John Eades* says too many leaders take resignations of team members personally. It’s not the end of the world, and in some cases it can be the right thing for everyone.
“John I have bad news, and I wanted you to be the first to know. I have been offered a new job that I just can’t refuse.”
It hurt and I was disappointed. Not only was he a super talented professional but he added value to my daily life.
While churn is a big part of any business, it doesn’t mean it’s easy. What’s overlooked is how difficult it is for both parties.
When you lose a key team member, instead of lamenting on the negative short-term impact on the business, the thought should be different.
After taking a deep breath and multiple attempts to change his mind, my response to him was: “Thank you for your effort, energy, and creative thinking.
“There is nothing I want more than to see you thrive and become the best version of yourself. I am grateful for our time together.
“Don’t hesitate to reach out if there are ways I can help you.”
My attitude about turnover wasn’t always this way.
Early in my career, a team I was a part of lost three key members in a row.
I asked my boss how he felt about it and why it was happening.
His response was: “Turnover happens. Truth be told, they were expensive team members.”
For a long time, I thought any turnover that benefited the bottom line was good turnover.
I was wrong. Losing a team member is only good in these three situations.
They are ready for the next challenge and have a great opportunity:
Ralph Nader got it right when he said: “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”
If your team remains unchanged and every person is doing the same exact job after many years, you aren’t effectively leading.
Great leaders want their people to grow, evolve, and in many ways surpass them.
Purposefully holding people back for your own benefit is simply bad leadership.
This is one of the toughest hurdles any leader has to get over because you never know what the future holds.
That individual may bring opportunities or ask to return in the future.
They are hurting the culture and performance of others:
There are countless sports examples of high performing players who leave teams because of trades or free agency.
Instead of the team being much worse, it often gets much better.
This is because two plus two doesn’t always equal four when it comes to teamwork.
The team always has to come before the individual.
No matter who it is, if they are hurting the culture of the business or team, it’s time for them to take their talents elsewhere.
They choose not to meet or exceed standards:
The best leaders have high standards and expectations for their people.
They know the instant they lower those standards and expectations is the instant performance begins to erode.
There are times where the performance of individuals simply isn’t good enough.
It could be because lack of effort, lack of talent or just being in the wrong role or system.
Either way, the next step should be finding them a new role or helping them move on to another organisation.
If you allow low performers to continue to be a part of the team, it will destroy the culture.
Regardless of whether you’re the leader or an employee making a change, there is one thing that remains constant, handle it with grace and respect for the other individual and your team.
It’s not only the right thing to do, but it could also lead to opportunities in the future.
*John Eades is the Chief Executive of LearnLoft and author of, F.M.L. Standing Out and Being a Leader. He is also the host of the Follow My Lead Podcast and can be followed on instagram @johngeades.
This article first appeared on John’s LearnLoft blog.
