February 2026: Should I stay or should I go?

Not from the books, but from behind the scenes of coaching conversations with real people!

1. All Personal Coaching Backstage: people don’t leave ‘just’ their managers

2. Motivation Moment: Game On: Coaching Question Friday Raffle #46 and monthly awards!

3. Just One Learning Bite: an article on how we’ve neglected leadership and why that has a strong connection with values.

What’s a struggle or a topic you want me to talk about next month?

All Personal Backstage:
People Don’t Leave ‘Just’ Their Manager

In one of the coaching conversations last week, the discussion led to giving and receiving feedback in a way that is productive, constructive and helps us build trusting relationships in the workplace.

We were discussing sharing constructive feedback with your direct manager.

How that is helpful in establishing frameworks, boundaries, ways of working.

And how that might be uncomfortable to give, and also to receive.

And how, overall, these conversations are important and needed, because, at the end of the day, they help us save energy, time and, yes, money!

One of the challenges was

‘I gave this feedback to the manager and it blew back on me, in the form of more tasks assigned to me consistently, keeping me overtime more often, etc.? And when I tried to take this higher up – to my manager’s manager and even HR, nothing changed… What do I do?’

Your typical case of: people DON’T leave just a ‘bad manager’. They leave a ‘BAD’ company culture.

My question was: ‘Was this manager’s behaviour generally encouraged or accepted in that organization?’

The answer was ‘I’d say accepted’.

To which I asked: ‘Accepted as in the organizational culture was one where people could behave like that and be considered successful?’

The answer was ‘Yes, that’s exactly it! And I am considering leaving, because I feel that, in this kind of culture, I can’t change anything for the better.’

So, no, people don’t just consider leaving a bad manager here and there!

Because if the ‘bad’ behaviour is actually not accepted at an organizational level, if people resonate with the company culture and values and generally like working there, they will try to do something about it first.

They will start small, trying to give feedback to their direct manager.

If nothing changes, they try to get help from somewhere else and understand the bigger picture.

But if the bigger picture shows them a culture that they don’t want to be a part of and don’t resonate with, that’s when they finally decide to shut the door and walk away.

I thought that’s one great example of why, as Peter Drucker said, ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’.

If your strategy is to build a reputation of professionalism and a great place to work that attracts top talent, start with building the culture where that top talent that you need feels they belong.

Lead Different.

Be intentional about the culture you’re building, because that will reflect in who you’re attracting, hiring AND retaining.

Just One LEARNING Bite

Leadership doesn’t exist in isolation. It is a reflection of the company culture. It’s all about behaviours that are encouraged and appreciated within that organization.

This week, in our Leadership learning Bite, I am sharing an article that talks just about that: 
‘when you talk about leadership, discuss the behaviors and principles you value.’
Do you value individual achievements and competition?
Or do you value collaboration and teamwork?
Is your company an “up or out” culture or are you a company that develops people?
And how do you want to manifest these principles in behaviors?’

That’s what you want to hire, promote and retain people on!

Read more in this article.
Title: ‘Companies have been neglecting their leadership, and it shows’
Author: Josh Bersin

Interested to know your thoughts on it, feel free to reply to this email and let me know.

Lead Different. Be Clear on what you Value.

What’s a leadership bite you’d like to share?