What to do when a ‘superstar’ quits

It’s a fact of life, people will move on from time to time. It’s another fact that about 15% of your people are either looking at other opportunities or entertaining calls ‘out of the blue’ from head-hunters.

That means that you are likely to lose people occasionally – sometimes to industry, but also now and then to major competitors.

There’s not much one can do if one of your people decides to move into industry, academia or the public sector (such as local government) and the prime time for this to happen is about now – the first few months after tax season, when all those late nights and weekends in the office have taken their toll.

If someone decides to move out of public accounting and into industry, it’s often due to the taxing demands (no pun intended) of busy season.

But what if they defect to a competitor?

And what if this person is someone you would consider a future superstar for your practice?

Initially taken as something of a ‘kick in the teeth’, when a superstar moves to a competitor firm, it is usually for good reason. Some such reasons could be:

· Lack of promotional opportunities in the present role
· Lack of growth of their present firm
· Lack of new, exciting, challenging engagements
· Poorly handled personal reviews

Disenchantment (due to any of the above) that leads to a departure can usually be spotted before the event takes place, and if this really is someone that you want to keep, then you might want to devise a plan of action aimed at filling any gaps that they perceive and trying to make their role more involved, more responsible or whatever it is that has been determined as the cause of their dissatisfaction from their periodic review.

So let’s fist discuss the negatives – what if you receive their resignation one morning and you discover that they’re off to a firm that you consider to be a major competitor of yours?

Well, the first thing to remember – in most cases – is that it isn’t personal. Now that might be a difficult pill to swallow, as it’s your firm, and that’s very personal to you!

But take a look at the bigger picture. There are often easy ‘tell-tale’ events that lead up to a decision to move on…

· Has this person been overlooked for promotion recently, but they’re perfectly capable of ‘kicking it up a notch’?
· Have they been doing the same type of work for too long and not enjoyed any professional or personal growth?
· Have they fallen behind peers in terms of salary?
· Have they not been getting items promised to them such as; bonus, more ‘reviewing’ work and less ‘doing’ work, more client contact or a higher profile with certain clients?
· Have they introduced work to the firm but received no (or insufficient) recognition? (Not necessarily $ related.)

These are just a few easily identified criteria that often lead to employee dissatisfaction and eventual departure. There are more, of course, but these are the most frequently stated reason in exit interviews, which leads me nicely into the next area we should cover.

When a superstar decides it’s time to move on, an exit interview can provide candid feedback on the real reason they’re leaving, and can provide lessons from the past to help you improve staff retention in the future.

However, many individuals feel somewhat ‘awkward’ talking about their decision to leave with a Partner in the firm they are leaving, and, as such, rarely are they really useful exercises for either party.

That’s why I offer an exit interview service to clients, so that they can talk candidly about their time at the firm to a third party, safe in the knowledge that the findings will not be released to their soon-to-be-former employer until after they have left.

It’s not for the faint-hearted employer. To be of value, it has to be brutally frank, along the lines of one theory from Jim Collins’s excellent book, ‘Good To Great’ – Face The Brutal Facts.

Some of the questions I use (feel free to ‘steal & modify’ them for yourself) include:

· Tell me what made you choose this firm over others at the time?
· What has changed since then, either with you personally, or at the firm?
· Where have you grown professionally during your time here?
· What was your thought process for deciding to leave?
· What will you miss about this firm?
· Why?
· Who will you miss?
· Why?
· What will you not miss about this firm?
· Why?
· Who will you not miss?
· Why?
· What was your proudest moment or achievement during your time here?
· What was your lowest point or biggest disappointment?
· What advice would you give to your successor?
· If you could have changed just one thing about this firm, what would it be and why?
· If you could only keep one thing the same about this firm, what would it be and why?

This list is certainly not exhaustive – there are 46 questions in my own exit interview conversation guide – but it should give you a sense of direction for the situation and inspire you to do an exit interview yourself, or engage someone to handle them for you.

The real point is this… once you have genuine, valid, candid feedback in this situation, don’t just sit there… do something!

Acting on any valid complaints or problems might, just might, help prevent you from losing another superstar later on.

© 2004, MFA Group Inc