Alumni as Brand Ambassadors

He walks in to your office and in a move that has clearly been learnt from hours of watching soap operas. He whips out his resignation letter and hands it over to you. Your heart skips a beat. You want to show your emotions – but there is a voice inside you that says, “Down boy!! “. You want to jump with joy. You pray that he joins your competitor, because that is the only way the average IQ of both organizations will go up. He saved you the trouble of sacking him. He will no longer be the cause of your rising blood pressure and throbbing headache when you see him loiter in, an hour past the start of the meeting. You cannot believe your good luck. He is now going to join a start up who are giving him a fancy designation of Vice President of Something Somewhere. That designation would not have been given to him by you – not in this lifetime. His last appraisal was just about average. He was just lucky to keep his job. Does he know that you could have sacked him last November when he messed up that big project? Does he even realize that the startup company blindly made him an offer just because he happens to be on your payroll? It is your organization’s reputation that has rubbed on to him.

The lad is clearly oblivious of your low opinion of his abilities. His body is filled with the love that his would-be-employer has shown him by giving him that pay raise. He lingers on for a minute, bathing himself in the glow of self importance. He has already planned the holiday he will take. You know he is lying when he tells you that he didn’t quit for money. He says it was the challenge that drew him to that role like a pig to dirt. The voice inside you screams for vengeance.

This is where you should demonstrate executive maturity. There is no need to yell at him like you did yesterday. That was then. This is now. He is joining your company’s alumni association. He joined the exalted ranks of the Alumni Club, the moment he had decided to quit. He is now your brand ambassador. Just to put it in perspective, he was your brand ambassador even when he was on your rolls. That kind of puts his endorsements at a discount. Whether good or bad, people will take his opinion of his employer with a pinch of salt. Especially those who know his work ethics very well will know it even better. You know what is unfair? When he speaks about your company to his friends and colleagues in the new office, his judgment will have credibility as an “insider’s view”. So you better behave in a manner that helps him give you a favorable verdict. Bad press will impact the quality of the talent your firm can hire. The balance is titled. you cannot impact his life, but he can impact your/ the firm’s. Here are a couple of easy steps that will make him yearn for your approval.

Make sure he does not have to run back to every satrap in the office to return every piece of office supplies issued to him. If he cannot find that office stapler that stands ticking away against his name, just be generous and write it off. Making him pay for that will cost you much more in ill-will. Sit him down and ask for his opinion on what needs to be improved. Filter out the anger hormones that quell through your veins as the guy pompously proceeds to list out the twenty things you need to fix. Those twenty things may just be the ones that are annoying the daylights out of many more silent sufferers. Ask him for feedback on what would he would miss about the workplace. If he says, “NONE”, don’t kick him under the table. Ask him to keep in touch and drop by into the office occasionally. You will tell me that his coming back will impact staff morale since he probably will take that as an opportunity to show off his new lifestyle to his old colleagues. Look at it logically. There will surely be at least a few employees he will keep in touch with. He is probably meeting them every Friday and showing off his expense account. Instead, be gracious and take the step forward and invite him back a few weeks from now. When he comes back to the office, ask him to share with you just what he finds impressive about the new employer. There may be small things you can learn from them that can bring delight to your present brrod. After he has had his fill of telling you how much better off he is, ask him casually what he misses about this office. It will also help you go home that evening with a swagger!!

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