Career Management: Saying Goodbye
As a species we are frequently oblivious and often adverse to change,
thus we seen to be continually astounded when it happens. Never is this
truer than when pink slips fly and downsizing begins.
Regardless of position or level there is an underlying belief system in place that, “it could never happen to me.” This denial of the inevitable can be the strongest the highest executive suites, especially for founders or longtime CEOs. Losing power, leaving office, stepping down from a station in life, ending a lifetime career can be powerfully disorienting. When the time comes for making a well-done exit, emotional derailers, and inappropriate actions can have a negative impact on a graceful departure. Basically, we botch it up.
Here are some pragmatic tips to help you come to grips with saying goodbye. Generic and general in nature, they should be applied and modified to individual circumstances.
Coming to Grips
This is a glass half empty approach. Assume the worst, prepare for it and then act on the best scenario in the meantime. Look at it this way, if you don’t do anything to prepare for leaving and if it does happen, it will be harder to deal with. If you setup an exit strategy in advance, you may never have to use it but it is always there. This reminds one of all the bomb shelters people built in their back yards in the USA in the 1950’s. Nobody ever had to use them and alternatively they made a good get-away for dad to have an occasional poker game with the guys and not disturb the family.
What do you need to do in advance to prepare for the potential of layoff, firing, and, yes, someday retirement? What do you need to handle in terms of money, connections, alternative plans, data and communications to make your exit a breeze?
Clean Sweep
A prominent West Coast think tank hired a new CEO to shake things up which resulted in buildings being sold and the corporate headquarters being relocated down the block. Executives with 10-20 years residency in the same office found themselves uprooted and moved to smaller quarters with less storage. The accumulated detritus and debris collected over time was overwhelming to sort through and discard. Fortunately, they had six months forewarning. Will you have the same time should corporate priorities shift out from under you? Scanning, downloading onto a laptop and otherwise backing up valuable career documents is a proactive not reactive exercise. Start now.
Guilt
It is far easier emotionally to receive a dream job offer that liberates you from a position you detest. Since that only happens in the movies or to an unknown few, more likely you will be offered a good opportunity with potential while you are more or less satisfied where you are. Accepting a new position may be potentially fraught with a certain amount of self-recrimination. It is normal to question leaving a team that needs you, a CEO who supports you, and a company that appreciates and rewards you.
Hopefully, the choice to stay or go is based more on your own career development than the needs of the organization. Never, ever forget the simple truth that if the shoe was on the other foot, you would be out the door as expeditiously as your severance package permitted. Guilt, unlike greed, is a fleeting emotion. Manage your feelings by resigning appropriately, considerately, adhering to the customs and dictates of your current organization’s culture.
Saving Face
Self-inflicted or imposed by others, leave-taking is a delicate and nuanced dance among many dynamics and different constituencies. It is important that you leave no burnt bridges, and minimize damaged egos. Even the most enlightened manager can take a departure personally and feel affronted when a subordinate resigns. You may want to tell them all to, “get over it.” However, you must think of the long run while you handle the short term. Do it right now and it won’t come back to haunt you later.
No one wants their job made more difficult, burdensome and complex. Your leaving may have that impact on colleagues, direct reports, customers, vendors and management. Face it, your skills, talents, and expertise will be hard work to replace, even if you felt unrecognized, unacknowledged and unrewarded. Recruiting and training is costly especially at the highest executive levels. Furthermore, accommodating a new employee into the fold will be an emotional adjustment and financial cost to the organization in terms of lost productivity and opportunity. You goal is to make everybody look good on your way out the door.
It is your obligation to ensure that the transition as easy as possible on all concerned even if that means giving a longer notice as you would like or offering to consult to your replacement. Look at it as paying forward, because someday all the professionals you left behind will be your references.
Gratitude
Richard Bolles, the author of the perennial bestselling book, What Color is Your Parachute?, said, “if you don’t thank God for you what you already have received, why do you expect him to give you anything further?”. Even if you are not religious, he has a point.
Demonstrating appreciation and thankfulness for what one has received certainly leaves a better lasting impression on co-workers and bosses. Farewell parties are the organization’s way of thanking you for your contribution as are severance packages and other exit benefits. We often neglect to return the favor.
The best thing you can do to ensure a good goodbye is to thank each and every person you have worked with. It will give them and you closure beyond measure as well as make you memorable, because so few do it. This may be the hardest task to accomplish during hard times, downsizing, and unplanned exits. But putting aside old resentments, reaching out to friend and foe alike, and extending a hand of gratitude will be a goodbye well said.
