I have been thinking about this topic for more than a decade now, always referred to under the working title "Three Deaths," based on Lev Tolstoy's collection of short stories, "Three Deaths." Because when a leader is removed from one day to the next, something dies inside him, and the organization seems a bit like a family losing a member. It's trauma for both parties, the leader and the organization, something to be processed, understood somehow, rationalized, so that they can move forward.
I'm not a psychologist, not aiming to find universal solutions, but perhaps the three stories I know well can provide some ideas for thought.
The first story dates back decades. I was waiting in a locksmith's shop, reading their bulletin board. Preventive maintenance, a pin-up calendar, the usual things, and a thousand-year-old post-it note with a date from a few years back. I asked what that date was, why it was there? The atmosphere changed instantly, bitterness was palpable when they answered: on that day, A was fired. I was surprised and asked them to tell me what happened. It turned out that A had been working with them for about thirty years since the factory's foundation, they started together, built production, and he kept stepping forward. He was excellent technically and financially, recognized, respected, and when the plant accepted him as its top leader, things flourished.
Everything seemed fine until one morning someone from HR arrived unexpectedly, and A disappeared within an hour. His deputy got promoted, then HR left without a word, without explanation.
The situation most probably have shocked A because he lived in the same city, but he was never seen again. He closed all previous human connections, never left home, never spoke to anyone about the incident. Close to retirement, he didn't seek new work, occupation, he simply vanished.
And the team was shocked too because if someone who had done so much for the company, who we believed did everything right, was sent off like this, what awaits the rest of us? Can we trust the decision-makers? Does it matter if I do good work if I can lose my job anytime? He invested thirty years into this task, and this is what it's worth? What's the point then? Since there were no signs, no preparation, and no explanation, all the questions, disappointments, anger, and perhaps anxiety were squeezed into that post-it note, emerging years later as a vivid, emotionally charged topic.
B's case might have happened a bit more transparently. B had been working for the company for 20 years, performed well in various positions, and had worked on several international projects, being recognized as an expert in the European team. He got a new boss from outside the industry who wasn't familiar with the industry or the specialities of the company, so disagreements between them were quite common. B prepared many presentations, argued, tried to steer strategic decisions in the right direction with facts and data, but usually, fell on deaf ears. His team followed the course of these decisions, from trying to build a good argument together to the point where B had to stand before them and say, "This is the decision. I know it doesn't seem rational, but let's try."
B looked worse and worse, was tense, walked around troubled. It was clear this couldn't last long, so when he refused to do a task that was unfeasible from a health and safety perspective and HR showed up, no one was surprised. He seemed relieved, and so were his colleagues who liked and worried about him.
The team later received a vague explanation from the boss, who also mentioned how much B had done for the company and acknowledged him as a professional.
Although B could not say goodbye to the plant, his direct colleagues organized a farewell party for him, where they could talk things out, sympathize, express appreciation, and scold the boss. It was possible to close the relationship on both sides, or rather the previous chapter of the relationship.
B spent a few months at home, reevaluating things, then started a new life. He gladly chats with former colleagues when they meet, keeps in touch with some of them. His removal came at the right time, probably saved his health.
And finally, C. C searched for a therapist for other reasons, but it turned out that by the time he managed to put the other reason in its place, he had to struggle with internal dilemmas related to work. He saw where things weren't really going well, had experience in how to improve them, what should be done, but he simply fell on deaf ears. He didn't understand why they paid a hefty sum for his knowledge, experience if they weren't going to use it now. The situation worsened when his boss got replaced, and he got a rather aggressive, arrogant newcomer who had no experience in leading such a large organization. He was struggling with how irrational the events were, the hope that it would take just a little more time and things would change for the better, and the responsibility not to abandon the team he had built.
His room for maneuver shrank, he felt worse, and he started thinking about leaving, but didn't take any steps. He worked on himself and on these issues, talked to his team and the specialist, worked through the anxiety, the failure, the resentment, the disappointment. And meanwhile, the team went through the same as a unit.
One evening he thought he didn't feel like going to work because all the tasks he needed to advance depended on his boss, and he wouldn't be able to take any action. Then he received an SMS, the boss and another colleague are coming tomorrow, a colleague who otherwise has nothing to do here right now. He looked at the newsletters and his eye caught a forecast: Uranus moves whoever is not in the right place. He really shouldn't be here anymore, and why else would this colleague come? So, he fell asleep with unexpected calm.
And indeed, the next morning two lawyers showed up. He bid farewell to the team, to the plant, thanked them for their work, and he received some acknowledgment for his own. The chapter closed, the work relationship ended, the people remained. The next afternoon, he got strange feedback: " I'm so happy for you; I haven't seen you as yourself for months."
Three different stories, but they have common points: understanding, emotionally processing, accepting, moving forward is a task for both the leader and the team, and many factors can influence how and whether it succeeds at all. At the same time, it might show that if the transition is inevitable, consciously acting from all sides to make moving forward easier is possible. And it's worth doing so if we don't want permanent fractures on individual levels or on the organizational trust and values level.
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