About 50% of all employees are disengaged but still on the payroll. Team members who resign probably quit six months before they actually leave. The first step of identifying a quit-but-stayer is to regularly check-in with people about their engagement or performance. Many people reframe infractions as noble as long as the perpetrator is on their side. The idea that one’s personal sense of righteousness can justify any illegal or harmful behavior is one of the most reckless and dangerous ideologies of our time. We don’t follow shared laws and norms because they always serve our personal interests, we follow them because they are really all that’s holding our society together. Are you still showing up in a way your younger self would be proud of? Are you treating others the way you once hoped someone would treat you? Are you remembering that no matter how your station in life has elevated, you’re still no better than anyone else?
Robert GlazerFailure to delegate responsibilities makes you the bottleneck. You don’t teach deep skills by making a presentation but by making others practice. Trusting your team with sensitive information deepens trust in both directions and increases fairness faster. Not only does leading from the front gives information, it also gives motivation though neurological shocks. Leading from the front states that you have nothing more important to do than fighting with your team. Even though leaders genuinely want to help when things get bad, they’re simply too busy.
Stay SaaSyPrototype the job by taking some Manager or Engineer tasks. Set a probation period of several months allowing you to revert back to your previous role. Consider the pendulum as Engineers and Managers are peers. The better we understand the goals that our managers have, the less surprising their actions will be. Hiring must be seen as the last resort to solve only throughput and quality issues. The cost of coordination grows more than linearly with respect to your headcount.
Luca RossiWork expands to fill the available time. Adding manpower to a late project makes it later. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. We often assume others are fine with things without ever asking. We suffer through stuff we hate to avoid awkwardness. Most people just suffer in silence and get frustrated.
Anton Zaides