Turning over a new leaf.

• Author: Falconi, Robert R.
• Position: Employee turnover

Turnover is a word with negative connotations. If you have a turnover in football or basketball, it means you lost the ball. Teams that have a lot of turnovers usually lose the game. In business, it has a similar meaning, except that instead of losing the ball to the other team, you lose your employees to other companies.

Furthermore, in business, it's often viewed as something driven by forces out of your control - like inclement weather. It's not something that you have or get; it's something you "experience." For example, if you say, "We experienced a lot of turnover on this project, and that's why we didn't complete it on time," the person on the other end of the conversation will solemnly nod his head as a gesture of total understanding for this terrible thing that has happened to you.

But is turnover really that bad? When you lose your employees to the competition, does your company lose the game? Or is turnover good? Are companies actually lucky if their staffs turn over frequently? The answer lies somewhere in between, but in my view, it's a lot closer to "turnover is good" than it is to "turnover is bad."

I do want to acknowledge that there are some key staff members whom you would prefer not to lose under any circumstances - good or bad. These are the men and women who really make things go. Without them life is miserable; the organization isn't as successful. I also feel very strongly that this list is dynamic, so that someone who is key today might not be key a year from now. Let me explain.

Six years ago, I hired a young MBA graduate who I thought would work with me for a long time. He was smart, motivated, hard-working and fun. When I moved to another company, I was eager to have him join me. We'd already worked together for three years, and I was ready for him to assume the controllership function, since he was on track to do so at our prior organization. But the two environments could not have been more different. The qualities that made him successful at the previous employer were not what we needed here. After one year, he left. Since we were close friends, the parting was very difficult, but necessary. He has since thrived in other organizations, and the employees who were given the opportunity to fill his function here have thrived as well.

I've seen the same thing happen to people within the same company. If they don't grow and adapt as the company changes, then sooner or later turnover is inevitable, or at least the...