I always tell my clients to start with the end goal in mind and work backwards. Magnetic leader, Rob Nixon, CEO & Founder at PANALITIX , and author of the newly released, Remaining Relevant, has taken this to the extreme. Nixon delivers an awesome leaving speech to each employee on his or her first day of employment, based on how he’d ideally like them to think about his firm and their experience working there, on the day they leave.
Nixon understands that his job as a leader is to ensure his people achieve their maximum potential. He know there will come a day when his best people will leave. so he does what he can to make sure they are fully prepared to fly from the nest and soar.
Nixon recently announced with joy the resignation of one of his star employees. He couldn’t be more proud of her. Here is what he wrote on his blog.
Today marks the end of a 5 year and 2 month era. But it’s also the start of a new one. One of our star performers, Sharon McClafferty is leaving to look for new opportunities. She started as a sales coordinator and was quickly promoted into the role of sales where she quickly started outselling seasoned professionals. Within 12 months she was the sales manager where she grew and lead a team of 7 people. She had never sold anything before joining our company yet in 5 years she has sold in excess of $5M of new revenue. An absolute superstar. When Sharon sells she doesn’t sell. That’s the difference. She is an amazing relationship builder who makes a difference to those that she engages. She tells me she has done over 750 consultations to Accountants which is awesome.
On or close to the day she started I had the ‘leaving speech’ with her. It went something like this:
“Sharon, welcome to the team. We’re thrilled you’re here. I am sure you’re the right person for the job and I know there is a lot going on this week. I just wanted to talk to you for a few minutes about the day you leave. You will leave one day, everyone does. I know this is your first day and I know you’ll leave sometime in the future so I figured we should talk about it now.
I have a number of hopes and desires for that inevitable day. Firstly, I hope we part on good company. I don’t want someone to fire you because you didn’t work out or make you redundant because of a business downturn. Secondly, I hope that you learn a lot, contribute a lot and have a lot of fun. Thirdly, I hope that you live by our values, service and culture standards and the standards we set become part of your life. And lastly when you look back at this block of time, no matter how long it is, you look back on it fondly as an amazing part of your career. Welcome to the team. That’s all I wanted to say.”
I do this with every new team member close to the day they start. Sharon has ticked all those boxes and she has grown into an extraordinary professional.
Imagine what it must feel like to work with such a magnetic leader as Rob. After reading his blog posting, I was ready to pack my bags and move to Australia, just to experience what it would be like to work for someone who cares more about his people than he does about his profits. Is your leadership style making this kind of emotional connection with those who you’ve hired or are about to hire? If so, tell me what you are doing to make such a deep connection and I may very well write about you next time. If not, what are you going to do differently today, to make sure you are channeling your inner Rob Nixon?
