What reaction are you likely to get from your Manager after you resign? In a few cases your boss will be delighted for you, as they can see that the move you are making is a good one for you and the advancement of your career. That is an easy resignation. Unfortunately, sometimes you can be confronted by adverse reactions from your Manager. These may include some or all of the following:
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Disappointment . You have been a good member of the team and they are going to be sorry to see you go.
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Frustration . They have to find a replacement and they are already busy enough. You leaving is only going to make their life more difficult.
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Annoyance . apart from the additional work they are going to be confronted by, your resignation is not going to reflect well on their management style/KPI’s.
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The Guilt Trip – “how can you do this to me, after all the hours of training and support I have given you and this is how I get treated?”
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Desperation evidenced by `the counter offer’. That is, they offer you more money, they promise to change your responsibilities, to make your job more interesting and they change you working conditions in some other way to make staying seem more attractive.
So how do you handle this?
Take comfort in the fact that once people accept that you are committed to leaving your job, they move on pretty quickly and focus on the more pressing issue of finding your replacement. Remain professional in all your dealings and work hard to make life for the members of your team as easy as possible. Remember, the way you leave an organisation is how you will be remembered and your current manager is likely to become a much needed referee in the future. There is room for a whole new blog on the subject of dealing with counter offers but, in short, before resigning you should have a very clear idea of why you started looking for a new job in the first place. Does the new role match the criteria you set yourself? Why is my employer offering me these changed conditions now? Why did I have to resign before they recognised my worth? Finally, you have obviously put a lot of effort into securing your new role, so before accepting the offer, please make sure it meets your objectives and then once the decision has been made, commit to it.
