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Five ways to leave an organisation well

Karen Lynas, interim managing director at NHS Leadership Academy, explores how to successfully leave an organisation and team and do so well enough to ensure the success of what you leave behind.

We’ve recently started a new support offer for newly appointed chief executives looking particularly at their first 100 days. Indeed, we have provided some support through our Directors programme for those new in role, and many of our professional leadership programmes, which focus on helping people who are aspiring to more senior leader roles, also talk about what to do when you are new in post. 

But we don’t do much about endings; how do you successfully leave an organisation and team after whatever period of time and do so well enough to ensure the success of what you leave behind? How do you best spend your final time in post so that the transition is managed well for all? I have five top tips, garnered mostly from the research rather than my own experience, and I am trying to apply them myself – those around me will be better able to say if I’ve been successful. Any words of advice from you are warmly received too! 

1. Communicate well and often 

I once told a group of staff I managed that I was leaving by sending a text. Now in my defence... Well, actually, there is no defence. I went for quick, efficient and equitable – everyone got to know at the same time and in the same way. 

The only equitable thing about it was that it was equally inappropriate for everyone. So be clear and open, but also appropriate. You will know your audience; who wants a personal conversation? Who wouldn’t mind an email? Who might not care massively but needs to know the news? And be prepared to talk about it. 

Leaving the NHS after a long time has, at times, felt like I’m telling people of my impending death; lots of heads on one side and some sympathy – well-meaning, but not quite right. 

Communicating you’re leaving is setting the groundwork for an elegant departure, it’s the bit to make sure you get right. Rhymer Rigby, author of ‘The Careerist: Over 100 ways to  get ahead at work’, talks about the way you tell people you are leaving being focused on how you want them to remember you. As with all things leadership, communicate well and often. 

2. Be clear about the responsibilities you have 

You are moving on, so there are some things that you need to start to let go of, some decisions that will far outlast you but are hugely significant and need even more careful engagement than you would previously have done. 

During your time in post you will inevitably have become personally invested in things, which are connected to work, that are important to you. You’ll care about what happens and how things get done. But this is the time to start handing over. 

There will be people around you that see your leaving as an opportunity for them, and there may be things you can handoff while you’re still around to provide support that present a win-win. 

Equally, don’t just drop the ball. Stay committed to the functioning of the work while you’re there and continue to put in effort until you go. This is all part of your legacy and making sure you leave people with the right impression of you. Alistair Cox, CEO of Hay’s, talks about making sure you protect your reputation as you leave, but it’s more than that, this is about your integrity.

3. Prepare your handover, remembering they are not you 

If you want to set up your successor for success, you may be tempted to annotate every bit of the way you do your job and leave copious notes and files and documents to help them pick up where you left off, or to create a long handover so you can guide them in doing your job. 

But, of course, it’s not your job, it is now theirs, and they will do it in their own way. What most people want when they start a new job is a fairly minimal set of information that allows them to familiarise themselves with the machine they are picking up, but will want to understand the people, the soft intelligence and the nuances of the role themselves. 

Your briefing on people in particular can be unhelpful. Your successor will generate their own relationships, and might actually like all those things  that most got on your nerves about Harry and, in any case, Harry might see you going as a bit of a moment to reinvent himself. 

The most helpful resource in starting in a new role is time – to acclimatise, get the lay of the land and meet people. So rather than setting up a War and Peace of information for people to plough through on day one, your best gift is to make sure that everything is well managed for the first couple of weeks.

Perhaps leave things with the kind of care that you would if you were about to go on an extended holiday – scheduled meetings and events well planned for and sorted, any immediate issues on top of. As long as you don’t rush out of the door at the last minute leaving the job like the fire alarm has just rung, leaving them a basic briefing and time to get on top of things themselves is probably your best bet.

4. Be kind to yourself and have fun 

There is some joy in moving on. Keeping on top of work and maintaining your responsibilities in post as discussed above is really important, but inevitably you will find your diary start to clear a bit. No doubt you’ve been working incredibly hard in post and will do so in your new role from day one, so this may be the moment when you actually have a bit more time. 

Take that time to spend with people. Take time to say thanks to all those people that have made a positive difference. You might even find yourself getting home on time, maybe not working weekends – don’t feel guilty that the pace you’ve maintained previously isn’t now needed. Make the most of it. 

5. Life goes on… 

A close colleague shared her wisdom, “leaving will be like taking your hand out of a bucket of water, a quick ripple then it’s like you were never there”. We all like to leave a legacy of some kind, to have made a difference, connected with people, left things better when you go than when you arrived. So it may only be a ripple, but your leaving will be noticed. 

And of course the greatest sign of a good leader is that when they go they have built up strong teams, strong organisations and systems and enduringly positive new ways of working. If you leave and everything stays the same or even improves, be pleased – you have done your job well. If you leave and everything falls to pieces you may get some momentary sense of irreplaceable fabulousness, but that’s not the best testament to your leadership. 

However wonderful any of us in our most positive frame of mind think we might be, the reality is that the NHS is replete with fabulous talent and you can be replaced. Indeed, you should leave behind you plenty of talent to step into the space you leave. Move on, as another colleague told me, “they may still love you, but you’re their past!” Move on to your own future.

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