Being Let Go

As a leader, see your current role as a stage along your career journey rather than a destination

One of the conversations I often have with newly appointed senior leaders is to encourage them to think about their current role as being a stage in both the development of themselves and their organisation. I remind them that, very often, their role is likely to have a shorter shelf life than perhaps they expect when taking on the job. That doesn’t mean that every chief executive or chair is doomed to failure – far from it – but it is an acknowledgement that businesses change and what might be right for the organisation and for the leader at a given point in time, might no longer be the case in two, three, five or even ten years.

The manager has our full support (until they don’t)

Football managers and head coaches in the professional game operate in such an intensely scrutinised and short-term results orientated business probably know this feeling better than anyone. How often is a manager praised for securing a promotion and then early in the next season they’re ‘let go’ on a run of poor results. Sent on their way with the dreaded double speak ‘endorsement’ from the chair: “We’d like to thank them for their valuable contribution and hard work, but we feel now’s the time to take the club in a different direction.”

The corporate world is, fortunately, a little different and thankfully boardrooms tend to have more patience than just one quarter’s poor results, but the reality is still the same: every leader has a finite time in any position. Nobody continues in the same role forever and nobody’s career develops without the odd failure. Once you accept that as a leader, it helps you to think about your tenure in each role as a kind of extended handover. You can be a transformational leader for an organisation going through extensive change or a ‘steady the ship’ type of leader for a business looking for stability, but either way there will be a time when the organisation’s needs will change and you may no longer be the person suited to that role.

Don’t lose your perspective

It is why leaders need to be wary of becoming so invested in what they’re doing that they start to lose perspective on whether they have the right skills to do what the organisation needs now and in the future. There will be particular strengths that got you the job in the first place, but it might be that those qualities are no longer as relevant to an organisation that has moved on from the one it was when you joined. Often, it’s those around you that notice before you do that a change of leadership is needed. It’s why it’s important to have a coach, who will help you to take a regular assessment of your role and your fit within the changing organisation. It could of course also be that something has changed in the business entirely out of your control, which means the culture and values you have helped build, or your skill set may no longer align with the organisational needs.

Having the awareness that maybe you’re not the right person any more for your organisation can be a difficult judgment, but it should be an active, regular conversation you have with yourself and an important part of proactively managing your career. If you get it right, you will know when it’s time to leave rather than waiting for others in the organisation to make that judgement. And if you are let go, don’t see it as a failure but as part of your leadership journey and, as I know from coaching so many senior leaders, there will be another enjoyable opportunity just around the corner.