During the webinar “Skills and cohesion: the two levers of lasting performance”, Nazim Chibane, CEO and co-founder of Klara, and Brice Chapignac, CEO of Squadeasy, shared their perspectives on what helps people stay engaged over time. Their discussion highlighted the role of the line manager, knowledge transfer and team cohesion in retaining employees.
These three levers are closely connected. By making career progression visible, supporting knowledge sharing and recognising each person’s contribution, line managers help frontline employees find their place and see a future within the organisation. Employee retention is built through everyday management practices, close to the reality of work.
Why line managers play a central role in employee retention
An employee may value their role, colleagues and the organisation’s mission, then start considering a move when they can no longer see a clear future. Pay matters, of course, but it does not answer every question that influences the decision to stay: how can I progress? Who can help me take the next step? Is my work recognised? Do I have a clear place within the team?
Line managers are often best placed to provide practical answers. They understand day-to-day operations, know the demands of each role and can connect the organisation’s ambitions with the situations employees experience at work. Their role goes beyond organising activity. It also involves making progress visible and giving people a clear sense of direction.
Making career progression and future opportunities visible
Progress is not limited to a promotion. It can take the form of a new responsibility, a skill that is mastered more confidently, greater autonomy or the ability to pass knowledge on to others. These developments still need to be identified and acknowledged.
Regular conversations provide a useful starting point based on observable facts: a situation the employee now handles more effectively, a difficulty they have learned to resolve or a skill they can use with greater confidence. The manager can then open a discussion about what comes next: which step would be useful now? What support would make this progress easier? Which experience would help consolidate the employee’s practical know-how?
This visibility reduces the feeling of standing still. It also helps frontline employees look ahead without imposing a single career path. Personalisation then becomes meaningful: each person can progress from their own starting point, needs and aspirations, while remaining connected to the team’s priorities.
Helping every employee feel that they matter to the team
Retention also depends on the place each person feels they hold within the group. When an employee understands the value of their contribution, it becomes easier to connect their daily work with a shared objective. They can see how their expertise supports a colleague, helps secure an operation or improves the customer experience.
Managers can make this contribution visible in several ways: thanking someone specifically for the support they provided, sharing a useful learning point with the whole team, involving employees in solving a problem or recognising an initiative that makes work easier for others. Recognition is more meaningful when it is based on facts and shows the effect of the contribution.
This approach strengthens belonging without erasing individual differences. Employees understand what they bring to the team, as well as what they can learn from others. The relationship becomes more balanced, clearer and more conducive to continuity.
Knowledge transfer, a practical driver of engagement
Knowledge transfer addresses an immediate need: preserving what works while enabling everyone to progress. It also responds to a human need. Sharing a practice, explaining a work-related activity or supporting someone as they take on a new role offers another way to contribute. An experienced employee becomes a source of support for colleagues, while the person learning can find their place more quickly.
This dynamic is particularly valuable when skills are critical or difficult to replace. It prevents knowledge from remaining concentrated among a small number of people and strengthens business continuity. For it to take hold, knowledge transfer needs to be built into everyday work, with a clear framework and regular opportunities to practise.
Making skills visible and easier to share
The first step is to clarify the know-how already present within the team. Who has mastered a particular procedure? Who knows how to handle a sensitive situation? Who can explain how a tool works or highlight the points that require attention during an operation? This mapping does not need to be complex. It can start with situations the team actually encounters and the skills used to respond to them.
Managers can then create opportunities for people to learn from one another: pairing employees on an activity, arranging peer observation, organising a short demonstration or holding a review after an intervention. The aim is to circulate knowledge without turning every transfer into a lengthy training programme. A practice explained at the right moment can often have more impact than content that feels disconnected from the work itself.
Knowledge transfer therefore becomes a core management practice. It helps maintain smooth day-to-day operations, values expertise and enables frontline employees to learn from their peers. It can also support internal mobility, because skills become more visible and easier to develop.
Turning mutual support into a management ritual
Mutual support rarely appears simply because an organisation has declared it important. It needs time, shared reference points and explicit recognition. A ritual could take the form of fifteen minutes focused on a work-related practice, a team discussion about a difficulty or a monthly exchange between employees working in different roles.
Managers set the tone by asking practical questions: what have we learned this week? Which method could help the team? What support do we need? These questions shift the focus away from individual performance alone and towards the team’s ability to progress together.
The format should remain accessible to different profiles. Some people will be comfortable speaking spontaneously, while others may prefer to prepare an example or contribute in writing. An inclusive approach allows everyone to find their own way of taking part. The team becomes more cohesive without asking employees to conform to a single way of being engaged.
How to support lasting retention in everyday management
Retention does not depend on one isolated action. It is built through consistency between what the organisation says and what employees experience within their team. Line managers can provide this continuity by connecting objectives, skills and working relationships.
The key is to remain practical. A useful approach begins by listening to the reasons that support engagement or weaken the desire to stay. It then continues with a small number of sustainable rituals, adjusted over time using feedback from frontline employees.
Setting up simple and regular follow-up conversations
An annual review is not always enough to make progress visible. Shorter conversations make it possible to follow developments as work unfolds. Managers can use three questions as a simple framework: what is moving forward? What is getting in the way? What do you need for the next step?
This rhythm creates continuity. It makes it possible to address a difficulty before it becomes established and recognise progress while it is still recent. It also supports a more tailored approach: some employees will need more opportunities to practise, others will benefit from feedback, while others will be ready to take on a new situation.
These conversations are particularly useful when a new employee joins the organisation. The first few weeks shape their relationship with the team. Regular check-ins help clarify expectations, identify missing reference points and create connections with colleagues. Onboarding therefore becomes an important first step in retaining employees, rather than a purely administrative process.
Connecting individual progress with collective performance
A strong team does not depend on one highly effective employee. It progresses when skills circulate and everyone can contribute in a way that strengthens the whole group. Managers can therefore set individual objectives while also making space for shared objectives: passing on a method, supporting a colleague, improving a process or ensuring the smooth running of part of the operation.
This approach avoids setting personal success against the collective interest. One employee’s progress becomes a source of support for others, while mutual help strengthens operational effectiveness. Performance becomes more consistent because it depends less on a small number of people and more on the team’s collective ability to learn and adapt.
Monitoring retention signals without reducing engagement to one metric
Metrics can shed light on a situation, provided they remain connected to reality. Managers and HR teams can look at participation in team rituals, the circulation of skills, the quality of onboarding, internal mobility requests or signs of disengagement. These elements do not replace dialogue. They help teams ask better questions.
An employee who takes part less often in a ritual is not necessarily disengaged. They may lack time, find that the format does not suit them or fail to understand its purpose. Analysis should therefore combine factual data with feedback from employees. This approach makes it possible to adjust practices rather than search for one standard solution.
The line manager then becomes a genuine point of support for retention. By making progress easier to understand, facilitating knowledge transfer and building practical cohesion, they help every frontline employee find their place and consider what comes next. Retention is built through this continuity, close to the reality of work.
