In January 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 2.8 million people voluntarily left their jobs—a 17% increase from the year prior. Since then, the workforce has continued to evolve, and today’s job market still leans in favor of the candidate. With more opportunities and flexibility available than ever before, employees are re-evaluating what they expect from work—and what they won’t tolerate. Retention has always been important, but it now requires a more intentional approach to understanding why employees leave in the first place.
According to Gallup’s long-standing research, the most common reason employees quit is dissatisfaction with their direct manager. The findings make it clear: people don’t just leave jobs—they leave leadership. Engagement and retention begin with strong manager-employee relationships, and those relationships are grounded in one essential element: trust.
Trust in the workplace is established through mutual reliability—and that means honoring commitments. This principle holds true in every kind of relationship, from personal partnerships to client relationships to team dynamics. As the saying goes, “actions speak louder than words,” and leaders who consistently follow through on what they say earn credibility. However, no one can live up to expectations they don’t understand. That’s why it’s essential to define them, co-create them, and make them explicit on both sides.
One of the best ways to clarify expectations is to ask your team for feedback. Rather than guessing what matters to your employees, go straight to the source. Ask meaningful questions, listen carefully, and be open to honest answers. Try asking:
- Who’s the best manager you’ve ever worked with? What made them stand out?
- What would you carry over from past workplaces that worked well?
- What do you appreciate most about how our team operates?
- Where do you think we, as leaders, could improve?
- If you were suddenly in charge of this company, what would you change—and why?
Use the feedback to build a set of clear leadership commitments. Choose five to ten you can consistently deliver on, and make them as specific and measurable as possible. Don’t make promises you know you can’t keep. These commitments should be durable, dependable, and reflect what truly matters to your team. The goal is to establish a sense of consistency—employees should be able to count on you for the things that make their work experience meaningful.
It’s often easier to define what we expect from others than to articulate what we hold ourselves accountable to. But leadership begins with modeling. The commitments you make should be transparent, trackable, and reflective of the values you want to see across the organization. A few examples might include:
- Direct and Respectful Feedback: I will give clear, timely feedback in private, and I will always be open to receiving it with respect.
- Career Development: I will provide a clear path for growth, share how I see your potential evolving, and stay committed to supporting your goals.
- Shared Accountability: I will follow through on what I promise, and I’ll hold you accountable for doing the same.
- Communication Standards: I will reply promptly, and treat your time with the same respect I expect for mine.
- Emotional Consistency: I will show up with professionalism and steadiness. You won’t have to guess what kind of mood I’m in to know how we’ll work together.
Once leadership commitments are in place, turn the process around and invite employees to define their own. Encourage team input to create a shared standard of what it means to contribute at a high level. This might include expectations around collaboration, communication, availability, or performance metrics. The key is clarity: employees should never have to guess whether they’re meeting expectations. If success is a moving target, frustration builds and trust erodes.
When a commitment on either side is broken, that doesn’t have to be the end of the conversation—it should be the beginning of one. Mutual accountability means giving each other permission to speak up, clarify misunderstandings, and course correct. Often, people aren’t even aware they’ve fallen short until someone points it out. When feedback is delivered in a spirit of collaboration rather than criticism, it becomes a catalyst for improvement.
Ultimately, a high-performing culture is built on people who keep their word. When leaders and employees operate from shared commitments, trust deepens, communication improves, and retention strengthens. Expectations don’t have to be complicated—they just need to be clear, mutual, and honored.
