlocking engagement.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The role money plays in retention and how to mitigate it
- How to connect your people's personal missions to the organizations
- What you should consider to attract top talent
Things to Listen for:
[01:35] Recent research behind retention
[07:16] Linking your people's missions to the organizations
[13:45] The question to ask your team members today
[15:12] People are people
Resources:
Connect with the Guest:
Connect with the Host & Floyd Coaching:
Transcript
It's not. So,
[:It's not all about the money. We share the surprising reason people come to work and become fully engaged. We hope you enjoy this episode.
all right, Tony, I'm so excited about this episode today. Thanks so much for joining me.
[:chance to talk here today.
[:we love it all. It's all good. But today we're, we're, excited because we're always looking at research.
We're always looking at what's happening in the workforce. Obviously we're having lots of different conversations with leaders and the people that we coach and our dream managers and the organizations that we speak to on a regular basis. And so we're always diving into the numbers and what's happening in the workforce.
And one of the things that we're. Always looking at is obviously employee engagement. We're always looking at why are people leaving organizations and why are people staying at organizations? And really the question of, why do people work for you?
Why are they actually coming to your organizations and work for you? so we're diving into that a little bit and we wanna share some ideas and some thoughts. when you are hiring your people, when you are training your people and developing your people, these are some things to consider, to really attract that great talent.
So, Tony, share with us some of the data that you dug into.
[:I like what I'm doing. so heard all of that and I thought, well, I wonder how that matches up with, you know, is that common? is this matching up with the research? And then, so looked at, uh, some, some current research which was I found really interesting.
There was just some, some study I was looking at, it actually split employees by whether they were engaged or not. And so what was not surprising at all is folks who were not engaged in their job, they would leave because of salary. Number one far out in those paycheck.
That's all it is. which is not surprising, which is why we see, you know, in talking to leaders all the time, that people, are chasing the dollar, they'll take a dollar more, $2 more, whatever that is, they chase the dollar. So if folks aren't engaged in their work, then money's the number one thing.
if, however, folks are engaged in their work, then salary dropped down to like sixth. And the reason they stayed was, they enjoyed what they're doing, the way it fit into their life. They enjoyed the culture, the organization, so I just found it really interesting that, money led the way. For folks who were not engaged in their job, but it dropped down significantly if people were actually engaged in their work.
So, I thought it was interesting. I went back even further because we're hearing, that, you know, pay is a big part and the big thing now is, is job flexibility and work-life balance and a whole nother set of reasons.
, you know, as early as like:and so it's just confusing. I mean, what do you do if you're a leader and you're trying to hold onto people? You're like, well, I thought it was so what we do, what did we do? We tried to train managers, gotta make people better managers. That way people will stay. then it became all about, we have to have flexible schedules.
We have, because that's why people are so, it just seems like leaders end up, you end up chasing your tail and you're, it, it's a lagging indicator. As to why people are staying or leaving at your job. And so with that, you know, I coach a lot of executives, I'm like, well, I don't know what to tell people if we're, if we're gonna revolve on the rely on the research.
So, the short of it is the research is all over the place and it's fairly inconsistent. But I think, and this is the second thing I wanna talk about, I think there's an answer. There's one answer, and it's much simpler than we think it
is.
[:And so
to be able to look at lots of different data and then look at what are you noticing in your organization, what are you noticing around the companies that you're working with and your colleagues and the conversations that you're having. And you're gonna start to see some things that are similar, that build on each other that you'll start to recognize and then be able to kind of navigate.
Using your own data, right? Like, data is one thing, but how are you leveraging it? How are you using it? and kind of what are the decisions that you're making to make the changes that you need to make, to find those right people
to build your companies. The one thing I wanna say, about the, the money thing, which is interesting is because we just interviewed someone on this podcast,Glen Lundy. People on his team, they literally took significant pay cuts to go work for his organization. And the reason why they did that is because they are. They are so committed and excited about the vision and the mission and what he's doing, that they're saying, all right, I will leave where I am today to come work with your organization because I want to build, I wanna grow, I wanna be part of this.
And so I say that to kind of lead you into your next thing that you're gonna
talk about, because it plays perfectly and beautifully right into kind of the solution to.
To what we're talking
[: [: [:My contention is this, people work for an organization because they feel like working there will help them accomplish their dreams. If you want people to work for you, figure out a way that working for you and your organization will help people accomplish their dreams. Matthew wrote that in the Dream Manager.
He said, people will, It hits their wagon to your organization. If they feel like where you're going, we'll help them get to where they wanna go. So, I'm not dismissing what you said about the company actually part of those people's dreams. It might be that their professional dream.
For example, is to be part of an organization who's doing something of merit or something, and so that's part of it. So their dream gets accomplished by that company. For other folks, pay could be the issue because what they make allows them to accomplish the dreams that they have in some financial area.
That people may want a more flexible work schedule because they want to be a husband, father, mother, whatever that might be, in a different way, and that's one of their dreams. So, instead of trying to focus on one area, just that one principle is that people work for an organization. And stay more.
Most importantly, stay working for an organization because by working there, we'll help them
accomplish their dreams.
[:When you work for a great organization, like those are, you have professional dreams, you have dreams of, building character or building a certain skill that you get to accomplish when you're working there. Because think about it, you're spending so much of your time. At work and when you get to do what you do best, when you get to fulfill that vision that like people, that the best people in the world, like those A players, we always are looking for, they have those kinds of dreams.
They want to grow, they wanna develop in all of those different areas. And then yes, they want to be able to afford to go and take their family on vacations and buy the things they wanna buy. And those are the material dreams that we're talking about. So I love. Obviously this is what we do, right?
