profile

Leaving Well in the Workplace

Katie's Way - how a death-related departure can support Leaving Well culture at your nonprofit

Published about 2 months ago • 1 min read

Katie didn't get to plan her departure. She died suddenly, mid-leadership, no warning.

What her team did next, during my interim executive director time with them, wasn't in any succession plan I'd ever written. We put a giant sticky note on the wall and asked one question: what did you love about Katie's leadership? The answers repeated, and themes arose.

We named the items that rose to the top: Katie's Way. We then asked the next leader to protect two of those pivotal and memorable leadership concepts, while leaving everything else for them to build and protect.

A team that's just lost a leader they loved will want to hold onto everything. Naming only two things gives the next leader room to actually lead. -Naomi Hattaway

We didn't ask the next leader to become Katie. We asked them to protect two things, and gave them room and permission for the rest.

Leaving well isn't only for planned exits.

​Read the full story on how a grieving team built a culture-protection ritual on the fly, and how you can build yours on purpose, before you ever need to. We've also created a free Katie's Way worksheet you can download for your team, if you'd like to navigate this inside your organization.

Grief doesn't wait for a transition plan. Protect your org's culture, instead of trying in vain to preserve the person you've lost.

Gravel Road, Chattahoochee Hills, GA 30213
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

Leaving Well in the Workplace

Naomi Hattaway, Founder and President

Your Leaving Well guide to navigating workplace transitions 🧡 I normalize workplace transitions one organization + person at a time. Leaving Well is the art + practice of leaving in the workplace, with intention + joy.

Read more from Leaving Well in the Workplace

We have to come to an agreement that the reality is: People Leave. None of us are still at our first jobs, but we treat workplace transitions as though we've never had practice at leaving. -Naomi Hattaway We CAN add joyful moments to departure work. Human-focused transitions do not have to be difficult, and joy can come from proactive planning (we all know that the success of a big trip is more likely if we planned for said trip, right?). I enjoyed my recent conversation with Kyle S. King...

about 1 month ago • 1 min read

Nonprofit Founders: I love you and your incredible impact. I also need you to spend some serious time thinking about your departures, especially as it relates to any designs you have about joining the board when you leave. About half of the founders I work with want to join the board after they step down as ED/CEO. About 25% do (against my recommendation), and for the other 75%, the board says no. The "no" might mean there's a short-term, time-limited advisory option instead, or ... the...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

Lately, we are nerding out over finding similarities and adjacent learning opportunities with existing frameworks, models, thought leadership, and more. Currently on our minds is the Dancing with Systems model from Donella Meadows, one of my very favorite systems thinkers. Would love to know what you think of this article, and our take on her model as meshed with our Leaving Well framework! Some of our favorite podcast episodes to share: We recently hired the Satiated Artists team to help us...

about 2 months ago • 2 min read