you know how employers can ask for references for potential employees? you should be able to ask for references for your potential manager. what do their past reports have to say? 🤔

managers are probably the most-cited reason i hear for people leaving their jobs, but the feedback loop on manager performance is often really terrible because, by design, it's really scary for people to give negative feedback to their bosses!

which is bad for everyone, including the manager. it means that they doesn't get good feedback, which means that they'll keep losing team members without really understanding how they can improve. hiring good people is hard. you don't want to lose them needlessly.

even exit interviews (where, theoretically, you can just put it all out there and mic-drop because you're leaving) are fraught. i've talked to a lot of people who were afraid to give critical feedback in exit interviews because they didn't want to burn bridges.

anyway, companies, if you want to improve retention, get really serious about your feedback loop. you might be asking for feedback, but that doesn't mean you're getting it if people don't feel safe to give it honestly.