If we re talking about a keeper, then move into recruitment mode. The ranges of dissatisfaction scenarios and their corresponding fix-it options are vast, but get creative. Often, someone who s decided to leave makes assumptions about what is and isn t possible at your firm for him or her and hasn t given you and your partners the chance to respond to these assumptions. I m always puzzled when I hear a firm s leadership group say that a colleague s decision to leave was a surprise. Making a mid-career move isn t typically easy.
Most people don t make one without considerable forethought, and forethought shows.
You re headed for the door yourself . Perhaps you do need to leave in order to continue building the career you want. It s interesting that many of the people I talk to are more willing to move into new territory with the prospect of proving themselves to a new group of colleagues in a new political environment, than they are to state directly to their partners exactly what s bothering them. Unless your relationships with most of the management team have gone south, consider infusing your current role with the entrepreneurial verve you re prepared to offer another employer. Take advantage of your tenure, industry reputation, in-house respect, popularity whatever you have in your quiver to suggest new ventures that excite you and would benefit the firm.