When they conduct Exit Interviews with team members who leave the team for whatever reason, the best organizations garner a wealth of valuable information about how to improve.
Questions regarding how the enterprise met expectations, the quality of the training they received, and suggestions for enhancing the culture are gold in the hands of those who want to improve.
Yet, only about half of all organizations follow this best practice. Why?
The reason some enterprises choose to ignore this best practice comes down to how receptive leaders are to supporting it. Exit Interviews and the data they provide are typically dreaded by the leaders who manage the departing colleague. That’s because those leaders know many of those leaving the organization are disgruntled and have an axe to grind. They prefer not to be a target of former colleagues who want to throw mud at them. They see Exit Interviews as a forum for harsh complaints that add little value. So, they decline to support this process.
They aren’t wrong. Many former colleagues will use the Exit Interview process to vent on their way out. But, even in upset, the criticisms of those who leave usually contain kernels of truth that are worth acting on.
Unbridled criticism can be uncomfortable but still supply a bounty of ideas worthy of action. Of course, not every colleague who departs is disenfranchised. Not providing them a forum to comment on how the organization can improve is a big miss.
Leaders who brace themselves for some discomfort but expect unfiltered commentary will normally come to see the tremendous value Exit Interviews provide. It comes down to the questions being asked and how the organization will use the information going forward.
The best organizations share the leader’s concerns and promise to pull out only those actionable comments worthy of consideration. They commit to ignore the rest.
Asking the right questions is a big part of making this the most useful exercise for everyone involved. Here are 10 Exit Interview questions worth considering:
- Were the role, challenges, and work what you were told and expected prior to arriving?
- What prompted you to search for another opportunity?
- What did you like most and least about your role here?
- Did you feel as if your team leader invested in you and supported your success?
- Did you feel recognized for good work and valued for your contributions?
- What made it harder to be productive or got in your way to achieve high performance, if anything?
- What are the best and worst qualities of our culture?
- If you could change one thing about our organization, what would it be?
- Would you recommend our organization to a friend? Why or why not?
- How can we do a better job of retaining our top talent?
Of course, asking what other comments they would offer is always the capper.
The answers to these questions and others like them help leaders and organizations gain valuable insights as to why colleagues stay or leave. The ideal off-boarding interviews are completed in person by an independent third party and last 30 minutes or less. In addition to ideas and insight, they serve to close the loop with the departing colleague in a positive fashion.
Deciding what comments to absorb and what complaints to reject as sour grapes is up to the leader or reader. But the small discomfort the answers create is usually worth the effort.
Exit Interviews are a best practice for an important reason. The best leaders want to know why people really left and what they can possibly do about it.
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