Success Secrets and Stories
To share management leadership concepts that actually work.
You are responsible for your development as a leader. Don't expect the boss to invest the training budget in your career. Consider this podcast as an investment of time in your career, with a bit of management humor added at the same time.
Success Secrets and Stories
AI-Powered Retention: Practical Playbook For Managers
Retention is changing fast, and so are the tools leaders can use to keep people engaged, growing, and proud to stay. We explore how supervisors and managers can blend real human coaching with smart AI insights to protect high performers, prevent burnout, and turn feedback into visible progress. The conversation starts with why people leave—stalled growth, weak communication, unfair loads, and unclear rewards—then moves into a practical framework that any manager can start using this week.
Greg and I map clear job levels and competencies, show how to craft individual growth plans with milestones, and explain where AI genuinely helps: surfacing certifications, predicting skill gaps, spotting workload imbalances, and benchmarking compensation. We get candid about the 80 20 reality, advocating for the top 20 percent who carry outcomes while addressing chronic underperformance with clarity and speed. Along the way, we outline communication habits that rebuild trust—weekly check-ins, 360 feedback that actually drives change, and transparent decision-making that earns buy-in.
Recognition only works when it carries weight, so we highlight rewards that matter: one-time bonuses for impact, stretch roles, extra paid time off, and specific, timely praise that names the outcome. We also dive into pay fairness and total compensation, including how to use market benchmarks to advocate with HR. The thread that ties it all together is leadership style: less micromanaging, more coaching; less fear of AI, more informed use. Want a simple starting point? Hold a weekly check-in, recognize one concrete achievement, and ask a real career follow-up.
Presented by John Wandolowski and Greg Powell
Well, hello, and welcome to our podcast, Success, Secrets, and Stories. I'm your host, John Wondolowski, and I'm here with my co-host and friend, Greg Powell. Greg? Hey everybody. And when we put together this podcast, we wanted to put out a helping hand and help that next generation and help answer the question of what does it mean to be a leader? Today we want to talk about a subject that I think supports that concept. So today we're going to dive into one of the more pressing challenges for supervisors and managers as we go into 2026. Retaining employees in the workplace. And really, we're talking about a tool that is in our hands. AI is a transformative technology and something that has a lot of expectations. But when we talk about people, we're talking about retentions and trying to keep people in those seats or in those jobs. And it's about creating an environment where employees thrive and grow and see the future in themselves.
SPEAKER_00:You know, John, the future is changing so very fast. With artificial intelligence reshaping workflows, communication, and even career development, managers need new strategies just to stay ahead.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. And one of the biggest challenges right now is retention and the practical solutions and how AI can amplify, not really replace human leadership. So when we talk about retention, employees often leave the manager, not the company. It makes supervisors on the front line responsible for things like shaping trust and engagement and growth. The challenges are many: the lack of career growth, poor communication, burnout, being undervalued, in the ineffective leadership, toxic work environments, even compensation.
SPEAKER_00:So, John, if I'm a manager listening right now to this podcast, where should I start?
SPEAKER_01:It starts, I think, with recognizing that retention is going to be an issue in the future. If employees don't see one in terms of a job going forward, they're going to look elsewhere. And that's the challenge of retention. So when you think about in the workplace you're in right now, what kind of challenges do you see most often in terms of trying to keep people on board? Let's break it down to maybe some step-by-step frameworks of career growth, just bullet points. You need to assess the organizational needs so that you have a good starting point. You need to define job levels and competencies. This is all coming back to do you have a good job description for the roles that you're trying to fill? Engaging employees in conversation is the element of trying to help that retention feeling in terms of being seen on the work environment. Developing individual plans. And what I mean by that is career planning for each person that you're interviewing. If you don't do that, you're not really helping that individual. You're just trying to put up with them until you get the next person in line. That's not developing anyone. And you're looking for diversity of opinions and you're looking for a way to grow the thought process so that you can be competitive. And if that doesn't ring a bell, then you're probably in one of those environments where you really need to be creative. To provide resources and support in terms of retention, what that means in English is there are education opportunities or training opportunities or experience opportunities for cross-training in order to try to develop that individual for retention. And the other part is don't make empty promises. Have milestones, have timelines that are involved in terms of helping those individuals so that when you say retention, there's some value to staying with the organization because you're helping them. Whether it's short-term or long-term, you're involved. So it means that you have to monitor or adjust your program as you're doing something in terms of career development. That's that's, I think, the essence.
