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Clarity, Care, and Community: The Path to Team Retention

An important aspect of being in a leadership position is building the right team for your organization. Once you have the right people, you need to nurture and develop that team so they will stay and contribute meaningfully to the organization’s impact. 

At BFM, we believe retention isn’t only about job security. People don’t need certainty to feel satisfied at work—they need clarity about what’s going on, support and care, and a sense of community that you’re in the trenches with them. Let’s create your path towards team retention.

Clarity

To get the best work product from any employee, they need to be clear on what’s being asked of them. Once everyone is on the same page, it gets that much easier to complete a task and see a project through to a successful end. One practical step is to ensure these questions are answered when designing projects:

  • Who owns this project? 
  • What checkpoints will keep us stay on track? 
  • Is there a hard deadline? What happens when it isn’t met? 
  • Do your team members know how their work supports your vision? 

Care

Strategic HR isn’t just about performance management—it’s about creating systems of support. Employees should have someone they can turn to if there’s a roadblock in the task. Leaders set the tone by normalizing flexibility, encouraging open communication, and responding with empathy when life interrupts the work. Here are some best practices you can use to demonstrate care: 

  • Acknowledge the moment out loud → “I know we’re all carrying a lot right now, and I really appreciate the way you’ve shown up.”
  • Recognize small wins publicly—people want to feel seen. 
  • Normalize asking for help: say “I got stuck and here’s who helped me out. If you get stuck, come find me. We’ll figure it out together.”

Community

Mission-driven leadership is most powerful when it’s visible. It helps team morale to know that, while elbow-deep in reports or groundwork, those in leadership positions are also committed to doing their part to get the job done. This can include face-to-face meetings that offer feedback and encouragement, or fast-tracking approvals and next steps as needed to keep project momentum going. Here are two ways to build this type of impact-driven community in your work environment:

  • Share context, not just direction → “Here’s why this project matters right now.”
  • Create opportunities to see things from your team’s perspective—one powerful way to do this is through an employee engagement survey.

Knowing how your team is experiencing their work—and how connected they feel to your mission—is the first step to building a culture of retention. If you’re ready to take a closer look at the ways you can build clarity, care, and community in your your team  – start with an employee engagement survey. 

Get BFM’s free Employee Engagement Resource to learn how to design trust-building surveys that lead to insight—and action. And if you’re looking for a deeper partner in this work, BFM offers one-on-one executive coaching to help you grow your capacity to lead with clarity, care, and intention.

Let’s talk about how coaching can support your leadership and your team to build a culture of retention.