People leave managers, not companies – 4 ways to better support your team

There isn’t just one cause – the pandemic has pushed underlying issues to the surface, triggering a widespread re-evaluation of what’s important in our work lives. One thing that will always be on that list, however, is good management.

The data suggests bad management is a real and significant issue. According to data from DDI’s Frontline Leader’s Project, 57% of people have left a job to get away from a bad manager. In fact, Gallup found that 70% of the variance in employee engagement depends on the manager.

Few managers ask themselves the hard questions: Am I the reason people are leaving? Was it because of something I did, or something I didn’t do? They assume they’re not the problem, their employees are.

A survey of 5,247 hiring managers who’d hired 20,000 employees said that after 18 months 46% of newly hired employees failed and only 20% achieved success.

And what was the biggest takeaway for managers interviewed? They needed better interview processes to weed out the failures before they joined their teams.

But the common denominator isn’t the employees. It’s the managers.