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In this podcast episode, co-hosts Melanie Parish and Mel Rutherford explore how leaders can turn employee departures into powerful cultural moments instead of quiet losses. They reveal how ignoring or resenting valued employees when they leave harms trust and morale, and they offer a simple reframe: honor contributions, mark endings with gratitude and care, and reinforce that people matter beyond their tenure.

 

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Traps and Tricks: Turning Employee Exits into Cultural Wins

Welcome to Traps and Tricks.

Welcome to Traps and Tricks. I’m Melanie Parish. I’m one of the co-hosts of the Experimental Leader podcast.

I’m Mel Rutherford. I’m a co-host of the Experimental Leader podcast.

Well, we’re going to talk about some traps and tricks today, and I’m wondering what you’re thinking about, Mel?

Well, I’m thinking about that moment when a valued employee leaves an organization. I think there’s some opportunity there, and I think that the trap is just to not acknowledge it, to not talk about it, to let the person go, to not to not mark that moment in time, and I think the trick is to not just thank that person and and acknowledge what they’ve meant to the organization, but really highlight the contributions that they’ve made to the organization, so that the organization understands what they’ve been given and can nurture it once the person has left.

Well, and I think sometimes, like from a leadership perspective, when someone’s leaving, there’s probably a reason they’re leaving. They’re leaving because they were asked to leave. They’re leaving because they are fed up, and so there can be like a little distaste, I think, at the end of an employee engagement. It’s rare that the the valued employee is at their best at the moment that they’re leaving, and so I think that’s where the trap really comes into play. That that they’re imperfect as they’re leaving in some way.

Right? If the story becomes that they’ve they failed us or they’re abandoning us, then why are we celebrating them? But but still, during their time at the organization, they’ve done something, and you can you can maximize their contribution by bringing it forward and telling people in the organization, what they’ve given them.

Well, and I think there’s a lot of traps in here. I think that if you don’t acknowledge them, you’re saying to your current employees, “Hey, you don’t really matter. It’s just what we can extract from you. And and if you’re celebrating them, then the remaining staff both gets a chance to say goodbye, but also sees that their work will be honored, and that has real meaning. Like people want to have their work matter, and if you miss that opportunity with someone who’s leaving, that’s a big trap. Like it’s disorienting for the people that are there. That people just disappear, and it’s disorienting that their work doesn’t really seem to matter.

I think that’s a really good point. I think the people who are left in the organization are watching, and if they notice that you know we like this person. We like this person. We like this person, and then they disappear. They’re going to wonder what their own leaving is going to be like.

Well, and sometimes it’s like we don’t like anyone who leaves. Like we’re mad that they left. So even if they were fantastic, we’re mad that they left as an organization. And I don’t think that fosters goodwill and good culture in the organization. It’s not that you’re in or out; it’s that you were a contributor on the journey for that organization.

Yeah, and as as leaders, I think a lot of us are hoping that we’re nurturing the professional development of our employees, and if we do that, they might they might be ready to move on to another role in another organization.

Well, and it may be a great move for both the organization and for that person, and so it really can be a good leaving with gratitude and care and kindness. Our professional lives are so much a part of our lives that we want we want them to be held as important by the people that we work with. Well, this has been a great conversation about traps and tricks. Go experiment.

Go experiment.

 

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