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by rainhacker 2726 days ago
> Never vent to your team or other teams.

Could you elaborate on this, why not ?

2 comments

It colors the team member's view of other people or other teams, whoever is being vented about. It's contagious and establishes a culture of complaining. It gives those vented to the notion that you might vent to others about them, which you probably do.

I have seen this take over many teams and it always starts from the top of the team.

Totally this.

I'd also add that venting to the team makes the team nervous, if you are saying X to them, what aren't you saying. Your job isn't to deceive the team, in fact if things are going bad you should be honest but show a path forward. Lying will cause people to lose their respect for you and hence stop following your lead. So you have to be honest, be humble but show the path forward to the team. And it is ok to not have a path at first, just be up front and give some options so they don't think things are at a loss.

Not OP, but direct management venting to the team can have a really negative impact on morale, motivation, and inter-team relationships.

Managers who have a tendency toward complaining and negativity can really hurt a team.