How to step down from a leadership position?

You step down from a leadership position by preparing your resignation letter, informing your direct supervisor of your decision, and leaving time for an exit interview.

• 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. It doesn't have to be a robust letter.

  A simple note works fine, such as: "Please accept my letter of resignation. My last day will be two weeks from today. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be a part of this organization." The details may not even be final. They may change after you announce you're leaving.

  But the point is to have the resignation letter prepared to signal the finality of your decision and speed up the process for everyone involved.

• Informing your supervisor. The second step to resigning from a leadership position is to get right to the conversation with whoever 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.

  You've prepared a resignation letter ahead of time, but don't send that immediately and blindside your boss. Instead, the human and professional thing to do is to break the news in person. However, bring that letter with you or be prepared to send it during the conversation.

• Exit interview. 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.

  It may take a while for your team to fully process the news and communicate everything they want. Or it may not, but you'll want extra time to process everything that happened to you. In any case, you won't want to be staring at the clock during this team meeting trying to end it quickly to jet off to another call.

  You'll be glad you left time for additional conversation.