This video is coming to you from the airport while I await my flight to Malaysia for a speaking event. I’ve been crazy busy lately but something is still on mind from the recent Future of Work Forum in Chicago. A topic that we discussed at the forum was what you should do when your top talent tries to leave your organization. A lot of human resource and talent leaders think they should be able to keep people in their organizations but that is impossible, short of physically forcing them to stay! Of course, you can do things that make your employees want to be with you longer, like designing employee experience. But what it all really comes down to is that you need to accept the fact that you can’t keep employees forever. Come to terms with letting them go and do your best to keep the relationship with them open, especially if they are great employees.

You can even maintain a relationship with talent that is leaving by helping them leave! Give advice and recommendations. Continue to coach them through the transition. You should want them to be successful even after they leave your organization for many reasons. They may eventually want to come back, they will have positive things to say about your company to others, and the opportunity to collaborate with them may arise one day. I’ve seen referrals and partnerships generated like this in the past. So support and mentor the employees that are leaving. Do whatever you can to assure that their next role in the work force is even more successful.

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Jacob Morgan is a keynote speaker, author, and futurist. You can invite Jacob to keynote your next conference, subscribe to his videos on Youtube, check our his podcast, or subscribe to his newsletter!

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