When you resign

Why is it that when you resign from a company, that’s when everyone starts coming back with good feedback?

For those of you who follow my blog, I resigned same time last year from the big organisation I was working in.

Same time, this year, I have found myself in a similar situation. Unfortunately. I have only been in my current place for 10 months and I decided it wasn’t doing me any good.

I joined my current place looking at the immense opportunity it presented. There was a need to:

• Bring quality assurance at the forefront of everyone delivering software
• Understand that a diverse workplace is a comfortable workplace
• Drive passion
• Encourage external representation

Within 6 months, it was very visible what was actually happening. If you knew the right people, you could influence easily. People would generally hear the good ideas but never listen.

I was asked to help improve a high profile project. Which I did. Improving anything takes time. This is what was not understood here. Imagine wanting to learn how to swim. You can learn in 6 weeks. But it takes practice and muscle memory to master the skill and speed. I was practically told that I was spending too much time on the project. How does that even make sense? It was the first objective set for me and then when I immersed myself to improve it, I was told otherwise?

Following this, I actually started to train my brain (The Chimp Paradox). I detached myself and started looking at the overall situation with quality. And made sure that I could learn something every single day.

I delivered a high impact presentation whilst gathering my ‘team’ to slowly start making improvements. During this time, I was also presenting at conferences and helping to increase external presence of the company.

Only to be told that I am not around?!

Other things I also started observing. I was not learning from anyone in the company. I could not resonate with the leadership team. Every idea I brought forward was met with ‘Yes, but…’.

The company needed a change. They wanted me to be the change catalyst. But one can only change if they want to change. So I resigned.

When I resigned, I wanted to let my team know soon after. I believe in giving my team opportunity to absorb, reflect and suggest what they need from me before I leave.

What did I discover when I resigned?

• Heart break
• Despair
• Admiration
• Sense of loss

My resignation did not come as a surprise to a select few. I am of the view that you must always inform your leaders if you start feeling uneasy. You need to give them feedback, feedback they can use to make your life easier, and give them an opportunity to act on it. I gave them 4 months.

My team is unfortunately not happy. If they were happy, then I think I was doing the job incorrectly anyway. They were quite upset as they feel that the change started happening. What I said to them that the foundation had been laid, and it is for them to build on top of it. I also told them that I am going to be writing constructive feedback for the leadership team which will help them going forward.

I, then, had quite a few people come to me and say it was great to have you around as they found it easy to communicate with me. Not only about work. But also their struggles. I wish I too also had someone at work who could help me like that in the workplace

And lastly, something unexpected happened. The CEO announced my leaving at a company meeting. I. Did. Not. Expect. That. He was very grateful for what I had done to improve quality at the organisation. I wish this feedback came timely.

The more companies I am working with, the more I am learning that you must listen to your sixth sense. There were a few people who worked with me mostly because they had to. They were also the ones who didn’t have any conversations about why and when I am leaving. Leadership teams need to be able to build a sense of camaraderie. This helps them discuss opportunities for the teams and also give each other honest feedback without making it formal.

I try to concentrate on the positives though. The vast majority of the team actually shared that I pushed them to think outside the box. I inspired them to think beyond their jobs and see what they can do to learn. One of them said to me, ‘it was really nice to have another woman to sit next to me and share with’. Another said, ‘you helped us think outside the box’. And one said, ‘you are the best boss lady I have worked with’.

I may be leaving but I have found many new friends to keep in touch with! I hope I helped improve their lives or enabled them to think outside the box too!