Using a =lookup() for text. no numerical values

Long story short i have a a spreadsheet that is exported from a program. it lists various items that are assigned to different consultants. this program does not have the consultants managers. I need to add a column in which i can input a look up function to read the consultant name and provide the team managers name.

i.e.

Tab1
column A is consultant names

Tab2
column A is consultant names (exactly how they would appear on Tab1)
column B is consultant's Manager name

I've tried

" =lookup(Tab1!A1, Tab2!A:A, Tab2!B:B) "

it's providing manager names but completely wrong ones. Am i missing something... i imagine i am.

Thanks for your time.

Lookup by default conducts what can be described as "approximate" matches - and assumes that data (names) are listed in alphabetical order.
If the data is not sorted or names are missing you may get unexpected results...

You may find that a VLOOKUP with an exact match parameter is better suited to your requirements, eg:

Tab1!B2: =VLOOKUP($A2,Tab2!$A:$B,2,0)

If the names is not found the above would return an error to handle that:

Tab1!B2: =IF(ISNA(MATCH($A2,Tab2!$A:$A,0)),"Missing",VLOOKUP($A2,Tab2!$A:$B,2,0))