How to Retain Your Best Talent in Times of Crisis
It’s tough being a Wartime CEO, but retaining top talent doesn’t have to be.
A recent Gallop poll showed that 60% of workers around the world are quietly disengaged at work, and another 20% are actively disengaged, meaning they’re not even trying to hide their detachment.
That’s 80% of the world’s workforce checked out, costing the global economy $9 trillion.
According to the Pareto Principle, this all makes sense — 80% of the impact is made by 20% of the workforce.
But as the world becomes increasingly stressful, the effective 20% is now at risk. This is why companies are listing talent retention as their most important operational priority, ahead of revenue growth.
Think about it. We’re all dealing with a lot right now — war, social reckoning, economic woes, climate collapse, and more. At work, companies are battening down the hatches, trying to do more with less, and particularly with fewer people. Everyone’s on the lookout for the other shoe to drop, exacerbating an already stressed-out psyche.
It’s definitely Wartime for many tech companies right now. The question is: Can Wartime CEOs and executives keep their top talent — the 20% — engaged and motivated?
It depends. Here’s what I’ve seen leaders do at companies that managed to retain top talent during times of crisis.
#1 Dismiss Low Performers
Putting up with low performers is a leadership failure in “Peacetime”. In times of crisis, it’s the nail in any company’s coffin. The example below highlights how tolerating underperformance impacts top talent:
Meet Nina
Nina is a Senior Data Analyst at ShopEase — a once fast-growing but now struggling e-commerce startup. Nina’s been a beacon of efficiency her entire tenure at the company. Her data-informed insights have been crucial in optimizing the supply chain, reducing costs, and improving operational efficiency — key factors in the company’s fight for survival right now.
But as ShopEase enters a critical phase in its operations, desperately needing to secure more revenue to stay afloat, Nina observes that the sales team, led by Alex, is consistently missing their targets. Despite the company being on the brink of collapse, Alex faces no repercussions from Olivia, the COO, who seems to tolerate the underperformance.
During a high-stakes project aimed at optimizing warehouse logistics to cut costs further, Nina finds that the sales team’s failure to meet targets is directly affecting the already limited operations budget. When she raises the issue in an emergency team meeting, Olivia’s response is dismissive: “We’re all under pressure; let’s focus on what we can control. Sales will catch up.”
Feeling frustrated and alarmed, Nina decides to discuss the issue with her direct manager, Ethan: “The lack of accountability in sales is not just affecting this critical project but also jeopardizing the company’s survival. It’s as if we’re tolerating failure at the worst possible time.”
Ethan’s response is sympathetic but ultimately unhelpful: “I understand, Nina. Olivia is trying to keep the team together during this crisis. Let’s just get through this project, and we’ll sort out the performance issues later.”
Despite Ethan’s assurances, “later” never comes. The project is completed, but only due to the Herculean effort from Nina and a few other top performers. The sales team continues to miss targets, and the company’s financial situation worsens.
Nina finds herself increasingly disengaged and starts to consider other career opportunities, even in the midst of a crisis. She’s not alone; other top performers who have been carrying the weight of the team begin to feel the same way.
She’s now seriously contemplating her options: Should she look for a new job where her skills will be better utilized, or should she stay and continue to be part of a sinking ship?
The culture of tolerating underperformance in sales has not only affected her but is also exacerbating the existential crisis facing ShopEase. She begins to question the leadership and wonders how this will impact the startup’s already slim chances of survival.
Advice for Leaders
When it’s all hands on deck, accountability is critical. Your people are watching. If you put up with mediocrity on your team when you’re in survival mode, you’re sending a signal to the best on your team that you don’t have what it takes to right the ship.
High performers have options and are light on their feet, especially when the going gets tough, and their efforts are dragged down by incompetent colleagues.
It’s never too late to course correct. Act now.
#2 Mind Your Culture
Your best people want to operate in an environment that has the following ingredients:
Accountability (see #1)
Decisiveness
Autonomy
Recognition
Self-awareness
Humility
Taking care of culture is very much like taking care of our bodies, especially under duress.
Strive for exceptional, and you’ll end up with great. Strive for great, and you’ll end up with good. Strive for good, and you’ll end up with mediocre. Tolerate mediocre, and you’ll end up with entropy.
Once you hit entropy, the inertia to course correct is so high it’s almost impossible to overcome.
Your best people won’t survive in a state of entropy. They will leave.
Meet Steven
Steven is a Senior Product Manager at the fintech startup, NetWorth. Steven is known for his knack for innovation. He’s the brains behind several features that have been critical for user engagement and revenue. He’s one of the company’s top performers.
But as NetWorth grapples with a financial crisis and an uncertain future, Steven starts to feel the weight of the company’s dysfunctional culture.
Carl, the CEO, is a micromanager who’s paralyzed by indecision. He scrutinizes every detail of Steven’s projects but avoids making any concrete decisions. This leaves Steven in a perpetual state of limbo, unable to move forward with initiatives that could be game-changers for the struggling company.
Adding to the frustration, Carl never acknowledges Steven’s efforts. Instead, he nitpicks minor issues, diverting focus from the larger objectives. When Steven turns to Lisa, his VP of Product, for support, she acknowledges the problem but offers no real solutions.
“Carl’s under a lot of stress,” she says. “Let’s just keep our heads down and get through this project.”
But “getting through” becomes increasingly difficult. The culture of micromanagement and indecision is suffocating, and it’s clear that the leadership lacks both self-awareness and the ability to reflect on what’s really going on with the people on the ground.
As the company’s financial situation worsens, so does the work environment.
Steven starts to disengage. He’s no longer excited about his projects and begins to question whether his skills would be better utilized elsewhere. He notices he’s not alone; other high-performing colleagues are also showing signs of disengagement.
Finally, Steven reaches a tipping point. He updates his resume and starts exploring new opportunities. It’s a difficult decision, but Steven can’t help but think that staying would mean being part of a sinking ship with a captain who refuses to change course.
The toxic culture at NetWorth has far-reaching consequences. Not only has it disengaged one of its top performers, but it’s also accelerating the company’s downward spiral. Steven’s departure becomes a symbol of the company’s broader issues — a lack of leadership self-awareness, a culture that stifles excellence, and a failure to act during an existential crisis.
Advice for Leaders
Culture matters, especially in times of crisis. If you think it’s the least of your worries, you’re mistaken. It’s the soft tissue that makes the hard things needed to survive in business work. Mind your culture to keep your best people engaged and motivated.
Parting Thoughts
The stakes have never been higher for leaders in the tech industry.
The global workforce is largely disengaged, and the invaluable few that drive most of the impact are under unprecedented stress with challenges ranging from geopolitical instability to internal organizational pressures.
Yet, the companies that navigate these turbulent waters successfully have a common thread: decisive leadership that prioritizes talent retention.
This is not the time for indecisiveness or neglecting your company culture. Effective leaders act swiftly to part ways with low performers and double down on cultivating an environment that not only retains but also nurtures the best in their workforce.
It’s Wartime; your ability to maintain a motivated and engaged team could very well be your competitive edge. Ignore it at your peril.