Leaving High-Touch Jobs: How

Last time I examined some of the reasons why people leave high-touch jobs, even when things are going well. In this post I offer suggestions for making successful departures. In the weeks and months before you actually exit a high-touch job, there is much you can do to help the organization adapt to your eventual absence. Making the transition successful prevents the harm to your reputation that could otherwise result from a difficult transition. Successful transitions are especially important if your position in the organization is elevated, or if the professional community you belong to is small.

Useful terminology

Some terminology will be helpful in what follows.

Notice

Notice is a formal communication from you to another person in the organization. It expresses your intention to depart. It might include an exit date, or a proposed exit date, or a set of conditions that determine these dates. It's usually written, but it might also include verbal components.

Supervisor

Time your exit and any announcement thereof to
avoid harm to the organization or your coworkers

Your supervisor is the person or group who will receive the first notice of your intention to depart (the supervisor date). The supervisor might not be a person with actual supervisory responsibility. For senior executives, for example, the supervisor might be the Board of Directors.

Names for dates of important events

Here are some dates for which etiquette provides some guidance. The dates are listed in their typical time order.

• The supervisor date is the date on which you notify your supervisor of your intentions. It's usually at least two weeks before exit date, but there is no uniform legal minimum. The customs of your organization, and your own situation, might require more than the legal minimum.
• The close-collaborators date is the date on which close collaborators are informed of your intention.
• The announcement date is the date on which other coworkers are informed of your intention.
• The exit date is the last date of your employment in your current position.

Have a plan in mind that includes a schedule for all these dates. Depending upon your personal situation, you might also have a date for reaching an agreement with your spouse or partner, and a date for informing other family members.

Set these dates early. Having set target dates will help to keep you focused on your planned departure. Without target dates, letting things slide is just easy enough to ensure that your departure might never happen. Counting down the days until your targets helps even more. Remember though, sometimes dates do slip. Just be sure you have a good reason when one of your dates slips.

Guidelines

Here are seven guidelines for preparing for a smooth transition.

Write a resignation letter early

Write it, but don't deliver it until the supervisor date. The resignation letter should honor all the requirements of a formal business letter. An effective resignation letter has five important elements. (a) It clearly states your unconditional intention to resign; (b) It states the effective date of the resignation, including the conditions that might lead you to be a bit flexible if necessary; (c) It expresses gratitude for the opportunities your current position has provided to you; (d) It includes an offer to assist with the transition, and sketches the ways you can assist; (e) It conveys warm wishes for future success of the organization you're leaving and the people who work there.

Writing this letter can be an emotional experience. It can strengthen your resolve to carry through with your intention. That's why I recommend that you write this letter early in the preparation process.

Limit new long-term critical roles

Especially if you have a successful career, opportunities to further demonstrate your talents in your present position are likely to continue to present themselves as long as the people of the organization regard you as part of the team for the foreseeable future. Find ways to politely decline or otherwise limit your commitments. After you've disclosed to your supervisor your intention to depart, he or she can assist you in this part of your exit strategy.

Discretion is important

If people sense that you're considering departure before you can prepare them for your departure, your work life might change dramatically, and not necessarily in a good way. The effects might harm others and affect the success of important initiatives. To limit these effects, in advance of any formal announcement, confide in no one at work casually. Seek advice only from those you trust, and ask explicitly for confidentiality until a date you specify.

Recruit understudies

Identify people to shadow your work closely. Shadowing will make transitioning your responsibilities to others more seamless when your exit date draws near. And the people you work with will have met your understudies and worked with them in advance of the transition, which also helps.

As you consider candidates for understudy roles, keep in mind that your role as now defined might not fit in the future. It might be necessary to apportion your role across several people — even several teams.

Document

The transition from the current configuration to one without you is smoother if you create a set of notes (documents) that explain how, why, and what you were doing about significant initiatives. You can never be detailed enough to cover everything, but remember that events can move swiftly and whatever you write might need to be changed later. Focus your documentation effort on (a) what is not widely known, (b) what would be most useful to know for the people remaining in place after you depart, and (c) whatever is general enough not to need revision before you depart. Remember to tell someone where to find these documents.

Plan to be available to support others

Your availability to support others with transition begins when transition begins. And transition begins with the supervisor date. It extends past the exit date. However, after the exit date, the level of support you provide drops significantly. After the exit date, your support might be limited to short telephone contact, text messages, or email messages. Support at significantly greater levels after the exit date should be compensated.

During the transition, and especially at the beginning, communication with all stakeholders is critical. Except in rare cases, the transition from your being part of the team to your being elsewhere is a new experience. It isn't possible to anticipate all the glitches that might arise. Close, near-continuous communication is essential.

Beyond the transition, beyond the exit date, plan to remain in contact with your coworkers. Evidence of that plan includes your assuring select individuals among your coworkers that you will be available as a reference if they would like that.

Understand the organization's calendar

Time your exit and any announcement thereof to avoid harm to the organization or your coworkers. To do that, you must be aware of the organizational calendar. Know not only the routine seasonal events, and financial reporting periods, but also the one-off events associated with upcoming major milestones of current projects.

Last words

The person departing understands best what's happening and why. Those who remain behind know much less. Because they have no choice in the matter they can experience pain and emotional injury, and their careers might be harmed as well. Since these issues are most intense when the departure is voluntary, compassion is an important element of all communications between the person departing and those who remain behind. Life is long. We all might meet again someday. May your reunions be warm and pleasant.   First issue in this series   Top    Next Issue

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