How to Resign

It still seems to be a job-seekers market out there. There are more open aircraft maintenance jobs out there than people to fill them. This includes leadership/supervisory positions.

If you are in a director of maintenance or other leadership position, how you resign can affect your team as well as your future job opportunities. After all, aviation is a small world — you never want to burn a bridge!

I found a good article by David Burkus that discusses seven steps for how to resign from a leadership position. They basically are:

1. Prepare your resignation letter. The first step to resigning from a leadership position is to prepare your resignation letter. Write this letter ahead of time, before any conversation with any supervisor or colleague. 
2. Get right to the conversation. The second step to resigning from a leadership position is to get right to the conversation with whomever it is needs to be informed of your decision. Usually, this is your direct supervisor but sometimes it may be a supervisor plus someone from human resources or legal.
3. Get clear on the details. The third step to resigning from a leadership position is to get clear on the details. During the same conversation with your supervisor, you’ll want to get clear on the details of departure. 
4. Break the news to the team. The fourth step to resigning from a leadership position is to break the news to your team.
5. Bring your manager or the new leader on the call. The fifth step to resigning from a leadership position is to bring the new leader on the call. Or, to bring the person who will temporarily lead the team on the call. 
6. Explain how you want to stay in touch. The sixth step to resigning from a leadership position is to explain how you want to stay in touch. Often in these difficult conversations, how to have future conversations gets forgotten. 
7. Leave time for conversation. The final step to resigning from a leadership position is to leave time for conversation. However, much time you think this team meeting will take, add 30 minutes to an hour more. In fact, it may be best if you plan for this conversation to be the last appointment on your calendar that day.

You can read David Burkus' full article How To Step Down From A Leadership Position (expanding on each of the seven steps) by visiting https://davidburkus.com/2022/09/how-to-step-down-from-a-leadership-position/. 

Thanks for reading!

Joe