GOOD BYE
LEADING CHANGE BETTER BY ATTENDING TO ENDINGS
Available in paperback, hardcover and eBook on 29 April 2025
ENDINGS WILL HAPPEN NO MATTER WHAT.
WHETHER THERE IS A GOOD BYE IS OPTIONAL.
NOBODY LIKES TO TALK ABOUT ENDINGS.
HERE’S WHY WE NEED TO.
Leaders spend a lot of time planning new initiatives. But what about the endings that go along with them? Most leaders are not taught how to manage themselves, let alone their teams and organization, through the messy, multifaceted discomfort of an ending. Making a team member redundant, merging two teams, cutting funding to a failed project: in all these situations we tend to focus on the new beginning, and rush past the ending that needs our care and attention. Dealing with endings well takes maturity and emotional intelligence.
Leaders need to understand and process their own feelings before they can lead others through transition.
Why does this matter? Because poorly managed endings leave a scar on everyone involved. Discretionary energy and motivation are not so forthcoming. Change programmes don’t get traction, resistance and cynicism take root. Change fails.
SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF
A CASE STUDY EXCERPT:
Elif worked in a team which covered Europe, Middle East and Africa ( EMEA). She was based in Istanbul, and her line manager was in Milan. Her line manager’s personal assistant contacted her via email to say that he wanted to come and have a face-to-face meeting with Elif. This was out of the normal rhythm of their interactions. When the manager sent a meeting invitation to Elif it was titled ‘Elif/Luca redundancy notice’.
You can imagine the 48 hours Elif had awaiting that meeting; it did not go well for either party.
SOUND FAMILIAR? PRE-ORDER GOOD BYE.
BETTER ENDINGS MEAN
BETTER BEGINNINGS
Leading Executive Coaches Alison Lucas and Lizzie Bentley Bowers provide this missing piece of the change leadership puzzle: a way of leading yourself and others through change in a respectful, emotionally agile way. Because better endings mean better beginnings.