SPEAKER_00:So, John, that sounds pretty comprehensive, pretty structured. But how does a manager make this practical day to day?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, and that really is the part that I really wanted to touch on is using AI as a partner. And here is the caution that I want to make. AI makes mistakes because it works really on data that it is given. The old computer analogy is garbage in, garbage out, still applies. Simply trusting the numbers without reviewing the logic does not make any sense at all. It's just a risk. So let's say that data is reviewed and it checks out, and you can push AI to help in terms of patterns or tendencies, both positive and negative, that inform you in terms of your decisions, in terms of career and how your staff are actually working. Imagine a system that suggests certifications or projects based on your employees' aspirations and organizational needs. AI can personalize development plans and predict future skill gaps. That's really important. Think about it. Just jot it down right now. As I'm speaking, what kind of growth plan path have you introduced? And more so, what have you done for yourself? All those things kind of intertwine. So the next step I think I'd I'd like to talk about is the communication and transparency. And AI can help in this area in terms of communication. Poor communication erodes trust. Managers must set clear expectations to provide actionable feedback and explain decisions.
SPEAKER_00:John, this is an area we've discussed in previous podcasts. The value of a 360 interview with you and your staff. And it's even beyond that. Multifaceted direction feedback from your boss, your staff, your peers, perhaps internal customers. Transparency in how you are perceived as a leader and how employees are perceived as a support service for their internal and external customers is key. I mean, it's paramount to understanding how effective your organization really is. You know, John, what happens when communication breaks down?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, the confusion, the disengagement, turnover. But AI can help. Dashboards tracking performance matrix, flagging communication gaps, and even help coach managers to deliver more feedback effectively. But the challenge here is that the information that AI is going to give you is tendencies. You're going to have to do that interpretation at how to move that needle and use that communication to take that next step, which brings up the next point. How do you prevent burnout? Burnout is the silent killer of retention. It comes in unmanageable workloads or time pressures or the ever-famous hybrid challenges.
SPEAKER_00:You know, managers can oftentimes feel powerless. What can they do about that?
SPEAKER_01:If you're using AI as a tool, AI can monitor workload distribution and it can highlight imbalances. It can even analyze meeting loads in terms of what is healthy in terms of scheduling.
SPEAKER_00:But you know, there's that nuance, that famous 80-20 rule. You know, with AI support, you see disparities in work balance. Often, 20% of employees are simply not as effective as the rest of the whole department. Management tends to focus on training or replacing the bottom 20%. But the real retention issue or opportunity, in my opinion, is that top 20%. The high performers who carry the T. Those employees are appealing to top organizations everywhere.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, it kind of reminds me, who was that GE CEO that Jack Welsh. Jack Welsh. And he, when he talked about the 20% that weren't carrying the water, as he would put it, he was firing them. He wasn't trying to develop them. But management should first center on those who are really getting the job done and want to build a career. It's really important to retain the top 20%. And that's how you grow the organization. Not trying to fight with the bottom 20% and losing the focus of who's actually getting the tasks done.
SPEAKER_00:So then, John, what do you do about that bottom 20%?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, if you have one or two employees dragging down the organization, the results should be obvious. They should either accept the responsibility for improvement or they're gone. Period. Don't drag it out. It's inevitable. Leaders must act. They can't look the other way. They have to take the ball and run with it. No one likes to fire someone, but that unfortunately is something that the employee does, not so much the leadership. They're doing it to themselves. But then that this kind of falls back on a different subject. So I'm going to change the focus. And we're going to talk about recognition and value because that's that's really what you're talking about to help that 80% that are actually doing the job. Recognizing must go beyond paychecks. Employees must feel valued. And it ties directly into our earlier point that I was trying to make about the 20%. Recognizing them is not only critical, but it's the consistency.
