Wednesday, 14 May 2008

The hardest people to manage

It's people who are on their way out of your organization.

My top management tip: don't prolong the agony. If one of your people wants to leave, tell her to just go right now. You may not know exactly how you will cope with the loss, but you will cope.

Just go right now sometimes feels hard. Having a familiar face who knows the ropes running her show for a few more months often feels safer. That is false security. Having an player who is not fully checked-in on your team for a few months is toxic. Best case, safe players start making amateurish errors. Worst case, open-minded, constructive scepticism degenerates into corrosive, contagious cynicism. I've seen it happen too many times. It's not worth it.

The shadow of the future is everybody's best friend.

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