Good intentions won’t keep your best people from leaving — but better leadership will.

I recently coached an executive named Dan, a smart, compassionate leader who was frustrated. Despite his long hours and genuine care for his team, he felt like he was losing control — and losing good people.

As I reflect on working with Dan, I am reminded that it’s easy for our minds to convince us that intentions = execution. When we know we mean well, our brains can tell us that the people around us will not only understand our intentions but they will benefit from our actions. As Dan learned, that’s not always the case.

It turned out that Dan was making three mistakes that were preventing him from leading and coaching his people to the level they needed.

These mistakes align closely with my Point to Point Leadership framework, a proven method I’ve used with leaders in Fortune 500 companies to create clear paths between their intentions and their impact.By recognizing and correcting these common missteps, Dan was able to turn things around.

1. Leading everyone the same way

If you treat your high performers, your struggling employees, and your quiet-but-steady team members the same way, you’ll lose some of them.

Like many other leaders, Dan had been brought up in the cult of “leadership style,” which encourages leaders to discover the approach they are most comfortable in, label themselves that way, and act in accordance with that “style.”

The only problem with this approach is that it doesn’t work.

If we define our leadership by the results we help our people create, then our style is not the most relevant factor. As long as Dan stuck to what he was comfortable with, he would lose every person on his team who needed something different.

As Dan shifted his focus from his preferred style to their needs, his team’s engagement — and his confidence as a leader — improved.

Leadership is never about you, it’s about what you can do for others. Dan needed to continue to be strong in his values but become more flexible in his tactics.

Even with a more adaptable approach, Dan still wasn’t connecting with his team the way he needed to. His schedule was getting in the way.

2. Allowing your schedule to cap your leadership

One morning, Dan showed up late to a meeting with one of his high-potential team members, Maya. He apologized — his morning had been hijacked by urgent emails and back-to-back calls. Maya smiled politely, but Dan sensed something was off.

Later, Dan learned that Maya had been thinking about leaving the company — and had planned to share her concerns in that very meeting. Because Dan had been late, she decided to keep quiet. That’s when Dan realized his overscheduled calendar wasn’t just hurting his efficiency — it was costing him relationships.

For Dan, the fix started by facing a hard truth: If leadership is part of your job, your calendar has to reflect that. He realized his calendar was full — but his leadership was running on empty.

Together, we went through his schedule hour by hour, creating space for intentional leadership. Regular 1:1s, brief check-ins, and meaningful conversations moved from ‘nice to have’ to ‘non-negotiable.’

The result? He stayed better connected with his team — and Maya stayed with the company.

Even with more time carved out, Dan’s team still felt disconnected. That’s when he realized he’d been missing something deeper.

3. Surface-level leadership leads to surface-level engagement

Dan thought things were improving — until one of his top performers, Evan, walked into his office to resign. Dan was shocked — Evan’s last performance review had been glowing, and Dan assumed things were fine.

“I didn’t know you were unhappy,” Dan said.

“That’s the problem,” Evan replied. “You didn’t know.”

Dan realized that while he’d been delivering surface-level praise in meetings, he had lost touch with the deeper conversations that uncover frustrations, concerns, and ambitions. His leadership had become reactive instead of proactive.

The solution? Dan committed to deeper, more intentional conversations. He started asking his team members better questions — not just “How’s it going?” but “What’s getting in your way?” and “What’s working well for you right now?” By actively listening and following up, Dan rebuilt trust and reconnected with his team’s real needs.

Results

The good news is that all of these mistakes are fixable. Together, we went through his schedule hour by hour, optimizing for leadership while still leaving plenty of time for management and his other duties. He started putting regular 1:1 meetings on his schedule and was pleasantly surprised to find both how much better team morale got and how much he enjoyed getting to know and coaching his people. Lastly, he became an adaptable leader, optimizing his approach to the needs of the person in front of him.

Work became better for everyone, and unsurprisingly, the business results got better at the same time.

Dan’s transformation wasn’t magic — it was intentional. With a few key changes — including one tool that helped him refocus his time and connect with his best people. If you’d like to use that same tool, grab the Leadership Retention Checklist, built on my Point to Point Leadership framework — a proven method for turning good intentions into better results.

If you’re facing similar challenges in your leadership journey, my Influential Leader Coaching Program may be the right fit. Let’s talk about how you can create stronger connections with your team — and better results for your business.

The difference between losing your best people and inspiring them to stay isn’t luck — it’s leadership.

Your best people don’t leave because they want to — they leave because they don’t feel seen, heard, or supported. That’s something you can change. Start today with a conversation that shows you care.