TurnOver by Mark Frein

It is funny how many euphemisms we generate in the business world.

As if saying anything negative would harm productivity. Of course, the opposite is almost always the case … we all know the real meaning of our business euphemisms, and typically respond with cynicism to their use. “Rightsizing”, “opportunities” … everyone knows when this language is being used to talk about something bad as if it weren’t. Willing self-deception of this kind is one of my pet peeves.

Turnover is one of those euphemisisms; a word to describe people leaving the organization.

In my career I’ve seen many people leave organizations, and I have left organizations. We all probably know the host of reactions to “turnover”. Sometimes, no matter how valuable or well-liked an employee is, the organization and people within it go through a bizarre set of responses. Some typical responses are to frame the departure ultimately as more the “loss” of the departing employee as opposed to the organization … their mistake. Or, the departure is framed as an opportunity (always the positive spin!) to renew the role or build a new team, etc. Most often blame is thrown towards the departing person, although sometimes blame is directed internally.

No one likes to be on the receiving end of a departure. We have so much baggage about “being left” in general. When an employee informs you that he or she is leaving, it is so easy to hear it as “I’m leaving you” and then the host of emotional demons rises up. At our firm, since we are hyper-aware of literature regarding departure, it is even tougher … we all know the Gallup research — people don’t leave organizations, they leave supervisors.

One of our employees, Mike Bryde, is leaving us next week. Mike is an amazing employee. He reports to me.

He is very well-liked and he is a very strong contributor. Mike’s presence helped form our culture, and I believe the culture helped form him. However, I have chosen not to see his departure as a loss, regardless of my own feelings. I swam through all the troublesome emotions when he told me a couple of months ago … what did I do wrong? Can I convince him to stay?

I am tempted to explain the circumstances of his departure in this blog, but have realized that is because of my own fear of being judged as a bad manager (unless I explain why a great employee would be leaving us/me). His reasons are his, and his to share if he chooses, in the way he chooses.

While he will be missed, his departure is not a loss for the following reasons — he created excellence while here. He created so many positive things during his stay at our firm that to see it as a loss would, I believe, be to trivialize his contributions to us.

We grew as a firm because of his presence. Beyond his employment and its benefits, Mike grew as an employee during his stay. To understand this as a loss would be to do injustice to something deeply right about the situation.

Life will go on at our organization without Mike. We will miss him. I will miss him. But I at least will choose to celebrate the “turnover” … in life circumstances, in growth, in renewal, in opportunities.