Employee quit and I'm blaming myself

I struggled with this and though I’m much better at creating a sense of space it still happens. I remember that ultimately I’m not responsible for other people’s mental state. I can try to give opportunities, recognition, etc, but I can’t make someone like their job or their coworkers or be satisfied in life; that’s on them. I’ve also learned to trust the people I work for enough that I’m not worried I’m going to be judged for every one of my perceived failures—and most of what I perceive as failures are just things that happen. I’m not going to retain every employee or resolve every conflict or win every contract and a certain percentage of people will hate me and think I’m a lousy boss no matter what and that’s ok as long as they aren’t the one’s doing my evaluation.

/r/askmanagers Thread Parent