The P.E.R.F.O.R.M. Playbook: How to Build a Team That Stays

Retention is often seen as an elusive workplace metric, but what if it wasn’t? 

In this episode of Relationships at Work, Russel Lolacher shares his firsthand experience of leading and retaining the same team for 12 years. He dives into the framework that made it possible—P.E.R.F.O.R.M.—a leadership approach grounded in personal connection, empowerment, and meaningful work. Learn why retention isn’t luck but the result of deliberate leadership, and why calling it a "unicorn" completely misses the point.

And connect with me for more great content!

• Sign Up for R@W Notes
• Subscribe on Youtube
• Follow on Linkedin
• Follow on Instagram
• Follow me on Threads
• Follow on TikTok
• Email me anytime

Transcript

Welcome back to Relationships At Work – Your guide to building workplace connections and avoiding leadership blind spots..  I’m your host Russel Lolacher

I’m a communications and leadership nerd with a couple of decades of experience and a heap of curiosity on how we can make the workplace better. If you’re a leader trying to understand and improve your impact on work culture and the employee experience, you’re in the right place. 

This mini-episode is a quick and valuable bit of information to help your mindset for the week ahead. 

Inspired by our R@W Note Newsletter, I’m passing on to you… 

12 Years of Employee Retention Doesn’t Happen by Accident

Retention is talked about a lot in the workplace, and it should be. If it’s good, it demonstrates that something is working, both for the individuals, the team and for those leading it. If it’s bad, it a red flag in regards to problems, usually bigger than we can imagine or want to admit, at play that may need to be addressed. 

Retention is a key metric to understanding the health of our organizations. Now imagine retaining pretty much the same team for 12 years.

It's a lot of work, it's a lot of intention, but it's one of the accomplishments I've been most proud of as a leader. Whenever I ever share the "Russel Greatest Hits" for a speaking gig or a podcast interview, it's one that many want to talk about. Usually the question is, "how?"
 ​
 I've heard retaining a team this long called a "unicorn" event. I can’t tell you how much that has pissed me off because it undervalues the amount of leadership, effort, and design that went into creating an environment people want to stay, work, and thrive in. It’s dismissive and lacks curiosity. So you know, pisses me off. 

But I’ve also been surrounded by amazing, curious leaders like yourself who have asked me over the years what my approach was.  So I wanted to share my handy framework I call -  "P.E.R.F.O.R.M." 

The P in Perform kicks off with: 

·       Personal One-on-Ones – I made sure to set up one-on-ones with my team members. Put it in the calendar. Make them sacred, so as not to cancel them or prioritize other meetings. And I made that time, THEIR time. However they wanted to spend it was up to them - professional development, work observations, home life, career aspirations, new yoga techniques... whatever. I even tried cancelling it once because I wasn’t totally sure of the impact. The death stares and reaction I got from members of the team spoke volumns. They never cancelled. They only rescheduled. That should have said something. Valuing that time demonstrated how much I valued them.

·       Empowerment – All team members bring their own experience and expertise to the role. They are smarter than you in many areas. It was important for me to encourage that. Encouraging them to show what they know while also having their back if it doesn't go the way they want. Any opportunities that came our way - speaking at an event, taking on a new project, making process changes...I wanted them to take it on as a valued representative of the team with my full support. 

·       Relationship Building – I hate hierarchy thinking, and gate keepers to hierarchies. I hate processes and systems that are prioritized over people. It removes humanity and relationship building. So in our case, each team member was encouraged to build their own relationships across and beyond the organization. 
See the thing is, each team member had their own portfolio of responsibilities and accountabilities and that meant building relationships with the business areas in those portfolios, regardless of where those people sat in an org chart. Was it always someone higher up? No. There was a lot of knowledge that wasn’t at the higher levels but they did need the senior leader relationships to ensure everyone was OK with what we were doing and how we were representing them. Having the team nurture their own relationships actually helps them grow their own networks for future career growth.

·       Feeling Valued – It was vital to connect work to worth. Almost immediately, I had them set up a "kudos folder", which collected any praise placed on them individually or as a team from their customers or within the organization. It was vital to connect what they did every day, to the positive impact it had on people's lives. What they did - mattered, and it was essential that they felt it, saw it, and understood it operationally/daily… rather than as a special treat on Employee Appreciation Day or it being assumed they just knew. We also celebrated our collaborative wins. Every year for Valentine's Day, we sent out an internal email across the organization showcasing the work we did between our team and others in the company, and the beneficial results of that work. It showcased the relationships to those IN the relationships but it also highlighted that close collaboration to senior leaders so they could see the value. 

·       Ownership – Every piece of work, every bit of knowledge pertaining to that work, every relationship that supported that work... was all owned by each team member. Its success, its challenges. All of it. It was so key to treating our teams like adults, rather than children or cogs in a wheel to deliver a thing/service/product. That meant they owned their own learning, owned the strategic growth of their portfolio, and in measuring its success. I was always there to guide, support and connect to the bigger picture but they owned their world and its journey. It was about hiring them to do the work, grow the work and trusting them to do it. 

·       Relatable Purpose – If I'm not clear as to what I want to achieve - work environment, culture, deliverables, goals, etc. then I've failed the team. What's key is to make that purpose relatable, inspiring, and part of day-to-day of our work. Our purpose statement was one of the first things they saw on my whiteboard in my office and the benchmark by how we made decisions. It also tied to the organizations vision and mission so they know we were part of something greater. I also created a manifesto, a credo, that sat on my wall that laid out how we showed up as a team and delivered our purpose in a tangible way. A purpose to have direction and a credo to illustrate the guardrails that were unique to our team approach and philosophies. 

·       Meaningful Experience – Those people on our team made the work more enjoyable by being allowed to be their true, honest selves. If they didn't agree with me, they knew it was safe to question my ideas. If they had better ideas, they knew they would be considered and often adopted. If they had other interests, I tried to find ways we could either help their professional development in that direction or to incorporate it into the work they were already doing. A big chunk of their lives was spent with each other and with me and we all took responsibility for that. Made meaning from it. Even if we didn't always align to other work cultures, we took it upon ourselves to ensure we were connected and valued. We made it meaningful for each of us based on the individuals we were. 

Twelve years. It flew by. 

It's hard to realize how impactful it'll be on you and your team while you're in it. I certainly found that. And after so long of a time, I have to admit you do take it for granted when you're in it. And you only really are able to appreciate it when you're on the other side of it.

Leadership, with intention, compassion, patience, self-awareness and respect are really the ingredients I learned that impact retention and relationships at work.

It’s not a “unicorn”.  But it can be pretty damn magical when done right.