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I've been working closely with two people who both started managing around 7 years ago. Manager A is always the life of the party, organizing team events at his
by zeteo 3y ago
I've been working closely with two people who both started managing around 7 years ago. Manager A is always the life of the party, organizing team events at his home, frequently going out to lunch with them etc. Manager B generally stays away from work social events and the most he will ever organize for his team is a tech demo; his few work friends are on unrelated teams. Over the years a disturbing pattern has emerged with everyone assigned to manager A's team leaving or transferring out after 2-3 years. Manager B's team has seen some attrition but he does have multiple people who have stuck with him for 5+ years. I am very puzzled by this as the people leaving manager A always say the best things about him. But his team is now less than half the size of manager B's, and almost entirely recent college grads.
- _ah 3y agoIf everyone has good things to say on their way out the door, that means that Manager A is a "Good Person". So I can think of two reasons to leave: 1. Manager A is a Good Person but actually an incompetent manager. Everyone likes him, but he's terrible at teaching people and developing their careers. Eventually, people go elsewhere for growth. 2. Manager A is actually fantastic as career development, so much so that he convinces his team that they are capable of so much more. He builds them up and then sends them out into the world with his blessing to do something bigger. FWIW, I think option #1 is most likely. For Manager B, this is a person who is steady and low drama, but also not super invested on the personal level. Likely does what he has to for his team, and the folks who stay are not super ambitious but also appreciate the low drama environment.