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Planning for your Workplace Legacy: What will they say about you when you are gone?

Inevitably, there will come a time in every employee's career when you hand in your two weeks notice. No matter what your motivation for making a job transition is, you are likely to be quite busy while facing your impending life change. However, it is extremely important that you do not forget a critical component of your exit- your workplace legacy.

I am sure that we all can recollect the departure of a former colleague. After the formalities subside and the employee has made their final appearance, the whispers begin. Despite all of the positive workplace attributes that your former co-worker contributed to the success of the company, it is a safe bet to assume that their name will come up in conversation.

While many people will simply respond to this by saying, "Who cares?" You're long gone and have moved on to the greener pastures on the other side of the fence. Wrong. Each person you leave behind is a potential future gateway to a new opportunity. Even people hired after you leave might form an opinion about you. And you'll most likely never get a chance to defend yourself.

In an effort to ensure your own lifelong employability and survive a career transition with your reputation in-tact, it is important that you protect your workplace legacy. Every job moves on without you, no matter how good you are at what you do or how involved you are in the organization.

However, there are ways that you can safeguard your workplace legacy:

- Don't burn bridges
- Complete all assigned projects thoroughly and on-time
- Maintain professionalism at all times
- Never speak negatively about co-workers and supervisors
- Keep criticism constructive
- Communicate workplace needs, goals, status updates, etc. often
- Deal with workplace issues immediately
- Show others what you did and how you did it
- Get involved in company initiatives and community events
- Contribute to creating a positive, productive workplace environment

The bottom line is that you cannot control what others say about you when you are not around. You will likely get blamed when things go wrong after you're gone. However, you will ultimately win the respect of your work associates by dictating your own workplace legacy.