Not always. Managers sometimes like the people on their teams, and don't want to fire them. That's when someone else notices the team needs shaking up, or overhears conversations that are unsettling, etc. Also step-over meetings, too: that's when a manager's manager (or higher-up) will have a meeting with someone the manager is managing....good orgs have all these types of playbooks.
"Managers sometimes like the people on their teams, and don't want to fire them."
I remember early in my career meeting a very senior and experienced manager from another company on the same project who said he intentionally didn't become too friendly with people in case he had to sack them - which I thought must be a miserable way to live. NB I have sacked people for poor performance and laid off people I considered friends (and who are still friends).