We certify
dream managers, so of course we're gonna say that the solution is is that, but it talk to anyone and it makes so much sense. It makes sense to leaders when you care about your people and your people are getting better because they're being able to fulfill those dreams. There's, how are they gonna show up at work?
Anything less than engaged
because they're more engaged in their own life.
[: [: [:So what, what do you do as a leader, of an organization? You say, well, okay, it, again, that's simple too. Find a way. To help people accomplish their dreams through their work. The first step to that is actually to help people identify their dreams, which again, sounds simple, but you and I know people stop dreaming.
and when you stop dreaming, you become disengaged in your life. That's why, okay, when folks leave because of salary, it, look, you can't pay someone enough who doesn't have their financial house in order. If they don't know their financial dreams and they don't have a system for that, you can't pay 'em enough.
Cuz it's just more money. They're not gonna manage it. So, so you know, finding a system to help people identify their dreams, whether it's financial or physical or emotional because you know, yes, we spend a lot of time at work. But yes, our work life and our, the rest of our life is in, is integrated. And so, you know what we find time and time again, folks that y you know, when they start making the process available for people to identify their dreams, then you have a chance, and this is the second part, to show people how, if the company accomplishes its mission, Then they'll be able to accomplish their mission of fulfilling their dreams.
So leaders can do two things. One, they help people identify and work through their dreams and create a strategic way of accomplishing them. That's the first thing. It's what the Dream Manager program does. so you help people get more engaged in their lives. By dreaming again. And secondly, then you show them that if the company accomplishes its mission, they've got a much better chance to accomplish theirs.
Then people can really start getting focused on the mission of the organization. So that's the first thing. And then the second thing is a leader is you have to be really clear about what your mission is in your organization, and you need to make it the king you need to make. All of the decisions based on mission.
That way there's no ambiguity. People know as a leader, why is he doing this? He's doing this. So the company can accomplish its mission. Oh, and by the way, if the company accomplish its mission, I'm gonna accomplish my mission in life and I'm gonna fulfill my dreams. So, that's what the leader has to do.
And those two things help people identify. And get strategic about their dreams and make that connection between the company's mission and the people's mission. And if you can do that, then it doesn't matter if it's a, I mean, why are some companies killing it with having everybody back to work? And some of them, are killing and, some of them have remote workers.
they're having great implementations and bad implementations. Why do some people pay more? look, it's not just pay it. how long did we hear? Pay people $15 an hour and they'll be more satisfied with their work. Well, You know, ask Wendy's manager right now of $17 an hour is giving them an overflow of workers.
It's not. So, I think that the dream manager is just based on a universal truth, and that universal truth is that people will definitely hits their wagon to the organization and be engaged if they feel like they're gonna accomplish their mission, if the organization accomplishes theirs,
People understand decisions are made for, in the best interest of the company's mission. And now we get a cycle that just keeps going and people become more and more engaged in their lives. So, that's what I've gleaned from this cuz there's so much data, but it al you know, we're always looking for what's the core principle.
And, uh, I think if people can figure out how to do that, then they've got a chance to crack this code.
[:What are the dreams that you have for your life? And what I love so much about that too is not only does it start engaging them immediately, right?
Because the best way to get engagement in anyone is to ask them about their dreams, even if
they have stopped dreaming. Because what it does is it kind of reignites that spark. You get to ask them a little bit more. Well, you know, we ask obviously some really good dream storm questions, if I gave you $500 today, what would you do with that money?
If you could go anywhere in the world tomorrow, where would you go? There's always these dream starters, and that's gonna remind people, oh, I do have these dreams in my life. There are things that I really wanna do. And you start that conversation and then not only does that kind of help them become more engaged, but you as a leader are also getting to know your people.
And one of the best things that you can do as a leader is to know your people so well, that not only are you helping them with their dreams, but now you're understanding, oh, how can I coach this person better? Because now I understand their personality more. I understand what drives them. I understand what's really important to them.
I understand how they think, like what they're thinking about and all of these things helps you as a leader. To help your team grow, which is really the number one role of a leader.
So it does all of these things. And so I love this idea and I love the fact that, with the world today, like you said, the data is all over the place.
You see all these videos of people like talking about quiet, quitting and leaving. and it always comes down to people don't feel appreciated. People don't feel valued. The best people in the world want to work. They do. They want to do good work. they want to use their superpowered, their skillset.
They wanna come and be part of something that is bigger than themselves. and that is what you get to do, as a leader. And. Of course when you're doing that and helping them with their dreams. I mean, it's a win-win people.
[:like people.
[: [:your organization.
[:And it's simply these holy moments of doing things every day that kind of are treating people like people really is the essence of it. The small little things that we do that remind people, that people are good,
that there are good people in the world, that they want to help you.
We all kind of are here together. We get to support each other, help each other, It's no surprise that so many people love that book because we need to hear that kind of message, that simple message, because
people are people. people are people. We say it
every single day.
[:You can e every person listening today can do that. Can ask one person, Hey, what's your dream? And it'll change. It'll change the workplace. Starting tomorrow.
[:tomorrow. Starting today. Do it
[: [:People and culture, and employee development and leadership and all of these different things that we get to talk about. Uh, would love to, to hear from you. And of course, if you do love the show, we would love for you to go over and give us a rating over on iTunes. Uh, it really does help us out with the show and, having more people to find it.
And you are interested in learning a little bit more about the Dream Manager, we would love to talk to you about that program. We work with all different kinds of organizations, Like Tony said, people are people. Wherever they work, people are people.
We're all the same. And so we would love to talk to you about the Dream manager and how you can start incorporating that into your, workplace. And you can go to the dream manager.com. until next time, lead with culture.
