Employees Don’t Just Leave Managers

You’ve heard the saying, “People don’t leave companies, they leave managers.” But let’s be honest, people do leave companies.

People leave companies that TOLERATE bad managers.

They leave when their manager yells at them in meetings

When they’re thrown under the bus, one too many times

When their ideas get shut down at the door, repeatedly

When orgs allow this, they’re sending a clear message that they’re okay with this behavior.

I remember having a discussion with our head of HR about a supervisor who treated his EEs poorly. His response, “They (his managers) love the guy so there’s nothing we can do.” Which was strange because he had high turnover in his department, and in our environment, finding someone new wasn’t easy.

But that’s what happens, managers with unbalanced emotional intelligence have a difficult time retaining employees.

If you want to keep your best people, stop protecting toxic behaviors and start prioritizing emotionally smart leadership.