Good leaders feel a deep responsibility for the team they have helped to create. Loyalty to individual team members and the team itself is top of mind when new opportunities arise. The idea of leaving colleagues who have sacrificed for the team leader and were often recruited by them appears particularly self-serving and disloyal. So how should leaders think about their responsibilities to the organization, the team, and individual colleagues as they consider their own personal and family interests?
I was the founding dean of a school within a university when I left to become a VP elsewhere. I left a letter to my as yet unhired successor to put the faculty on the best footing with the new person. I later learned that she was a good leader who continued with the same tone I had set, and I like to think I influenced her to some extent.
The obligations that come with being a good leaver should translate from the obligations of good leadership... but it's nice that you have specific tasks and ideas listed here too.
It might feel like we are working two jobs for a transition period... but that comes with the territory.
Why wait? Write that letter now. Better yet, document and publish your processes so everyone on your team can see them. Get them to do the same. When I first joined my current company, each person on my team kept everything inside their heads and were unwilling to share that knowledge with other people. I kindly beat it out of them over the first few months. 12 years later, I feel confident that if I were asked to leave, won the lottery, or got hit by a bus, my team would keep running smoothly.
I was the founding dean of a school within a university when I left to become a VP elsewhere. I left a letter to my as yet unhired successor to put the faculty on the best footing with the new person. I later learned that she was a good leader who continued with the same tone I had set, and I like to think I influenced her to some extent.
Good morning,
Well put.
Thanks for your time.
The obligations that come with being a good leaver should translate from the obligations of good leadership... but it's nice that you have specific tasks and ideas listed here too.
It might feel like we are working two jobs for a transition period... but that comes with the territory.
I want to be this kind of person.
So... I have to do these kind of things.
Similarly, I once heard someone say: “You don’t owe anyone a job, but you do owe them a good exit.”
Why wait? Write that letter now. Better yet, document and publish your processes so everyone on your team can see them. Get them to do the same. When I first joined my current company, each person on my team kept everything inside their heads and were unwilling to share that knowledge with other people. I kindly beat it out of them over the first few months. 12 years later, I feel confident that if I were asked to leave, won the lottery, or got hit by a bus, my team would keep running smoothly.