Olga Nassonova
“The front-line manager is the key to attracting and retaining talented employees.”
— Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman, First, Break All the Rules
When instability is observed in a company, the impression is often that those who find it harder to cope with workload or uncertainty will be the first to leave. In reality, the opposite tends to happen. Those who leave are the ones who were relied on the most. And this is not accidental.
Strong professionals, as a rule, sense changes in the management style faster than others: when it becomes more difficult to understand leadership priorities, tasks lose coherence, and efforts do not lead to the expected result.
While for some this remains within acceptable limits, for others it is already a signal.
A high workload in itself rarely becomes the reason for leaving. It is much more difficult to work when efforts do not add up to a clear result, when decisions change without explanation, when the sense of direction is lost, and when relationships within the team deteriorate.
People get tired; not from the amount of work, but from the loss of meaning and the feeling of “we”.
At the same time, people who are able to work independently and take responsibility are often especially sensitive to the quality of interactions within the team. is important for them to understand not only how decisions are made, but also what they can rely on.
When this is lacking, not only professional but also psychological discomfort arises.
Material conditions can temporarily smooth out tension. It is believed that the positive effect of a salary increase weakens after 2–3 months. But if the basic sense of stability does not appear, over time the question arises of how much the environment supports, rather than only demands.
And then the decision to leave becomes not emotional, but well-considered.
Although it may look that way from the outside, the departure of strong professionals is rarely sudden; it is a gradual process. This is what it looks like from the inside:
If priorities change, this is normal. What is not normal is when this happens without explanation.
It is important to:
Strong employees require not so much stability as clarity.
One of the main causes of burnout is the feeling of “we are doing this, but it is not clear why”.
It is important to:
If there is no meaning, energy goes away faster than from overload.
Strong professionals begin to lose support when the logic of decisions slips away.
It is important to:
People accept difficult decisions better than unclear ones.
For an attentive leader, the departure of a strong professional almost never happens suddenly.
It is important to:
Loss of interest is an early stage of leaving.
Strong people are often given maximum responsibility and minimum support.
It is important to:
Autonomy without support turns into isolation.
Not only “how are things with tasks?”, but also “how is it for you to work here?”.
It is important to:
Strong professionals rarely complain first, but answer honestly when asked.
It is important to note that when such departures begin to recur, this may not be solely about individual specialists. Sometimes this is a signal that the system itself lacks stability.
Strong professionals do not leave because of difficulty. They leave when support disappears in meaning, in priorities, in the system, in trust.
That is why it is so important to create a clear, coherent, and stable environment.
As they say, people leave managers, not companies.
The most common early signal is a shift from proactive to reactive behavior. If an employee who previously offered ideas and took extra responsibility starts doing “only what is asked,” their engagement is dropping. To catch this, leaders should move beyond “status updates” and ask direct, culture-focused questions like, “What is currently draining your energy in our processes?” or “Where do you feel you lack support?”
About the author
Consulting Psychologist at Siffi
Olga is a consulting psychologist with 20 years of professional experience in counselling psychology. She supports her patients with managing stress, strengthening resilience, and navigating interpersonal challenges in the workplace to help create sustainable cultures of trust, psychological safety, and engagement.
Recent Posts