Regardless of position or level there is an underlying belief system in place that, “it could never happen to me.” This denial of the inevitable can be the strongest the highest executive suites, especially for founders or longtime CEOs. Losing power, leaving office, stepping down from a station in life, ending a lifetime career can be powerfully disorienting. When the time comes for making a well-done exit, emotional derailers, and inappropriate actions can have a negative impact on a graceful departure. Basically, we botch it up.
Here are some pragmatic tips to help you come to grips with saying goodbye. Generic and general in nature, they should be applied and modified to individual circumstances.
Coming to Grips
This is a glass half empty approach. Assume the worst, prepare for it and then act on the best scenario in the meantime. Look at it this way, if you don’t do anything to prepare for leaving and if it does happen, it will be harder to deal with. If you setup an exit strategy in advance, you may never have to use it but it is always there. This reminds one of all the bomb shelters people built in their back yards in the USA in the 1950’s. Nobody ever had to use them and alternatively they made a good get-away for dad to have an occasional poker game with the guys and not disturb the family.
What do you need to do in advance to prepare for the potential of layoff, firing, and, yes, someday retirement? What do you need to handle in terms of money, connections, alternative plans, data and communications to make your exit a breeze?
Clean Sweep
A prominent West Coast think tank hired a new CEO to shake things up which resulted in buildings being sold and the corporate headquarters being relocated down the block. Executives with 10-20 years residency in the same office found themselves uprooted and moved to smaller quarters with less storage. The accumulated detritus and debris collected over time was overwhelming to sort through and discard. Fortunately, they had six months forewarning. Will you have the same time should corporate priorities shift out from under you? Scanning, downloading onto a laptop and otherwise backing up valuable career documents is a proactive not reactive exercise. Start now.
Guilt
It is far easier emotionally to receive a dream job offer that liberates you from a position you detest. Since that only happens in the movies or to an unknown few, more likely you will be offered a good opportunity with potential while you are more or less satisfied where you are. Accepting a new position may be potentially fraught with a certain amount of self-recrimination. It is normal to question leaving a team that needs you, a CEO who supports you, and a company that appreciates and rewards you.
Hopefully, the choice to stay or go is based more on your own career development than the needs of the organization. Never, ever forget the simple truth that if the shoe was on the other foot, you would be out the door as expeditiously as your severance package permitted. Guilt, unlike greed, is a fleeting emotion. Manage your feelings by resigning appropriately, considerately, adhering to the customs and dictates of your current organization’s culture.
Saving Face
Self-inflicted or imposed by others, leave-taking is a delicate and nuanced dance among many dynamics and different constituencies. It is important that you leave no burnt bridges, and minimize damaged egos. Even the most enlightened manager can take a departure personally and feel affronted when a subordinate resigns. You may want to tell them all to, “get over it.” However, you must think of the long run while you handle the short term. Do it right now and it won’t come back to haunt you later.
No one wants their job made more difficult, burdensome and complex. Your leaving may have that impact on colleagues, direct reports, customers, vendors and management. Face it, your skills, talents, and expertise will be hard work to replace, even if you felt unrecognized, unacknowledged and unrewarded. Recruiting and training is costly especially at the highest executive levels. Furthermore, accommodating a new employee into the fold will be an emotional adjustment and financial cost to the organization in terms of lost productivity and opportunity. You goal is to make everybody look good on your way out the door.
It is your obligation to ensure that the transition as easy as possible on all concerned even if that means giving a longer notice as you would like or offering to consult to your replacement. Look at it as paying forward, because someday all the professionals you left behind will be your references.
Gratitude
Richard Bolles, the author of the perennial bestselling book, What Color is Your Parachute?, said, “if you don’t thank God for you what you already have received, why do you expect him to give you anything further?”. Even if you are not religious, he has a point.
Demonstrating appreciation and thankfulness for what one has received certainly leaves a better lasting impression on co-workers and bosses. Farewell parties are the organization’s way of thanking you for your contribution as are severance packages and other exit benefits. We often neglect to return the favor.
The best thing you can do to ensure a good goodbye is to thank each and every person you have worked with. It will give them and you closure beyond measure as well as make you memorable, because so few do it. This may be the hardest task to accomplish during hard times, downsizing, and unplanned exits. But putting aside old resentments, reaching out to friend and foe alike, and extending a hand of gratitude will be a goodbye well said.
