Vague Advice Triggered Abrupt Quit
(I am honored to be invited to comment and to be included in this HR Spotlight article. Link below.)
In 2025, I learned that vague advice creates vacancies.
I told a client to address a manager’s bad attitude but didn’t explicitly tell her how.
The conversation went off the rails, lacked empathy, and the manager—who was actually struggling with a personal crisis—quit on the spot.
I realized my lack of specific direction set my client up for that failure.
For 2026, I have retired the phrase “handle it” in favor of “here is how to handle it.”
I now provide a mandatory pre-meeting checklist for my clients.
It forces them to prepare support resources (like EAP info) and “care-frontation” scripts before they ever sit down with an employee.
We now focus on documentation, support, and accountability simultaneously.
It is not enough to tell leaders what to do; as experts, we may need to define exactly how to say it.
My failure as an HR consultant was not giving this particular client the script to uncover the root cause.
Empathy matters in leadership!
Wendy Sellers, The HR Lady®.
Article Link: https://hrspotlight.com/bridging-the-gap-how-leaders-are-retooling-after-2025s-challenges/
