People Leave Managers… Not Companies

I was thinking about some of my previous job experiences this week while reflecting on my recent work, and while chatting with some of my employees an old sentiment that I deeply agree with came up. “People leave managers first - not the company.”

I couldn’t agree more. I left one of my previous jobs because the management was terrible - and when I raised my concerns to them, I was brushed aside and ignored. After years of maltreatment from them, I finally left. I was torn when I left the company because the organization as a whole was actually quite nice to work for - but I couldn’t get beyond the poor management, and the issues that it caused.

It has made me realize the importance of being a good manager and a good team member because regardless of how great my company’s mission is, or how much my employees are aligned with it, if I am an ineffective manager, my employees will never align with me.

This same sentiment applies to coaching - people don’t leave coaching, they leave their coaches. It's not often that a client hates the idea of coaching completely, or is adverse to the process that it entails, but they may be adverse to experiences they’ve had with prior coaches. The person behind the process often has a deep impact on the process itself.

Anyway, food for thought.

Tell me in the comments - have you ever left a manager, but not the company?