LEADERSHIP RAMBLINGS
Celebrate the colleagues that leave
It happens in every company. A colleague decides that the time has come for them to move somewhere else.
When professionals decide to leave, right after discussing whether there’s still room for a change of mind, don’t forget what that colleague has done for their colleagues and the company.
Too often I’ve seen friends at various companies saying that as they handed in their notice letter, they received a disappointment face, cold reactions and in some cases pure hostility.
I firmly believe that such reactions are both unprofessional and unproductive.
That person has decided to leave voluntarily to explore other opportunities and it’s not a personal attack to you. Even in the extreme cases where the reasons for leaving are 99% in their working relationship with you, it’s still not about you. It’s about them. It’s about their expectations, desires, interests that have not been fulfilled. Or that they hope they will be fulfilled better in another place.
This post is not about what could have been done differently, nor about what actions the company should take after their departure (hint: exit interviews → retrospectives). It’s about that moment where it’s clear that the decision has been made and that person will leave.
The recipe is pretty straightforward:
- Give them their moment to communicate the decision to the people they worked with
- Acknowledge publicly what the colleague has done during their time at the company
- Wish them luck and thank them again
It’s that easy. It’s professional. It detaches the personal disappointment, the worries about a replacement, maybe even the rage for the work done to help that person, and leaves space for respect, setting the tone across the company on how people are treated. This reflects back on the company beyond the specific, individual case.
I’ve never met anybody that felt impacted positively seeing how badly a former colleague had been treated on their way out. I could bet instead many people added that as an additional reason to leave.
Talking about how a toxic environment made out of fears and distrust doesn’t add business (nor human) value might be a topic for another post.
