Keep good people
Written by Daniel Godkin, Founder
Hiring is expensive. Losing good people is more expensive. A conservative estimate puts the direct cost of replacing an employee at roughly one-third of their salary, before accounting for lost momentum and customer churn.
Retention is not a perk problem. It’s a clarity and culture problem. When people know what we stand for, how we work together, and where we are heading, they stay longer and do better work. This is where a simple culture code, a lived purpose, and a few disciplined habits pay off.
Start with a culture code people can use
A culture code is not a poster. It is a short, practical set of beliefs and behaviours that answer three questions:
What do we believe about the way we create value here?
How do we show up for each other and for customers?
What does “good” look like in decisions, meetings and handoffs
Keep it simple, one page preferably, to get started. Write it in plain language. Link each behaviour to one or two real moments in the week where it matters. For example, “We seek clarity before speed” ties to scoping a project, pricing work, or deciding what not to do.
Why it works: managers shape most of the day-to-day experience. Data shows managers account for around 70% of the variance in team engagement. Train and support them, and engagement follows.
Make purpose practical
Purpose is not a slogan. It is the reason choices make sense. Done well, it becomes a decision filter, a hiring magnet, and a rallying point when trade-offs get hard.
To make it practical:
Link the purpose to three company goals for the year.
Translate each goal into team-level outcomes that people can influence.
Review progress in the same cadence as financials.
High performers are more likely to have goals aligned to company goals. Aligning goals is simple management hygiene that raises performance and reduces drift.
Build psychological safety so honesty travels faster than problems
Teams that feel safe to speak up learn faster and outperform. Research shows that team learning behaviour is a strong predictor of performance, and psychological safety is a precondition for that learning.
Practical moves:
Open every project with “what would make this fail” and capture risks.
Close meetings with “who is still unsure and why.”
Reward useful dissent. Do it in public so the signal is clear.
Manage the moments that matter
Retention is shaped in specific moments more than in generic policies. Focus on these:
First 30 days. Give a clear plan, a buddy, and the culture code walk-through.
Priorities and focus. Make the few bets visible. Protect time. Say no to low-fit work. It protects momentum and morale.
Recognition. Catch people doing the behaviour you want and make it visible.
Career clarity. Show the next role, the skills that unlock it, and how to get there here.
Measure the few signals that matter
Keep measurement light but regular.
Alignment pulse. Three questions that test if people understand direction, trust leadership, and see how their work connects.
I understand where we’re heading and why
I trust leadership to make and communicate the right choices.
I can see how my work this week contributes to our priorities.
Manager cadence. Are 1:1s happening? Are goals current? Are decisions made at the right level?
Experience checks. Ask customers if the promise matched the delivery this month.
If you want to start with one number, track regretted attrition in key roles. Then track the time it takes to fill them. Combine that with a simple engagement pulse, and you will see trends before they hit revenue.
The commercial upside of getting “People” right
This is not soft work. It is a profit lever.
Lower turnover saves hard cash. A widely cited benchmark pegs replacement cost at about 33% of salary, which compounds quickly in small teams.
Better managers lift engagement, and engaged teams deliver more, sell more, and stay longer. The manager effect on engagement is material.
Goal alignment increases performance and reduces wasted effort, especially in cross-functional work.
Safe teams surface issues earlier, which reduces rework, speeds delivery, and protects margin. The learning–performance link is well established.
A simple plan you can start this quarter
Draft your culture code with the leadership team. Five beliefs. Five behaviours. One page.
Align goals so every team can point to the two outcomes that ladder to the company plan.
Coach managers on the weekly basics: clear expectations, useful 1:1s, and fast feedback. The manager effect is real.
Install a monthly pulse on alignment and trust. Share results with the team and act on one theme per month.
Protect a few signature moments in your employee and customer journeys where your promise must be felt. Price with confidence. Onboard with care. Close projects with learning.
Keeping good people is not about adding perks. It is about clarity, consistency, and care in how the work gets done. When direction, culture, and brand pull in the same direction, people stay, customers feel the difference, and value shows up on the P&L.
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