Five Common Mistakes To Avoid When
Quitting Your Job
Sometimes the best
way to show respect for an employer you're leaving is to make a clean break and
set a plan for your exit.
Is there really a way to leave a company without burning a bridge?
Of course there is! But many people wind up souring relationships they've spent
a long time building based on the way they head out the door. Here are five of
the subtler (yet all too common) blunders to avoid when it's time to give your
notice.
Say you’ve been working with the same boss for six years in
multiple roles. You have a close, even personal relationship. So you think it
would be way too curt and abrupt to walk into their office one day and
announce, "I’ve decided to leave the company"—right?
Wrong. If you say you’re
"thinking of leaving," you’re actually giving your boss homework:
you've just invited them to come up with ways to get you to stay put.
Wrong. If you say you’re thinking of
leaving, you’re actually giving your boss homework: you've just invited them to
come up with ways to get you to stay put. And don't think they won't try and do
just that. If your boss rushes over to the company’s management team, uses
political capital to put together an enticing counter-offer, and then you turn
it down, your boss will have egg on their face and be very unhappy. You’ve
wasted their time and the outcome is still the same: you’re still leaving.
A senior-level manager once recounted to me that he was just too
afraid to tell his boss he was leaving. Instead, he said he was "thinking
it may be time to make a change. "His boss came back two days later
offering a 10% raise, a title promotion, and added flexibility around working
from home once a week. When he turned this down, his boss completely flipped
out, fired him on the spot, and escorted him out of the building. No further
references, bridge burned, three years of work in the can.
Now, this may be an extreme case, but it isn't unheard of. No
matter how good your intentions, it's always best to rip off the Band-Aid. Be
forthright and final. Your boss and colleagues will actually respect you more.
Walking out the door without giving your boss a plan of action on
how to get on without you is like leaving the babysitter without instructions
for putting your kids to bed. Drafting a transition plan shows that you’re
empathetic—you care about the company (specifically your boss) and want to
leave a positive legacy. Second, it shows you’re committed to leaving so they
won’t try and get you to stay.
Whether your employer chooses to implement your plan or throw it
in the trash when you walk out the door is up to them, but it doesn't hurt to
put together a 30-, 60-, or even 90-day plan outlining how you'd make do with
your own departure if you were in your supervisor's shoes. Your plan should
include:
·
how to tie off outstanding projects
·
a list of the key members of your team and those you rely on most
for the work you do
·
names of colleagues who can fill critical gaps until a replacement
can be found
·
non-obvious people (in- or even outside your organization) whom
you've used in order to succeed, along with contact information or even
introductions
Providing such a plan accomplishes three major things:
1. It gives your organization the
tools to succeed without you.
2. It indicates you've made a
clear decision.
3. Protects your legacy with the
company.
Many people want to take the weekend to think about an exit plan
and execute that plan on a Monday. Don't do that. Whether or not it's what you
want to convey, you may risk coming off as smug—you've decided to head to
greener pastures, and now everyone needs to look at your stupid face for the
next five days as the company decides its next move.
Instead, make a clean break on a Friday. Let the dust settle over
the weekend. Give your boss and close colleagues time to think and work through
their reactions. When you come in on Monday, it'll be easier to work with your
supervisor on a transition plan.
If you're changing industries or moving to a company that's very
different than yours, this is less of an issue. But if you're heading off to a
direct competitor, keep in mind how past colleagues who've made similar leaps
were treated. Did they give away too much information on where they were going?
And was there any blowback? Maybe you work at a company where the culture is
"you can’t quit, because I’m firing you!"—but where that isn't
apparent until you've actually quit.
Make a clean break on a Friday.
Let the dust settle over the weekend.
So be very cautious about how much detail you give your employer
on your next move. Many people don't think twice before saying, "I've
accepted X job at Y." But there can be some hidden risks in being so
forthright. A diplomatic response that addresses need to answer, "So where
are you going?" without saying more than you need to might go something
like this:
There’s someone in the position I'll be moving into right now, so
I can’t share the company name publicly because they haven’t been told yet. But
once it becomes public, you’ll be the first to know.
Your boss may be disappointed, but they'll understand that if
you're assuming the role of somebody who's being promoted or let go, and that
you're respecting your new employer's timetable for announcing the switch, then
it's out of your hands. Your boss and colleagues should be able to live with an
answer like that, which may protect you from a bad situation between the time
you give your notice and your last day. After that point, of course, it's much
safer to say where you're heading.
You might think, "I’m really important—only I can close out
these critical projects, so I can’t totally check out just yet." I had a
friend who was known as a star employee at his company. When he gave notice, he
offered to stay on board "working nights and weekends"after his
official departure date, to help bridge the gap. Over the next three months, he
continued to offer guidance—and produced sub-par results in the process.
His employer probably shouldn't have accepted his offer to keep
helping out, but he shouldn't have made it in the first place. He'd mentally
moved on yet invited his former company to treat him as though he were still on
the job. By trying to be helpful and not delivering at the same level as
before, he lost the opportunity to go out at the top of his game. Leave
decisively—like the hero you want to be remembered for. You won't be doing
anyone any favors otherwise.
MIKE DOONAN
http://www.fastcompany.com/3062427/the-five-common-mistakes-youre-making-while-quitting-your-job
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