Tapping the Tree of Knowledge: Appreciative Exit Interviews With Employees Taking Early Retirement From State Government
Edward A Jacobson
Edward A. Jacobson Associates
Madison, WI United States
2004, Feb 3
Annotation: Tapping the Tree of Knowledge:
Appreciative Exit Interviews with Employees
Taking Early Retirement From State Government
Description of the Organization:
A state agency with approximately 160 employees was confronted with an early retirement (“early out”) initiative. This program was mandated by an executive order, as part of a state-wide budget cutting exercise. The agency had undergone numerous changes under its progressive leadership team over the previous four years, adding up to a transformation in its ways of doing business, its organizational effectiveness, its ability to integrate multiple concurrent changes, and its employees’ morale and loyalty.
The Opportunity and Objectives:
A consultant (Ed Jacobson) who had worked closely with the leadership team over a several-year period proposed that the team sponsor an appreciatively-focused interview study of individuals accepting the early out package, in order to
(a) assist the individuals to successfully transition out,
(b) benefit the agency from the insights and experiences of the departing employees,
(c) extend the use of appreciative methods within the organization,
(d) pilot the use of appreciative methods for exit interviews and related opportunities.
The leadership team agreed to the study, establishing as a condition that participation be entirely voluntary.
Methodology:
A draft interview guide was prepared, piloted with several employees who were not part of the early retirement program, and finalized. An announcement was distributed over the agency director’s signature, inviting participation. The interview guide was sent out in advance to those agreeing to participate, to provide them with a preview of the interview questions and an opportunty to prepare their responses, if they chose to do so. Individual interviews were conducted (with ten of 16 eligible employees participating). A report containing stories, themes, implications and recommendations was prepared. The consultant held a group debriefing session for persons participating in the interviews. The report was fine-tuned, based on the feedback from group participants, and submitted to the leadership team. The consultant met with the team to present, review and discuss the report. Subsequently, the leadership team presented and discus! sed the report to the management assembly (approximately 18 managers).
Outcomes:
While no formal measurement of outcomes was conducted, the following outcomes were identified.
• Participants felt positively about the experience, citing the opportunity to verbalize their contributions and “highest and best moments,” acknowledge the reality of their imminent departure and begin to work through the transition, develop insights about their work experience, and compare notes with other participants.
• On an organizational level, the leadership team received the findings and recommendations openly. The appreciative exit interview process was not institutionalized, and other specific recommendations were not formally acted upon. In that sense, the initiative did not directly contribute to the organization’s development in an obvious way. However, this was not surprising, given the number of impactful concurrent initiatives then taking place.
• The study had produced many stories and themes of both large and small contributions, high points, and obstacles that had been overcome – some of which had been widely known and some others which proved to be news to the leadership team. Participants’ recommendations were often consistent with directions which were already in the works or recognized as necessary or desirable. In this sense, the findings confirmed and deepened leaders’ awareness and commitment, by adding to the “weight of evidence” of conditions and practices needing support or modification.
• There are indications that the study’s findings, insights, and recommendations have been informally integrated into the life of the agency. Over the subsequent 18 months, there were numerous instances in which the consultant observed leadership team and/or management assembly members citing specific themes, stories, or recommendations from the study, in addressing various planning, decision-making or problem-solving situations. Clearly, the study’s findings had become part of the organization’s store of knowledge and were in active, albeit informal, use. This is consistent with the agency’s pattern of integrating change “on the fly,” often without ceremony.
Resource Files:
Leadership Team Discussion Document (doc )
Proposal (doc )
Invitation to participate (doc )
Interview Guide (doc )
Presentation (doc )
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