SPEAKER_00:So, John, what is the risk if recognition is inconsistent?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, that's really the challenge. You know, motivation drops, engagement suffers, turnovers will end up arising. AI can track contributions across projects and prompt managers to acknowledge achievements in real time.
SPEAKER_00:But you know, you have to be careful. Recognition without career or financial rewards will soon sound kind of hollow. Then that whole trust thing. Trust is built when individuals see tangible results. Whether it's a one-time bonus, a career enhancement, maybe that special job assignment or another meaningful reward, recognition must carry weight. A plaque on the wall that's forgotten the next day doesn't build trust.
SPEAKER_01:And Greg, when you were doing your work in terms of human resources and we're talking about like a way to recognize hard work, there were different tools like a suggestion box or projects that would have monetary reward based on it. But it was always hard to institute. But I have found that that one-time bonus for an outstanding project was usually the best way to get recognition for outstanding work. Have you seen any other examples that that really had that kind of impact and try to move the needle?
SPEAKER_00:So we're talking about moving the needle, John. Money speaks. Cash is king still, or queen, whatever you want to call it. But recognition, whether it's a handwritten letter, that note, that's good. And believe it or not, in this day and age, we used to get a lot of employees get excited about being recognized with extra time off, not charged for the normal vacation or holidays at extra paid time off. That seemed to be a good motivator.
SPEAKER_01:And I think that's that's probably the most important piece of it, is it has to have some merit. And it every everything else is words. If you have something behind it, then it has a greater value. I have seen a written note having more value than I would have thought, because that recognition of being written about and directed specifically to the individual and the task that they did is sometimes the first time that they've heard something positive in decades, which is stunning to me, but they're like lost in the mix. And when you highlight them, they realize that the words are genuine. That's, I think, another important element of leadership. So, which leads me to my next subject: leadership style and culture. Managers must involve themselves. And really, the biggest challenge for the micromanagers of the world is that they're losing the point of leadership. They're supposed to be coaches. Leadership is training, and that is a critical development requirement.
SPEAKER_00:So, John, this is a$60 million question. How do managers really build trust?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, let me stop here for a pause just to show importance. Listening. That's the key. Being supportive, being able to adapt. Those are the things that build trust because if you're listening, it means something to not only the person who's speaking, but the one who you are trying to speak to. That means something. AI, I think, helps with the analysis in terms of detecting early signs of disengagement or conflict, giving managers a chance to intervene before problems start to escalate.
SPEAKER_00:So the best example I can think of is the annual 360 review reports. If those interviews show the same trends year after year and no action is taken, then the manager becomes the problem. Employees lose faith when feedback is ignored. Why fill out a 360 evaluation form if you're not going to do anything as far as acting on the findings?
SPEAKER_01:And I'm trying to pick up on what you had talked about before, how feedback is gold. And if you're not utilizing that gold that you're receiving in a working environment, you're really losing the opportunity. AI can help identify trends, but it's not like being on the floor and actually listening. And the problems that actually retention start to recognize is whenever that isolation starts to take place. Eventually, the chain of command will notice that there is a problem in terms of managing, and they're going to ask you to step aside. That's that's just the bottom line of what management is supposed to do, whether it be frontline or executive level, they're all checking on whether you're listening. The next one I think we've already touched on, but compensation and benefits is really the one factor that people should talk about that they don't understand. And managers should understand that the packages have to be competitive and fair.
SPEAKER_00:So, John, it's really important. How can managers advocate on behalf of their employees for fairness in this area?
SPEAKER_01:I've seen organizations that will not share information. I've seen organizations that have shared information. AI benchmarking tools that compare salaries and benefits against industry standards, I think is that element of trust so that they know where they actually stand compared to people in their geographical area. That transparency helps managers advocate for their teams. And what do I mean by that is sometimes you're going to push HR to change it because it isn't fair and it needs to be adjusted or needs to be challenged. AI can calculate the real cost of poor retention, the expense of training versus the productivity loss, and it will review current industry trends. Take an aircraft mechanic as an example, and the skill level for that job is very high. There's a lot of complexity in order to do the task. And the pay is pretty competitive. There are a shortage of qualified candidates that can do those types of jobs. Now, you might be able to offer a competitive salary, but the benefits and the other elements of the job should also align in order to try to attract people and to retain talent. Being up to date with what the competition is doing is important because they're checking themselves.
