Over the last twenty years the Gallup Organization has conducted an extensive study of workplaces in an attempt to determine how companies can find and retain key talent. They interviewed over a million employees, asking each employee hundreds of questions, probing every conceivable aspect of their working life. The results are presented in Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffmans's book, First, Break All The Rules.

The most powerful discovery that they made was that people leave managers, not companies. People may join an organization because of the reputation of the organization, benefits, working environment, and so on. But how long they stay and how productive they are depends mostly on the relationship with their immediate supervisor.

Before we jump to the conclusion that all employee productivity and retention problems can be solved by “fixing” the first level supervisors, there is one other piece of research that needs to be considered. In analyzing the behaviors and attitudes of customer service personnel, studies have found that these employees tend to treat customers the same way that they are treated. The same is true of first level supervisors. They will tend to treat the people who work for them the same way that they are treated.

Many times in working with first level supervisors, one of the biggest obstacles to changing their behavior is getting their immediate supervisor to support the behavior change. For instance, the supervisor may want t delegate and show more trust in people, yet the boss expects the supervisor to be involved in all the details and look over the employee's shoulders. Or the supervisor is expected to be better at balancing praise and criticism, yet feels that all he or she hears is criticism.

As an senior leader, if you are getting feedback concerning treatment of employees by their supervisor, you need to look first at your own behavior towards those who report to you. When you take an honest look, are you seeing your own behaviors coming out in lower level managers? Another place to look is how your senior managers treat each other. Do you overlook unacceptable management behavior towards others? Do the results justify the means?

Often people are selected for first level supervisory positions primarily because of their technical skills and abilities. They have been excellent workers and promotion to supervisor is a way of rewarding them. This should not be the primary consideration. Obviously, supervisors must have some level of technical competence and a reasonably good work record, but this should not supercede the ability to build relationships with people. Most people who become supervisors do not come into the job with the necessary human relations skills.

When companies have turnover problems, often the Human Resources Department is given the responsibility to fix the problem. They may even be given a specific numerical objective to achieve. This usually has minimal impact. Companies who have been successful in reducing turnover and improving retention hold the line management accountable for results. It becomes a key element of performance management .