Your best people keep leaving for a “better opportunity.”
Good people rarely leave a small business over pay alone. They leave when they can’t see a future, don’t know where they stand, or stop believing things will change. The reasons are usually visible months before the resignation letter.
Book a free 20-minute Gap CallYou’ve probably said one of these.
- “She left for a better opportunity.”
- “We can’t compete on pay.”
- “I didn’t see it coming.”
- “We just trained him, and now he’s gone.”
Pay is the reason people give. It’s rarely the whole reason they go.
There’s no upside to honesty on the way out, so exit interviews tell you very little. Meanwhile the early signs were there: someone who used to push back now just agrees, ideas dry up in meetings, your strongest person starts taking on less.
In a smaller business the usual causes are an unclear future, not knowing where they stand, decisions that get overruled, problems that never get fixed, and partners who send mixed signals.
Find out before they leave.
The Leadership Gap Pulse asks your current team the questions exit interviews never answer honestly, confidentially and in themes, not names.
The Intensive then works on the two or three causes that show up most, with an owner and a date on each fix.
Ask your best three people one question.
Sit down with each of them and ask what would make them stay another three years. Then listen without defending. Write down what you hear.
Twenty minutes. Your business, your team, a straight answer.
Tell John what’s not working. He’ll tell you plainly whether there’s a gap worth working on.
Book a free 20-minute Gap Call