Don’t lift the digit as you say good bye
Many of our favourite clients have left organisations for reasons or in time frames not of their choosing in the last year. Cutbacks or redundancies have sometimes resulted in sadness, fear or anger. I have watched even the best of people leave with the equivalent of their middle finger lifted to the heavens as they express their frustration in various ways. I have observed some decide to go slow, or to do the minimum possible in their final days in the job. I have witnessed others badmouthing organisations, leaders or processes. Do I understand this very human response? Yes. Do I sometimes join them in their feelings of unfairness? Yes. But do I recommend you burn a bridge as you leave? NO!
Australia is a small place. How you leave a job will often be remembered. There’s a good chance you will cross paths with someone related to a “leaving” at some time in the future, and they will remember how you chose to go. The way you handle leaving is often a job interview for a future position. How did you deal with frustration and hurt as a leader, manager or expert? Your staff and colleagues will watch you as a model for how to behave in the face of disappointment. What are you teaching them?
I have an old fashioned view that if you are prepared to take the pay in any given payperiod, you should be able to look in the mirror and tell yourself you earned it, even when life has been unfair or disappointing. And you never know how your behaviour today will shape your options for the future. So go well, with grace, with gravitas, with dignity.
Author: Denise Picton
Categories: Clients, Leading & Managing, Political Savvy,