
When future lies elsewhere
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When future lies elsewhere

Last week, a client asked me about whether they should be doing “Stay Interviews” with their people as distinct from “Exit Interviews”. It is an interesting question and it provided the stimulus for this blog. My lived experience There have been three times in my working life when, upon announcing my resignation to take up a new career opportunity, my boss responded: “Why are you leaving ? We have great plans for you!” And I said: “Sorry but you forgot to tell me about them.” If we had had those conversations, I might well have been happy to stay and explore the opportunities where I was…..or I might have elected to move on anyway because the opportunities and my needs were not a match. In either case, we would have both known where things stood and we could plan accordingly with the benefit of that knowledge. The Reality The reality for most organisations is that they do not do staff performance and development very well. There might be annual reviews that can feel more like a transaction that we are contractually obliged to complete (ie to tick the box) than a meaningful process for planning and delivering on performance and development goals and job requirements. Even those which do performance appraisals reasonably well can fall Ito the trap of treating them as an annual event rather than as part of a continuous improvement and engagement process. And even where the systems might in theory be appropriate to the exercise, too often managers are not properly trained and equipped to do them or provided with adequate time and prioritisation to get it done properly. This begs the question of what value the employee gets from the process. And, in so far as an employee who might be at risk of leaving, their manager might not know (or even not want to know). And sometimes people are so busy in their own world that they can’t see outside that. So there are all sorts of reasons why a disenchanted employee could fly under the radar and surprises when they say “I’m going”. What should happen? For this to happen, you need to be having regular conversations about all of that and have a plan for the employee to execute agreed actions with your support – that can include looking at alternative jobs or projects in the organisation that will help both employer and employee and it can also be about how you can support the employee to take the next step in their career outside your organisation. The quid quo pro for the employee is that, in return for your support for their career development, they will assist you with succession of their current responsibilities to others It is all about honesty, transparency and collaboration. About Stay and Exit Interviews My ideal is that these are just part of the ongoing performance and development management process through a continuous coaching model rather than stand alone events. The “Stay” bit is just part of the ongoing conversation in your catchups or is programmed as a specific point of discussion at some stage in the process. The “Exit” piece can be the final conversation in that process. Perhaps you want to have an independent person or HR to have a conversation with the exiting employee to get some distance and assure transparency. I get that. Sometimes, the answers to those questions lie in the reasons that you want to do them………and sometimes they are the very reasons why you shouldn’t do them. I’ll leave that question with you to have a think about. If you are looking at better ways for you to uncover improvement opportunities with your people practices and culture, that is something that we can help you with. Please call us on 0438 533 311 or email enquiries@ridgelinehr.com.au if you want to explore how we might be of assistance.
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