At Last… Acceptance

Over the past four weeks, we’ve talked about the various manifestations of grief and emotional trauma and how they play out in the workplace.

The final frontier is the state of being we all long for…acceptance.  But don’t be fooled.  Acceptance can come and go just like denial, anger, bargaining, or depression.

An emotional hurricane will toss an employee around these feelings like pollen in the wind.  The key as an Adaptive Leader is to “roll with the punches.”  Acknowledge someone’s good days when they are dealing well with their feelings.  Likewise, be prepared to adjust your leadership style when they are not.

Here is a brief example.  A colleague shared that his administrative assistant requests the anniversary of her son’s death off each year because she cannot deal with being at work on that day.  Her son was tragically killed TWELVE years ago.

True acceptance is further away on the horizon than it may first appear.  When acceptance comes a little too quickly,  that should be your first indication that what the grieving employee is experiencing may be denial, not acceptance, which is at the complete opposite end of the emotional spectrum.  They may put on an air of acceptance in your office, but when the door to theirs is closed, a state of shock and disbelief is stunting their performance.  True acceptance takes time.

Adaptive Leaders play the long-game, side-by-side with the associate who needs them and needs time.

Why is this article relevant?

• Everyone is stricken by emotionally traumatic events that can lead to grief at some point in their lives.
• According to The Grief Recovery Institute study, productivity loss due to grieving employees suffering silently at work is as much as $75 billion annually.
• Grief and illness are the second leading cause of performance issues at work, according to the study.

Our culture expects the grieving person to “just get over it.”  At GriefLeaders, we believe that well trained and aware leaders who engage with the employee in the grief process can minimize the impact on productivity and help the grief healing process.

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To learn more about how leaders can help grieving employees excel at work, order your copy of our new book, The Dying Art of Leadership, available at the Bookbaby bookstore website and Amazon.

To learn more about GriefLeaders, and our leadership training program click here: Our Process

Be sure to follow us on our GriefLeaders Company Page: https://www.linkedin.com/company/griefleaders-llc/

Anthony Casablanca

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