SPEAKER_00:So, John, in my HR past, we used to call it total compensation, not just pay, not just specialty benefits, job opportunities, the whole, the whole nine yards. And that's why managers should work closely with human resources. Because really, retention doesn't begin after the first month or the second year. It begins on day one. You endear yourself to that employee and the kind of environment you have from the beginning. You've got to make sure that new hires see a future and they want to stay. I say there should be a compensation plan for high performers. It's not a one and done deal. It may be something you look at every six months, you know, every nine months, some kind of a cycle or tickler. There should be a plan of compensation for those really strong performers.
SPEAKER_01:And now that's engagement using the tool, helping you at least give a story to executive management on why there needs to be more than just a one-number answer. It has to be tuned to the people that you have in a department. If you're listening, which is a common theme I'm going to talk about in this little podcast, that listening is really the integral part of what makes the change. So let's step back. Let's let's just talk about some of these challenges and how AI plays a role in it. It can personalize growth plans. It can support communication approaches and results. It can talk about the balance of workloads and how it could be adjusted. It prompts you for that memory cells of recognition because people are doing good work and maybe you've missed that moment in time. And AI can help you to stay on track. And it, as we've talked about, can help the benchmark compensation element of it. That's that's really where AI can help.
SPEAKER_00:But you know, John, there's that scare out there, there's that fear. Is AI replacing managers?
SPEAKER_01:No, because we're talking about AI in terms of amplifying human empathy and providing insights, but managers remain the heart of any organization, and they are the essence of retention of staff.
SPEAKER_00:That's right. AI should be the tool that helps management understand compensation issues and provide details they can share with employees. And there's a big T-word here. It's called transparency, right? Transparency in how that information is collected and communicated builds trust.
SPEAKER_01:And AI is the tool. It can strengthen the organization, but it isn't going to replace the organization. People are still involved in the process. And those human elements are really the parts that we're trying to talk about. Use the tool. There's so many things that you can use it for. Don't just be afraid of the topic. So let's recap. Career growth, communication, burnout, recognition, leadership style, culture, compensation, elements of what we've been talking about today.
SPEAKER_00:So, John, this is a lot of information and it's very well organized. I understand it, I get it. But what's really the first step managers should take tomorrow?
SPEAKER_01:Small, take that first step. Hold a weekly check-in. Recognize someone for their an achievement. Ask somebody a career follow-up question. Consistency builds trust. So retention in 2026 isn't about a one-size-fits-all solution. It's about blending human empathy and AI-driven insights. Supervisors and managers who embrace this dual approach will not only retain talent, but it will inspire career growth and loyalty.
SPEAKER_00:So, John, I think the takeaway here is very clear. Managers must become both coaches and data savvy leaders. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01:And use the tools. The way AI can actually take data and give you something to be actionable is a real advantage that if you're not using it, you're missing the power of AI. The one action that I would take today is to show an employee that the future matters. A parting thought. Make that employee feel better today, that you're looking out for their future for tomorrow. So if you like what you've heard, I've written a book called Building Your Leadership Toolbox, and we talk about tools like this. And it's available on Amazon and Barnes Nouble and other sites. The podcast is what you've been listening to. Thank you so much. It's also available on Apple, Google, and Spotify. A lot of what we talk about is from Dr. Durst and his MBR program. And if you'd like to know more about Dr. Durst, you can find out on SuccessGrowthAcademy.com. And if you'd like to contact us, please send me a line. That's wondro 75 periodjw at gmail.com. And the music has been brought to you by my grandson. So we want to hear from you. Drop me a line. Tell me what's going on, what you like, and what you would like to hear about. It has always helped us to create content. Thanks, Greg. This was fun. Thanks, John. As always. Next time.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.