Resignation Done Right: Strategies for a Respectful & Professional Exit

Resigning is more than just submitting a letter and walking out. It’s about closing your current chapter with integrity, maintaining relationships, and positioning yourself for success.

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Resigning is more than just submitting a letter and walking out. It’s about closing your current chapter with integrity, maintaining relationships, and positioning yourself for success in your next role.

Resigning is not a time to feel apologetic or guilty, it’s a time to hone your inner boldness and execute the resignation conversation with clarity, confidence, and grace.

The secret I’ve learned about resigning is this:

The response you get when you leave a job is based on the relationship and mutual respect you built while you were in the job.

If you have a good relationship with your direct supervisor, then you can breathe a sigh of relief: if you follow the methodology below, your resignation conversation will be relationship-enhancing instead of terminal or destructive.

But first, here’s what not to do when resigning:

It can be tempting to fall into a “burn the bridges” mentality if you are fed up with certain traits and characteristics of the company you are leaving. However, becoming a career leader is about managing your professionalism, your reputation, and your network. It’s about centering yourself around your values and ensuring you are leaving your company in a way that resonates with your character. It’s about being strategic about your final days in the company, and ensuring you are a contributing member until the very end.

No matter what legacy you have created within your company, the way you leave is the way you will be remembered.

❌ Did you receive critical feedback and resign immediately with no notice, leaving a wave of chaos in your wake?

❌ Did you resign with anger, citing all of the ways the culture, management, and organization was horrible and awful and you’re so glad to finally be done with this place?

✅ Or did you resign with integrity, honoring the lessons the organization taught you, the ways the company provided for you, and examples of how it contributed to your own personal growth?

Managers know the truth: good people attract good opportunities. A-players are employees people want on their teams, so leaders know they have to take care of their best people. Managers are aware of the risk that their A-players can and will be recruited away.

4 Strategies for Resigning like the A-Player You Are: