September should feel like a fresh start. But for many leaders, it brings an overflowing inbox, looming year-end targets and, all too often, resignations. September is consistently one of the months when people leave in higher numbers - they return from the summer break having had time to reflect and often decide it’s time to move on.
And, if colleagues have already left, the knock-on effect is even stronger. Research from MIT Sloan found that toxic culture is 10.4 times more powerful than compensation in predicting employee departures. One leaver can quickly lead to another.
This year, there’s an extra layer to all this and that’s change fatigue. Organisations have been through wave after wave of restructures, shifting priorities and strategy and tech rollouts. That means many of your workforce will already be running low on resilience.
So as the autumn rolls around - when people are already asking themselves “Do I really want to stay?” - the constant upheaval of change could tip them over the edge. Leaders who don’t actively engage with and re-energise their teams, risk losing talent at precisely the point everyone most needs stability.
One way I’ve been helping clients is through short, focused resilience and engagement workshops. These are bespoke, practical and energising sessions that give leaders the tools to reconnect their teams, deal with change fatigue, and stop the domino effect before it gets going. If that sounds like something useful for your leaders and team, let’s have a conversation.
Organisations that invest in helping leaders rebuild clarity, connection and resilience in September are the ones that will build and maintain momentum in Q4. When the autumn collides with change fatigue, it means that leaders often either lose their best people or create a solid foundation for growth and engagement. Which would you prefer?
If you’d like to explore how to equip leaders to steady teams and turn a potential autumn wobble into something very different, get in touch.