I've found that strong cultures that are high on conviction, connection and clarity - not just in roles in but in values, play a huge role in driving up retention. However, people have ambitions, life transitions and some degree of churn is inevitable. It's important for leaders not to take that personally and focus on building a) growth paths for team members where possible, b) succession plans, c) a talent mindset to cultivate talent pools for different roles both within and outside the organization and d) resilient systems that can handle transitions and reduce people dependence to a certain extent.

Research shows that staff leave positions most often due to poor relationships with managers. Look at leadership first. Listening tours are great, but being objective, and not getting lost in the trees and missing the forest, is difficult. Try to set up a long-term tracking of improvement; utilize exit interviews, alumni surveys, etc.

People leave managers, not jobs. Things that I have used are: - Office hours with leadership team members that exhibit the core org values and demonstrate maturity - Skip level meetings - Informal catch-ups and pulse checks - Providing safe spaces and demonstrating the leader's vulnerability, so that people open up and express their challenges/fears/concerns.

Understand how staff are different to get people engaged. Generations in the workforce respond differently to incentives. Use these strategically, and generously.

Consider an annual compensation benchmarking survey. Many non-profits have pro-bono support for this. Often times, private agencies also offer custom benchmarks if a set of organisations contributes their data to a collective effort. Compensation matters a great deal. However, also make sure to explore and do a needs-analysis with a select set of folks in the organisation to understand what employees truly value. It could be that compensation is a lever that is important but not the deal-breaker. I have found that many younger employees value a listening/positive workplace, clarity on growth, wellness support, etc. and are willing to take a compensation hit for a more holistic set of benefits.

Create buffer in the talent pool to allow for quick departures. Budgets can make that hard to do, so identify critical roles in the organisation and consider over-investing in those individuals so that there is less business risk.

Succession is key - and starts with looking in the mirror. As a non-profit leader, keep in mind that its not just about finding transitions for staff, but also for your own role.