There has been a lot of talk about “failing schools” which is measured, in part, by how many students are “failing.” We generally measure the success or failure of organizations by the amount of profit that they generate. The more profit, the better the business is doing. I would argue that another key indicator of organizational success is the number of employees who succeed. Generally organizations with high turnover (both voluntary and involuntary) are less profitable then those with a steady team of employees.

I was working with a particular client when I noticed that this executive leader had continual turnover of his management team. When I asked about his thoughts on why he either fired his team or they quit, he couldn’t come up with anything besides the fact that he hired the wrong people. I had some other thoughts for him regarding clarity of expectations and roles, but either way it was a reflection on him and what he was (or wasn't) doing. If a majority of your staff is turning over (do you have an entirely different executive team then you did least year?) then the executive leader needs to take a long hard look at what he or she is doing. If most of the class is failing we look at the teacher. If most of the executive team or employee group are failing, we should be looking to the executive leader or management team.