Outsiders Don’t See the Benefit
Members are motivated by more than just player development. In fact, many would argue that player development might be one of the least favored goals. The VHL claims to have an array of job opportunities and prospects available to any member, but when those paths are continually blocked or denied, simply building a player isn’t enough.
I’ve always been one to believe that our members are our customers, our employees. So, let’s look at some data from the Harvard Business Review - it shows that 88% of employees give some or heavy consideration to benefits like health benefits, bonuses, job growth and flexible hours.
It is more competitive than ever before to hire and maintain employees because of the number of opportunities elsewhere.
If you don’t make the rules of the game visible and fair, you’re going to have poor results, and people will look elsewhere.
Bad Staff
We’ve all heard that people don’t leave jobs, they leave bosses. So, look at your turnover rate by team — in fact, by commissioner, manager, or mod — and see if there isn’t a trend.
Are members fading or quitting because a commissioner continually ignores them? What about favoritism being given to those promoted to manager ahead of others who have been longing for a chance? Look at the utter disastrous wake of destruction the mod team has caused since the beginning or the COC change in Nov. of 2021.
According to Forbes, 42% of workers stated they had left a company because of a bad boss.
The problem is, even when bosses try to be good leaders, there’s often a disconnect between how employees want their managers to act and how employers think they’re supposed to act.
The number one thing that members want is appreciation of their contribution. So if you want members to stick around, focus your retention efforts on training staff to be better at soft skills — showing appreciation, communicating so that members feel like they know what’s going on, and being empathetic to your members concerns. Not being selectively empathetic either – every member should matter.
The good news is that the VHL does have leaders who demonstrate these skills, so all is not lost.
But remember, tone bleeds down from the top.
Toxic Members
There is a group of members who lie in wait here, tired of doing media (far above it), and for some reason – angry. It’s the kind of smell that hangs in the air like rotten fish, and these are the members who are critical of others when they do media – when they contribute. These are the members who call others cringe.
Maybe they’re jealous of the attention that others receive? Maybe they just hate their own life and want to cause pain in others? Whatever the reason, mold spreads, and soon enough, it gets everywhere.
The problem is that these toxic members have stature in the VHL, and they’re allowed to walk the line of bullying others with little to no repercussion. Ultimately, it is because they are favored over others that they get away with it, and for what? Because they were here from the start? Because they put in time talking on Discord and now your friends? What about the impact they cause on the others, the hurt and pain they give out in backhanded compliments and passive aggressive statements? Why should they go unchecked when others are drawn and quartered for missteps?
It's hypocrisy at its finest, and it will continue so long as the silent majority remains timid and lets the loud minority rule this playground.
Bottom Line
I took a run at this league 3.5 years ago for this very topic, and the retention rate is even worse today. It’s a matter of where priorities lie, and people will always tell you where their priorities lie in how they spend their time. There is still time to fix this mess but it’s going to take a lot of tough conversations and hard work to do it.
And to that I say, good luck.