Hello Stay Interviews, Goodbye Talent Loss

Preface

We developed the idea of stay interviews in 1997, before publishing the first edition of Love ’Em or Lose ’Em (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1999). It came from work with an organization worried about losing a key group of talent. We suggested that they ask those people “What will keep you here?” and then use the responses to craft their retention strategies. It seemed so basic and so simple. Yet, up to that time, managers seldom asked that question in such a straightforward way. Or they asked it in an exit interview, which is almost always too late.

Managers today need leadership tools and techniques that they can deploy easily and ...