When a team member decides to head out the door it can cause a considerable upheaval, however, ever a fan of the motto ‘when one door closes, another one opens’; a resignation gives you the opportunity to re-scope the role to ensure that it fits better with your current and future operations.

It may be that you have been thinking about changing the role for a while?

Perhaps business growth or a shift in the customer mix has happened?

Has a new system been implemented requiring a different skill mix?

One thing for sure – it’s not always easy to change a job description while someone is still in it. A common mistake that occurs is the ‘default setting syndrome’ where no analysis of the position happens meaning a critical opportunity to evolve the role is missed.

A resignation creates the opportunity time to analyse what the position should now include or not include, and here’s how.

Review what the tasks were because this is the starting point to figure out what you want to change. Then develop a list of all the “extra” tasks they did.

Often, once a person has learned about the business or has been employed with you for a while, it’s logical that they will have ended up doing more as the needs of the business (and the role) evolved.

This review process lets you decide if the extra tasks need to be included in the role or delegated to others or not be included at all.

Look at what the other people within the team or branch are doing. Are they carrying their weight?

Did the person who resigned take on other tasks because others were under-performing?

Having assessed what was being performed and what others in the team are doing, you will have a clearer idea of what needs to be changed.

Some people create busy work for themselves, others end up completing vital organisational responsibilities. A thorough look at the tasks determines if they’re vital to the success of the business or not – and don’t forget your business needs of the future. What’s happening in the next twelve months that might require increased expertise?

This is the perfect time to modify the role to include other skills or abilities that you have always wanted in the team. E.g. social media expertise.

With a person resigning, you get to start over. You can avoid the default setting of the ‘same old, same old’ position content; you can change the job title, change the salary, re-orient the role completely, make the role part-time or beef it up.

Job positions evolve just as often as a business does; what made sense three years ago may not make as much sense now. The secret is to ensure the new position fills the need and includes all the tasks and responsibilities that will help your operations thrive.

For more information on how people2people can help you, please call us on 1300 121 727 or email us here .