Early warning signs
- Fewer suggestions, less initiative.
- Minimal answers in meetings.
- Unusual mistakes from someone reliable.
- Complaints about small daily details.
- Losing interest in where the business is going.
Causes the owner can act on
A role that became unclear
The job evolved without being redefined. The person no longer knows what's expected or how they're judged.
A direction nobody can see
Without knowing where the business is going, it's hard to see what your work is for.
No recognition
A person's know-how benefits the whole company, and nobody says so.
Daily frustrations
The same mistakes, the same questions, the same pointless meetings: over time, they wear people down more than one big problem.
No prospects
Not knowing how you can grow, learn or take on more responsibility.
Concrete levers
| Cause | What the owner can do |
|---|---|
| Unclear role | Rewrite the job description with the person: mission, responsibilities, what they decide alone |
| Invisible direction | Write and share the strategy and goals. See aligning your team. |
| No recognition | Put the author's name on the methods they wrote, celebrate results |
| Frustrations | Tackle the irritants: repeated mistakes, meetings without decisions. See repeated mistakes. |
| No prospects | Hand over new responsibilities, within a clear framework. See empowering your team. |
Listen before acting. A regular one-to-one where the person can say what bothers them without fear often reveals simple causes to fix. It's also the best way not to discover a departure on resignation day.
When someone leaves anyway
Some departures are unavoidable. What matters then is that the business doesn't lose what the person knew. If their methods are written down, their departure is a transition, not a crisis. See the risks of an unstructured business and key-person risk.
For all team problems: the 10 most common team problems.