Bidding farewell: A daunting but necessary evil

“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.” – William Shakespeare (Apr 1564 – Apr 1616)

Those were words spoken by Juliet in Act 2, Scene 2 of the famous play Romeo and Juliet. Moments before she spoke the words she had met Romeo at a party he was not supposed to be attending and the two had fallen madly in love. Coming from rival families they could not afford to be seen together in public, so after the party Romeo sneakily went to find her in her quarters where they met and declared young undying love for each other and made a pledge to be married the next day.

As they parted for the night she bade him goodnight with those sweet words, an oxymoron to mean that although the parting was sorrowful, she was in anticipation of the pleasure and joy of being reunited the next day. Sweetly as the story started though it did not have such a pleasant ending, therefore to those negatively affected by tragic love tales I would encourage that you don’t read or watch the play for in the words of the author himself, “Never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo!”

Just as there is a time for everything, so too there comes a point in time, or many, in everyone’s leadership story when they need to say goodbye. Team leaders or members move from one team to another, or from one organisation to another, leaders get promoted or retire. The list of parting scenarios is long, however, whatever the reason, knowing why, when, and how to say goodbye matters, and because it does, preparing for that eventuality from the onset is really important.

Leaders need to be aware that no situation is permanent so one needs to make the best out of the inevitable goodbye experience by engaging in certain leadership practices through their journey.

It all starts with the awareness that the most important cog in the leadership chain is the people one leads. You must therefore spend a disproportionate amount of your leadership time and energy investing in and building relationships with them. Bidding farewell to a team of individuals who you care for and in whose future you are certain because of the personal investment you have made in them gives you a feeling of satisfaction due to the knowledge that you will be leaving them better off than you found them, and in so doing eases the pain of saying goodbye.

Investing in people is so much easier for leaders who lead with purpose and live out their values as they do so. Those who are being led also relate better to leaders whom they perceive as value driving, and so when the time comes to say goodbye to them, they are a lot more forgiving towards the mistakes they may have made, or to whatever blind sides they may have had during their time at the helm.

Most importantly, though, leaders who deliver results build a performance legacy upon which those that take over from them will build. This eases the farewell experience in the sense that they are constantly sought after for advice or otherwise by those that come after them so there is no real goodbye as such.

For a leader, saying farewell or goodbye is a formal but sensitive act of closure and must be done with utmost care. The best way to handle it is to start with showing appreciation towards those you are leaving behind for all the support they have accorded you during your time at the helm, while at the same time expressing pride for having had the opportunity to serve alongside them.

This should be delivered with utmost sincerity and humility if it is to land well and be appreciated by the recipients. And finally, the farewell must be executed with a sincere show of gratitude towards the team. Remember that you were because they were, and this would be a good time to let them know as such.

With this said, my time to say goodbye has come, and this may very well be the last of the articles that I have regularly penned into these pages. Borrowing from the above, allow me to express my gratitude for your readership. To those that I have influenced in one way or the other through my writings I wish you all the best going forward. As I move on to new beginnings I can only hope that you have enjoyed reading them as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

So, although at this time I should say Goodbye, Farewell, Adieus, Kwaheri, or whatever word in whatever tongue you prefer to have the sentiment expressed, I don’t believe that there is a better way to express it other than in the words of Juliet by saying, “Parting is such sweet sorrow,” for I know that we shall meet again, though probably not in the morrow.