People quit bosses not companies

 The statement has been heard so often that it almost seems like a self evident truth which need not be a subject of debate. I have in the last fortnight after 7 years of leadership thought about this more in the last fortnight than ever before. The reason is the sudden decision of a key member of my team to quit. There are many reasons for persons to leave an organization and in this case, there was an inkling that this would happen but the manner of quitting has prompted some introspection. 

A little bit of context and background is needed to understand the issue. I am an Orthopedic Surgeon turned Hospital Administrator who had been made head of the oldest Charitable Trust Hospital in Mumbai, a post which I have held for the last 7 years. The employee in question was a young enterprising girl holding a post of Head Information Technology. She had been present just a few months before I became her boss. Coming from a tier two city, Indore in Madhya Pradesh, she came across as a hard worker, but an unpolished gem who needed support and nurturing. 

 As a leader I measure my progress based on the well known book by John Maxwell about the 5 Levels of Leadership. In summary they are as follows:

The 5 Levels of Leadership are:

Position—People follow because they have to.

Permission—People follow because they want to.

Production—People follow because of what you have done for the organization.

People Development—People follow because of what you have done for them personally.

Pinnacle  Relates to a leader who is creating a legacy.

So for an inexperienced person who was feeling his way I spent a good amount of time listening and feeling my way through the politics and mind traps of my team. A few of this inherited team were senior persons, set in their ways and even having vested interests in withholding information. In this situation two key persons became my dependable true allies, one a Senior Surgeon who by experience was a kind of analyzer who became the conservative status quo person and the other was this girl who by virtue of being young and holding a key position became someone who became my reliable foot soldier. Her presence in emergencies and her willingness to take ownership of the work made her quickly an invaluable asst for me and my other senior colleague. The hospital was in a very bad shape both financially and the administration was weak. There were weaknesses in key departments like Human Resources, Finance and many more. However, to put structure and processes in place I decided to apply for entry Level NABH Accreditation relating to quality standards. The senior most person in the team was by training an NABH assessor. At this stage, we hired a Consultant to guide the hospital. At this stage the girl from Indore put her hand up and spearheaded this initiative. This was the inflexion point where she became the most dependable and valuable member of my team. 

However, unfortunately at  that time there was a ransomware attack on the hospitals servers leading to loss of some data for which she was blamed. IT manager is a key specialized position and to blame her was not fair. I had a tough time convincing the Trustees to retain her but could not directly reward her in terms of giving her a market correction of wages which she deserved. A monetary reward for NABH achievement along with arranging for an educational scholarship was the best I could manage for her.

In the meanwhile many old heads rolled because of corruption and inefficiency, and these persons were replaced by others who were given higher salaries but whose performance never measured up to expectations I had. The young girl started showing signs of frustration along with envy. While her designation changed from IT head, to Head of Quality, Compliance and Strategy, her path to progress was not clearly demarcated, which I consider to be an organizational failure. On the other hand she was an inexperienced employee backed by me who had reached a level of independence and confidence that was beyond expectations. She continued her education by acquiring an Executive Post Graduate Diploma in Health Care Quality management. Her education was partly sponsored by a education grant from Tata trust recommended by me. 

Having gone through 7 years of ups and downs in the organization, I felt I had reached at least Level 4 and did not expect this employee to actually leave based on conventional wisdom. However, leave she did and this is the reason I am introspecting and writing this article. There are many reasons for quitting and I am not sure that she will be happy in another environment. 

As a part of contemplation and reflection I came to the conclusion that I needed to understand rather than seek to be understood. The youth of today have CV's which show job changes every 2-3 years unlike the persons of my generation who believe in stability and long tenures. So for the present generation perhaps 7 years was too long a tenure in any case. The feeling of ownership which a job well done may take a back seat to the promise of unfulfilled dreams or desires. Ultimately, in the scheme of life, change is inevitable and for me I have learnt that a leader will only get the team he deserves. I am veering to the view that the statement "people quit bosses not companies" is not as self evident a truth as it is made out to be.