A person leaving your team is something we all have faced in our work life. Many times we have been able to negotiate them back. Yet we all have worked in teams where people leave. It is a fact of work life. Every team loses some people over a period of time. The question is how we cope both as a team and as a team member

People leave for various reasons better opportunities, personal reasons, retirements, layoffs and so on….. I like to call “people leaving” instead of “attrition” because I am looking at it more from a personal and smaller circle than the larger corporate picture..

As a team member when someone leaves, you feel different emotions; happy, sad, confused, afraid or jealous. As a Team member how you cope depends on who is leaving and for what…

Happy? Though I have never really rejoiced when any of my team member leaves, I can understand that at times people do feel happy because of how their work experience with each other have been…. for the guy leaving and for someone to be in the team without that person

Sad, because it is like a family member leaving, the connection is sometime established beyond work.

Confused, the big question is why he is leaving and if you are really missing some crucial point that might be impacting your career

Fear, because your collaboration with that individual has been crucial to your growth and performance, you kind of feel professionally incomplete without the person. What now? Can be a thought….

Jealous, Yes with all the ‘I like you’, ‘I am happy for you’ statements there are times one feels jealous, especially if you are also just standing in the boat with one leg out searching….

The reactions above are more relevant in voluntary leaving.. though you will feel some emotions during layoffs and retirements…. But primarily it is voluntary decisions to move on

So as a team member you get impacted in many ways and how you cope with it is up to you…. Again depends on who you are and who they are and why they are leaving….

As a team we are dependent on every other team member who makes the team

The first thought is that If there is no dependency on someone leaving… then it should not impact the team… but that is not always true because team exists because of team members and individual team members are always impacted when someone leaves

Yes the exit of some impacts more than others, but we see that when that happens people emerge from their shells and rise up to occasion. They take more responsibilities, think out of the box, work more closely with others and take things forward.

I have so much belief and faith in the ability of people to handle change. While I say that it is important that people in strategic leadership positions within the team should give special consideration to individual emotions when a person leaves. It make a tremendous difference in how well the team keeps moving…

People leave but the engine keeps moving, sometimes slowly but it can also become more agile if we work on it

People Leave your team but the Sky does not fall down, everyone is replaceable at work; you, they, me. But for your family you are irreplaceable…

Categories: Enjoying Life and Work, Work & Career

Tags: exiting, leaving, team member, Teamwork