I'm on my way out to a goodbye party for a very good employee. She's been with our company for many years, and after an ex-pat assignment in the US, is returning home to Australia to a new job with a different employer. We'll miss her terribly. She's not only a great employee, she's a dear friend to many Kronites.

In keeping with her excellence as an employee, she's been a role model for how to leave a job with style. Here are five lessons to carry with you the next time you need to jump:

  1. Provide your manager with as much advance notice as possible. Giving him/her more time to adjust key stakeholder expectations and shift resources is invaluable.
  2. Keep excellent records of your key projects and commitments - and share them with those who need to know in order to preserve as much continuity as possible.
  3. Help identify candidates - internal or external - who can replace you (or at least assume your responsibilities if you're irreplaceable).
  4. Keep your communications about your current employer positive. The decision to leave an employer often includes the opportunity to leave behind some negatives. Resist the temptation to enumerate these negatives for your soon-to-be former coworkers.
  5. Provide honest and direct feedback to your management about how to improve the position for the next incumbent.

Thanks for everything, Natira - and good on ya!

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