3 ms·

- "I don't want to hear your problems, only your solutions" - "If anyone doesn't like it here, the door is open" These may sound obviously toxic, but often ar

by Jare 9y ago

- "I don't want to hear your problems, only your solutions" - "If anyone doesn't like it here, the door is open" These may sound obviously toxic, but often are taken with a grain of salt by many employees. In my 25 yrs, I have never seen a team or company recover to a remotely healthy state after a high level manager utters either of them [EDIT: to the team; individually it may make sense, but see thread below] (5 times, 2 personally and 3 from the sidelines). If you are an employee and you hear that, jump ship. If you are a manager and you say that, resign. If one of your reports says it, fire them.

ChemicalWarfare 9y ago
two situations I was personally involved with (as in on the same team with these ppl): 1 - reasonably smart dude (probably top tech guy in the team) acting like he was "the hot sh1t", going couple levels above his manager's to constantly complain about things not being done the way he wanted them done; 2 - run of the mill dude with a "I'm going to slack because I can get a better job elsewhere" attitude. both of them were told to go look elsewhere if they didn't like it. which they both did leave eventually. don't see anything wrong with management telling them that the door was open.
- Joeri 9y ago
  It depends on how the message is given. Just suggesting that someone voluntarily leave when you're not happy with their performance is bad management. As a manager, either you try to coach the person to perform better, or you take action to part ways.
- Jare 9y ago
  Two notes on that: - I was thinking of situation where the manager is speaking to the team-at-large, not to specific people individually. Sorry for not making that clear in my post. - Sounds like they were already a problem and should have been let go instead of hoping they would do it themselves. "Eventually" can be a long, and painful, time. But I respect that there are circumstances where this may not be possible or advisable. I was once in a similar position with a report of mine, but I felt important to draw the line at specific behaviour rather than the vague "don't like it". So we sat down, discussed my and his expectations, established some rules and boundaries, and managed to survive the project; not as friends, but as professionals doing our work.

by Jare 9y ago

ChemicalWarfare 9y ago

two situations I was personally involved with (as in on the same team with these ppl): 1 - reasonably smart dude (probably top tech guy in the team) acting like he was "the hot sh1t", going couple levels above his manager's to constantly complain about things not being done the way he wanted them done; 2 - run of the mill dude with a "I'm going to slack because I can get a better job elsewhere" attitude. both of them were told to go look elsewhere if they didn't like it. which they both did leave eventually. don't see anything wrong with management telling them that the door was open.

Joeri 9y ago
It depends on how the message is given. Just suggesting that someone voluntarily leave when you're not happy with their performance is bad management. As a manager, either you try to coach the person to perform better, or you take action to part ways.
Jare 9y ago
Two notes on that: - I was thinking of situation where the manager is speaking to the team-at-large, not to specific people individually. Sorry for not making that clear in my post. - Sounds like they were already a problem and should have been let go instead of hoping they would do it themselves. "Eventually" can be a long, and painful, time. But I respect that there are circumstances where this may not be possible or advisable. I was once in a similar position with a report of mine, but I felt important to draw the line at specific behaviour rather than the vague "don't like it". So we sat down, discussed my and his expectations, established some rules and boundaries, and managed to survive the project; not as friends, but as professionals doing our work.