<aside> <img src="/icons/token_blue.svg" alt="/icons/token_blue.svg" width="40px" /> **You’re looking for…**an approach to handle necessary staff transitions that's clear and compassionate while preserving dignity and organizational relationships.
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TL;DR: Letting someone go is never easy, but avoiding it usually makes things worse. Here's a practical, human-centered approach to handling necessary transitions - one that maintains dignity, offers real choices, and often preserves relationships. Based on years of experience (and plenty of hard lessons), this framework helps you act with integrity while still doing what's needed for your organization.
What's in it for you (WIIFY):
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Important Note: I am not a lawyer or HR professional. This is not legal or HR advice - it's an approach I've found helpful over many years of leading teams. Always, always, always(!) consult with appropriate legal and HR professionals before having these conversations.
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Oh how I wish I learned earlier in my career that transitions are normal, healthy, and often the best thing for everyone involved. The key isn't whether or not to make changes - it's the HOW we approach them.
When it came to making a decision about whether it was time for someone to transition from our team, I got stuck on how I (or the organization) was failing and refused to give up. I felt a sense of possibility if we could just crack things open a bit, spending wild amounts of time focusing on the one person. I was scared - of how they might react, that they might not like me, of how the work would get done during transition, of what this meant about me/our organization. The list goes on and on. This only prolonged the inevitable while creating unnecessary stress for everyone involved. And, it pulled my focus away from carrying out the work our team set out to do.
My gut feeling was right and deserved to be trusted. The reality is - the impacts of me ruminating or trying to fix what couldn't be fixed rippled across the entire team, affecting:
Each person involved - all of us - are feeling frustration, uncertainty, angst, and perhaps blame, insecurity, or resentment.
It was a painfully hard lesson for me to learn. Here’s how I’ve learned to adjust:
Leading with integrity through transitions comes down to a few core principles that consistently make the difference between damaged relationships and preserved trust. Here's what I've learned works best:
The first and most important thing for any organization to spend time with is - what is your purpose? Are you trying to maximize profit? Be in the most places/help the most people? Change how a system operates? Employ the most humans or the same folks for a long time?
Once you’re clear on the purpose you’re trying to fulfill with your company, this is a grounding force for how you want to think about transitions.
For example, I've never worked somewhere where building up a workforce of long-term employees was the primary goal. My work has always focused on driving impact, changing systems, achieving profitability(!) and expanding reach. Within that context, I spent too many days (sometimes even years!) knowing someone wasn't a fit but being too nervous to do anything about it. Getting clear on your mission helps cut through that paralysis.