Things they don’t tell you about management – part II

Eli Lopian    Management for Geeks    

In my previous post, I talked about our web site team problem and the solution that we reached. I though that we solved the web issue, I only managed to make things worse…

The following day, I was talking to my managers about the difference between Victim and Responsibility and about discussing this in our weekly company meeting.

After the discussion, one of my managers came up to me, and told me that a developer, one of those who was always complaining about the missing resources, and the one who just yesterday the management gave all the resources that he requested, decided to quit.

Wow!

This employee had been crying out for this resource for a few months, we just didn’t have them, and the second that he got all the resources he required – he just quit. This is a classic example of the pit of death. The employee was spending all of his energy in complaining and wasting all his time in creating excuses instead of just jumping in the water and working.

What a surprise. I learnt that sometimes when I just give in and give the employee all he asks for – we get the the root of the problem.

The way I see it is that the company has managed to solve this issue. Having a frustrated employee is no good for anyone. And if he is doesn’t want the job after he got all the resources that he wanted, then the company hasn’t found the correct place for him to be, the best thing that we can do is to enable him to shine and grow in another environment. It is a pity as the employee is very talented.

Aftermath

A few days later, the employee wanted to come back. I asked: What has changed?

After several iterations, we decided that we can work together, and now that person is growing at an amazing speed and comes to work, positively with a smile…

(picture by Brian Landis)

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