When your superstar employee gives their notice, there are three things you can do: try to win them back; turn inwardly to mentor a bright employee for leadership; or start mining for new talent. Whatever your decision, committing quickly to your plan is key in ensuring workflow runs efficiently.

Consider these questions to help you arrive at the best solution for your company:

• What is the specific void that the star is leaving? Did they lend stability to our company? Were they a great leader for other employees?
• What unique combination of qualities made that employee so special, and can I imagine any other person doing as admirable of a job?
• Am I willing to make a counteroffer to keep them on our team?
• Am I ready to take on a search for a new hire?

Depending on how you answer these questions, you may either be prepared to try to entice your all-star to stay, or have no choice but to watch them go. However you respond, here are ways to proceed with all three approaches.

Court them into Staying:

Remember, money isn’t always everything. Employees leave for a variety of reasons that include limited career opportunities, a lack of positive reinforcement and support, stagnant job growth, and questionable leadership. If your employee is truly a star, treat them like one and make the effort to conduct an exit interview to discuss the reasons behind their departure. If they expresses dissatisfaction with factors that can be easily changed, such as compensation, titles, or responsibilities, some employers will offer to make those adjustments.

After the discussion, if the employee is still set on leaving or you decide that you are unable to make those changes, it’s important to remember that, you can still use their feedback constructively in your retention efforts with your current staff.

Look Inward:

You may feel shaken by your employee’s leave, but your existing staff has demonstrated their own unique capabilities, and are likely worth considering as leaders. By adopting effective development practices, you can evaluate each of your staff members and whether they might be suitable to mentor and transition into the vacant position.

It can also be helpful to consider asking the person leaving who they think could fill their shoes, so they can help train them before they leave. Their input will be valuable, and they will most likely point you toward someone with a lot of promise.

Begin the Hiring Process:

Hiring the best employees doesn’t have to be so tough! By acting with foresight, you can begin recruiting for a candidate that happily fulfills your company’s needs and performs well in their role. Once you determine what type of skills, experience, and traits you want your new hire to have, you can design your interview around those aspects, and create questions that assess those specific skill sets. Finally, if you want to test their skills, many companies are now assigning qualified candidates “homework assignments” to assess their abilities when completing practical, realistic projects.

As an employer, you may find that transitioning to a team without that star employee is challenging. If you’re not yet ready to make a full-time hiring decision, but need some extra support, consider hiring a replacement on a temp-to-perm basis. Hiring on a temporary basis gives you the chance to test out a new person’s cultural fit and observe their job performance prior to making a full-time commitment. Additionally, this approach offers your staff the opportunity to give their own valuable feedback, ensuring that when you do hire, you’ve found the right person with whom to build a capable team.