Resignations
When a person resigns, ask them "how long ago did you start looking?". This will give you insight into what the real reason is that they are leaving the company. When asked "why are you leaving", most people give partial truths only, and leave out information in an effort to remain political.
Preparing performance reviews
As soon as someone new joins your team, start with learning a few things:
- Understanding their goals and motivations. What are they hoping to get out of working here? What things do they care most about professionally: growth, titles, leadership, impact? What are their priorities outside of work? I also ask people what their dream would be to do after this job - we all know this is not their last job, or my last job, and I'd like to help them reach their goals beyond just this company and position.
- Clarifying my role, as a manager, and what they should expect from me. I always make it clear that their career is in their hands: that is, don't expect someone else to drive this. However, as a manager, they should expect from me - and hold me accountable - to give regular feedback, create opportunities for growth and mentor/coach, when there is an opportunity to do so.
- Regular 1:1 meetings which is time dedicated to them, and are places to share feedback both ways and talk about important things on their mind. If there's ever an issue on performance, I aim to bring them up here, discussing and resolving them.
- Clarifying the difference between promotions and professional growth. Especially for engineers early on in their career, many assume that the only way to grow is through promotions, and some decide to optimize for this. I have many thoughts on promotions, and this kind of thinking misses many parts of professional growth, so I make sure to talk it through, early on.