3. Planning & Executing your Exit Strategy

Part 4: Tender your resignation

I wrote my resignation letter 5 years before I actually resigned. When my best friend wanted to quit his job (3 years before I quit) he used the letter I had drafted for my employer and all we did was change the names.

In the month preceding my resignation I stared at the letter every 6 hours to remind myself that I was not losing my mind.

The moment I handed it in and I was walking away from the Human Resources office I could swear there was a small girl’s skip in my step. Looking back, I wonder what was I so afraid of

What kept me from turning back while I was on my way to deliver the letter was one question, “If the roles were reversed and it was the company bringing me a dismissal letter, would they have as many sleepless nights?”

As we wind up this series, I would like to leave you with a two-in-one question that you must answer of and before it is asked.

What happens if your employer gives you a counter offer?

What is that one thing that will cause you to change your mind?

As with all the other lessons in this series:

1. journal your review
2. answer the questions as honestly as you can. (A fish bone style is highly recommended)
3. share your answers with your confidant and/or take the bold step to send them to me for a free review and consultation.

And with that we have come to the end of the series.

It will be great to hear from you about your transition, so please leave a comment or send us your story and let us know how we have impacted you.

As a bonus tip for #accountabilitytoself don’t burn the bridges you have crossed to get to where you are today. The path of life is crazy enough to take you back on the same route and you will need relationships and resources that can only be accessed by the bridges you built.

 

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3. Planning & Executing your Exit Strategy

Part 3: Test the waters

Its time for the rubber to meet the road.

This is the place of decision that all those questions were leading to. Hence my advise to you to be honest with yourself.

Part 1 and Part 2 were about planning the exit strategy. Part 3 and Part 4 are about executing.

As a new mother, I was introduced to the process of bathing my newborn by my mother. She taught me two things. One, you always check the water in the basin with your elbow. The elbow is quite sensitive and it will help tell if the water is too hot or too cold or just right. Two, when you add water to cool the water further, you need to put your palm in and spread the water to make sure that the temperature is the same all over.

Elbow Test

For me to resign from my job, I did my Elbow Test for about 5 years. Translated to business, the Elbow Test is about gauging your readiness for the transition. Tabulated below are some of the ways you can apply the Elbow Test:

If you are going to another job

If you are venturing into business

Put out feelers within and outside of the organization. Remember the networks we talked about in the previous article, get to know what is happening in the industry. Who are the new entrants? What is the skill set that recruiters are looking for? What opportunities are opening up? Update and refine your CV In this highly competitive world of job cuts and fresh graduates getting high value jobs, you don’t sell who you have worked for more than you sell what you achieved for your employer and the mark you have made over the years. Talk to some career experts They know what is landing that big and job and what is not. They know if the industry is still attracted to your kind of CV or they are looking for something else.

Review the industry you want to go into We’ve said it in a previous article. You don’t venture into a war unprepared. No matter how many years you have been in the industry, there are some things that you do not have a complete grip on. You have been a mechanic for 20 years, yes, but do you know the dynamics of clearing and forwarding to get the good spare parts on time to fix the car? Learn the business afresh Put out feelers in your social networks and the industry Let people know what freshness you are bringing into the industry, it might open doors that have been closed to you because you were employed.

Palm Test

This is work. Without a doubt. It’s about laying the foundation for your business or for the new job. The Palm Test can also be applied to your current situation is some of the following ways:

If you are going to another job

If you are venturing into business

Go for interviews Beyond talking to recruiters, secure a few interviews to see what is in the market. Be the interviewee and see what you have to say about yourself. On the other hand, if you can, be part of the interviewing panel for your organization if they are interviewing internally. It will enable you to know what other job seekers are going through and what you might face when going for your own interview. Evaluate offers made against your life goals Don’t take everything that is presented to you. Know your value and you will know what to take and what to leave behind.

Build your knowledge With the technology expansion we have in this age, this does not have to be an expensive process. There are online course about everything, Sign up to teams like Coursera, Udemy, edX and many other. They have free courses and paid courses that you can choose from. Read widely, watch videos and programs that will fill you with new ideas and expand your imagination for the business you want to start Moonlighting Where possible, you can start your business alongside your job to build traction until it gets to a place where you cannot do the two together anymore. Boot Strapping Finance your business out of your salary for a little while to deal with the issue of capital. I love what Peter Thiel shares in his book Zero to One, that sometimes we think we need a humongous working prototype for us to hit the market. Sometimes it takes less than half of what we are thinking we need.

Please note that the two tests are an excerpt of a toolkit in our 12 week class on whether to resign or not which will be starting soon and you can pre-register via e-mail. For more details on the toolkit, please contact us with a brief explanation of your transition phase.

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3. Planning & Executing your Exit Strategy

Part 2: What will be your safety net?

No soldier ever goes to war without counting the cost. Similarly, no stunt master does his thing without back up. The truth is that for those people who lose their jobs without warning this is usually the pain point. That someone or something pushed them out of the plane without a parachute!

It is not in my place to tell you what your safety net should be or how big or how small, but it will be wisdom for me to show you some of the backup systems you can develop to ensure that when the moment of transition comes, you will be well equipped.

Financial instruments

Like bonds, savings and fixed deposit accounts, shares & stocks, etc.

From personal experience, financial instruments bring to life that quote that “the proof is in the pudding”. They are all sweet and attractive when they are being explained to you and when the papers are being signed, but the moment things start going south with your stable income, especially when it is your choice for you to leave employment, these instruments become a generator of tears and regret.

I would advise care when considering them as a fall back plan.

Professional & Social networks

Build bridges and make relationships matter more to you than material things. It is people who will be there for you and not the material stuff. As I highlighted in the e-book From Employment to Business, your networks will change when you are in transition. People are generally resistant to change and when they are forced to come face to face with it, they shy away until the ground under their feet stabilizes.

So, if you see transition coming your way, take time to make some social investments by building your own networks besides those sponsored by the company. Experience shows that those you initiate and sustain independent of your company will remain strong for you during your transition.

Subscriptions

This is about keeping yourself knowledgeable and up-to date with the industry news. Annual subscriptions supported by your salary are good and you can accumulate the information and digest it for your future. Subscriptions that are also making a difference in the current world have to do with joining membership sites that relate to what you are focused on.

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We are starting a community to build more traction for Strategy and Innovation in career transition

Higher quality articles, podcasts, videos and toolkits will only be for exclusive members

Keep following our blog and subscribe with your email so that you don’t miss on the founder members’ benefits!!

Date of Launch: Just a few weeks away.