A couple of months ago, I witnessed an employee transition that really knocked my socks off.
We had a sales executive who had been with the organization for almost two years. She was phenomenal at building relationships, exceptional at developing rapport, and a great culture fit for us. Unfortunately, due to several tweaks that we needed to make in our organization, her role had morphed a little from when she joined us. She determined that it was important to her in her career to leave and take a new role, one that would allow her to participate in more of the sales process than our business development folks do.
She went to her boss and explained to him that, because of the changes, she was going to start looking for a new role. She also committed that she would work just as hard, if not harder, making sure that she finished up on a strong note with high integrity.
The way the organization responded was remarkable. Her supervisor announced to the team that she had decided to leave, didn’t have a role yet, and we were looking for everybody to open up their Rolodexes and help her find the type of role she was looking for. She was overwhelmed by the support she received, the outreach, and the number of people who wanted to help. A few weeks later, she found the role she was looking for and, after finishing everything up, said goodbye to our organization.
I’ll never forget giving her a hug as she said goodbye. As a tear fell from her eye, I could tell that this transition was something different, something special.
Because of the deep trust that had been developed, she didn’t have to hide the process or what she was going through. She didn’t have to stress out about hard conversations, though I’m sure they were difficult. Her supervisor took care of her on the way out, and in return, she took care of the organization.
This was an incredible example to our employees of the type of relationships that you can have in business if organizations stop thinking only about the bottom line and start respecting the dignity of the person, and if people respond in the same way, genuinely seeking to put in a good day’s work and doing the best job that they can, while being transparent and honest.
This transition is one of my proudest moments as the CEO of 3Pillar. I love the fact that I didn’t have to be involved, that the organization took care of it themselves, and that I was able to witness a company that invested in their people, helped them even if it meant a departure, and an employee who left saying, “Someday, I hope I return. I will always be part of the 3Pillar family.”