Grief Management for Organizations
A crisis can be a productive state.
You just have to take away the taint of catastrophe.
— Max Frisch
Grief leaves many people speechless, induces insecurity and even discomfort - especially in a professional context. By now, even established business publications such as manager-magazin.de or Harvard Business Review talk about the effects of grief in the workplace. What is important in the event of a bereavement within your organization: Finding the right balance between a space for mourning and day-to-day business requirements.
Corporate grief management provides the foundation for this.
Want to check if I am the right person? Contact me: Coaching Petra Meyer
- +49 179 2601797
- hallo@trauer-coaching.de
- Munich or remote
- Book a free get-to-know meeting via Calendly (external)
- more about me
- What can we do as an employer?
- How do I respond empathetically as a manager?
- How do I, as a grieving employee, manage to go back to work?
- Where can I find support and tips on death and mourning?
- What are our tasks as an HR department?
- Who provides support for colleagues and team members?
- Find details about Workshop on Grief Management
If an employee has to cope with a loss, a focussed coaching session prepares the manager for the upcoming conversations with the employee and with colleagues / team members.
Grief counseling helps employees define their needs when they return to the workplace.
Grief Management for Organizations Opens Space for Grief
Coaching Managers
A loss in an employee's closest environment requires special tact on the part of the manager.
In addition to empathetic communication with the affected team member, it is important to stabilize the team - and to remain resilient oneself. The difficult topic of "death" can be intimidating, and sometimes a loss can touch on one's own fears.
The coaching for managers or employees of the HR department provides room for the questions you do not want to ask your employees. This reduces fear of contact.
You will be empowered situationally to be as sympathetic towards the grieving colleague as you act responsibly towards the other team members:
- What to do?
- How to communicate within the team and how to deal with questions?
- How do I balance empathy and my own stress?
The goal: Dealing confidently with employees in case of a loss.
Support Bereaved Employees
Stand out as an employer who cares about the well-being of employees , especially during difficult phases of their lives. Quick and uncomplicated.
Grief Counseling stabilizes grieving employees. It helps address and work through job-related aspects of grief. This is even more true when a team member dies.
An empathetic first contact with bereaved employees establishes the basis for support during their re-entry into the company. In conversations with the bereaved, managers and HR representatives, fears and needs are turned into individualized solutions for re-entry that fit both the employee and the company.
This has an impact that goes beyond the grieving person: the fact that employees after loss are accompanied in professional aspects can prevent insecurity among colleagues and managers in dealing with a grieving person.
The goal: to safely support grieving employees or teams.
Coaching Teams through Grief
Colleagues find themselves in a weird situation after the death of a team member. On the one hand, many were probably not that close to the deceased. On the other hand, the colleague is obviously missing: the place in the team remains just as empty as the seat. At the same time, tasks often need to be reassigned and completed.
People react in a similar way when a team member has to cope with a serious loss: Sympathy and shock are coupled with questions such as: When will the bereaved person return to work? How resilient is he or she? And how should I treat him or her?
Accompanying employees through bereavement in the team means giving space to the job-specific aspects of grief, from clarifying organizational issues to the farewell ceremony in the team or company.
The goal: to offer employees orientation in a case of loss.
Grief management: Preparing Processes and Communication Acts
Returning to work after a serious loss is a major step for many bereaved employees.
And even though some wish for a quick return to work, there remains a sense of unease: What is expected of me? Will I be capable of handling the job? What will the first day be like? And how will meeting with colleagues feel?
HR experts and managers can reduce these uncertainties by communicating empathically and making clear offers for the professional future.
In a workshop, you prepare an emergency concept with the contents: Determining responsibilities and communication channels, working out possible offers for re-entry and working hours, finding suitable options for the organization's expression of grief, attitude and self-care.
The goal: prepare for the emergency, in the hope that you will never need the blueprints.
Blog Articles
What to Do when an Employee Dies?
Tips and checklists for HR experts and managers
Communication Guidelines
Stakeholder-aware guidelines for communication
Grieving employees: Checklist for Managers
Ideas for immediate action | Good-to-know for conversations | Points to clarify
Integrating Bereaved Employees "After"
Death in the family: what to do when a colleague is grieving
Listening instead of Reading?
[In German only]l Melanie Höricht invited me to her podcast to talk about grief in the workplace.
Equipped to Act
Speechlessness, uncertainty, maybe even embarrassing silence when a colleague is grieving? Grief management for organizations prepares managers, HR experts, works councils and persons of trust for the emergency case "bereavement".
How can I help you? Let me know! Coaching Petra Meyer
- +49 179 2601797
- hallo@trauer-coaching.de
- Munich or remote
- more about me
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