Leaving the Team I Created
The dust is settling. Emails have been sent, clients have been called, and I’ve begun to wrap up my transition plan. I’m staring at a chair full of things that used to live on my desk, and I’m already seeing my team move on without me. As I write this, I have one day left in my current role.
I read a brilliant LinkedIn post recently about why employees leave. It was prescient to say the least. I keep reminding myself about the reasons why, but it’s a bittersweet why because this is the team I created. And leaving this tribe behind is like breaking up with your high school boyfriend the August before you leave for college: it’s bitter and it’s sad and you’re still so, so excited about the future.
Leaving the team I created will be one of the hardest things I have done in my career thus far. And it’s also one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made.
Two years ago, I was given a life boat when the startup I was working at begin to sink. It was a quick conversation at a funny little OTR office, and it went from coffee to interview quickly enough that I didn’t have a chance to get nervous. At the time, I was so concerned about profitability that I grilled my future boss about growth and long-term plans. I went in with the kind of confidence you only have when you don’t realize how important something is.
That funny little office offered me a job two hours after I interviewed and I accepted easily.
We’ve been through a lot over the last two years, that office and me. My first six months were spent alone managing every single account and faking PR while leaning into digital. I helped to craft the proposal that would launch us into our current profitability, and I created the presentation that sold our biggest client to date. I hired, I mentored, and I fired. I didn’t always do it well, but anyone who tells you that leadership is easy is lying. But I found my way.
I’ll miss the dad jokes and Slack miscommunications, the impromptu happy hours and lunches, and the collective joy of a small team. We did good work together, really good work.
Here’s how it feels to leave the team you created.
Getting the Offer
I got the offer alone in my kitchen and I absolutely did a jig after I hung up the phone. I was impressed by the transparency, the authenticity, and the openness of the entire recruiting process. It was an easy yes.
Telling My Boss
Having that conversation is never easy. The best you can do it is to be straightforward and professional, and jump into action mode to ensure an easy transition.
Telling My Team
On one hand, you’re dying to get it out. On the other, you’re about to shatter the world of three different people. I teared up, I told them they’d be fine, and I promised to keep in touch. As my husband says, a good leader hires and mentors well enough that your team can function without you. On that account, I think I did my tribe justice.
Ed. Note (Oct 6, 2021): I found this in my drafts and got sentimental. It’s incomplete at best but it felt evocative enough of a time that was special. Sometimes you get the opportunity to create something important.