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Everyone wants to explore and find better opportunities in their career span, some definitely look out for better roles and few for better salaries or package.
However, there are a few basic etiquettes which needs to be remembered and followed before moving on to your next adventure so that you don’t burn the bridges while you are excited to leave the existing position.
This definitely applies to any individual working…
The work scope may differ based on the actual work you do but on a high level these list of activities I have mentioned are pretty basic and important for a smooth departure.
“it’s a small world who knows, you might end up working with the same person in next few years” …..
So here are the Top 5 things to keep in mind:
Appropriate Notice
Every company and the local law will have the appropriate notice period. For example: some countries have a notice period of 1 month where as others shall have a notice period of 3 months. It does depends upon the nature of the work and key roles you play.
Especially if you are handling any key responsibilities document them carefully and proactively identify if there are any of the existing suitable team members willing to take over the support, definitely get the buy in from your leaders on your recommendation as they might have other plans.
By having them prepared you will know the time to transfer the knowledge you have accumulated all these years and plan to prepare your notice period accordingly. This also means you don’t have to rush during the last minute handover or extensions.
Look up your employment contract if you are at doubt connect with your manager or the human resources team.
Communicating your decision to your leaders
While you don’t have to mention where you are heading. It is appropriate to communicate face to face with your leader about your exit decision and express your gratitude for the experiences and opportunities you have had with the organization.
If you didn’t have a positive experience just show them with your future success. There is no value in hurting anyone and if anyone do then they are demoralizing themselves.
Be ready with a list of work activities you do and of course recommend a back up candidate if you have one who is fit for the profile from the existing team or company.
More importantly, if you are Supervisor, Team Leader or a Manager it is not appropriate to go back without a proper recommendation you should always aim to have a backup for your roles you play so that you would be able to take up new positions or fill them when you are planning to exit. This way you don’t have to onboard totally new member from outside. Also this may motivate or promote the existing team member who has been working along with you.
If you are working in key positions, ramping up team members within your own team may show to the rest of the members that they do have an opportunity to grow by holding the right skillset. It is your responsibility to provide them enough suitable opportunities to ramp up.
Let your leader decide when to communicate with the stakeholders and share the back up plan.
Knowledge Transfer & Documentation
After providing sufficient notice to your leadership. Start working on the Knowledge transfer and document all the activities you do in detail. As some of the work you may perform will be visible only to you or specific set of team members.
It is important to document all the activities clearly and appropriately, more importantly set up regular reviews to appraise the stakeholders on the statuses and the progress.
It is obvious that when people are leaving they may tend to take it lightly but in my experience these people are very minimal.
While you are leaving the existing position doesn’t mean that the work you have been doing should fail. If it fails the failure is on you. As after few months anyways it will improve but the mess you may had created will never be forgotten by people and who knows you may end up working with the same people again in future. So never take this chance.
Leave with Respect
As I mentioned earlier “Don’t burn the bridges” you may not know when you need to go back.
When you work with people especially with different culture it is important to understand and embrace the changes and the culture. There is no blame game.
I have worked with both kind of people in my career where some of them once they find a new opportunity they are proactive enough to share and complete all their activities and leave with huge respect. During the last day of the work we have a team huddle to wish them good luck, share some departing gifts and share good things about them and every time I tell them I hope you can return back to us.
With the people who are straight opposite to the above, I just wish them Goodbye and move on.
Here is a similar article from Forbes on How to Avoid Burning Bridges in the Workplace
Conclusion
There are many reasons why people chose to move on and find new opportunities but it is important to be positive and show your strengths by doing the work you love with Integrity especially working for years in the same company and the people, this will not just make you a better team member but a better Individual.