By Chally Kacelnik
People don’t leave organisations for the reasons leaders often assume. Pay and perks matter, but they’re rarely the deciding factor. More often, people leave because of frustration, lack of clarity, or a sense that their effort doesn’t make a difference.
In poorly run teams, expectations are unclear, decision-making is inconsistent, and accountability is fuzzy. Oddly, this can sometimes feel comfortable. With little clarity, people learn how to stay under the radar; there’s less risk in doing just enough. I recently spoke to someone in a team like this, not a client of ours. She has colleagues who will stare non-responsively if asked to do their work tasks. Their manager has no insight into this. Guess who is providing value and now also quitting?
Well-run teams are different. Roles are clear, standards are explicit, and contribution matters. For people who want to grow and do meaningful work, this is energising. For others, it can feel exposing. The clarity that enables good performance also makes gaps visible, and not everyone wants that.
This creates a leadership challenge. Retention isn’t just about keeping people; it’s about keeping the right people. Teams with clear expectations tend to retain those who value responsibility and contribution, while those seeking ambiguity often opt out. That’s why a client organisation of ours facing rocky personnel issues has set a metric specifically for unwanted people turnover in addition to general turnover.
Leaders sometimes misinterpret a certain level of people turnover as a failure. In reality, it’s a sign that the team is functioning as intended. The task isn’t to dilute expectations to keep everyone comfortable, but rather to ensure that support, development, and fairness accompany clarity.
LKS Quaero’s work with leaders often focuses on helping them hold this line: maintaining clear standards while supporting people to meet them. When leaders do this well, teams stabilise around shared purpose rather than shared avoidance.
At LKS Quaero, we help teams to function well. For more information, visit us at lksquaero.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.
