What to Do When Good People Leave Your Organization

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Great Resignation has had a huge impact on teams and organizations. How do you respond as a leader when you lose a really good team member?</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In this episode, co-hosts Richard Lindner and Jeff Mask talk about what happens when one of a leader’s biggest fears becomes reality: a key player on the team decides to leave. Instead of just speaking in generalities, Richard shares a very personal and recent story, and he and Jeff walk through these important questions:</span></p> <p> </p> <ol> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">How do we process it internally?</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">How do we communicate it?</span></li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"><span style= "font-weight: 400;">How do we make sure the company is better because they were here instead of worse off because they’re gone?</span></li> </ol> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Listen in for some great tips to help you think about—and become better from and through—these experiences. </span></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Richard’s Team Loses a Key Player</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Richard says their company was blessed not to lay anyone off during Covid, but they still experienced the Great Resignation to some degree this summer. He recently had the scary realization that his team was at the definition of a skeleton crew. Everyone was perfect for their job—right person, right seat, right attitude, right cultural fit. “If anyone here leaves,” he thought to himself, “we’re going to be in a bit of a bind.”</span></p> <p> </p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And then it happened. Someone who had been with the company for five years (in internet years, that’s forever, Richard says) put in her resignation. In the growth they had seen over five years, this person had been critical in figuring things out and ushering i