How you handle the departure of a team member is mission-critical to your cultural integrity. As part of the team member life cycle, it’s essential to honor departures with the same depth as arrivals.
This guide is not about the logistics of voluntary or involuntary turnover. Instead, it offers specific talking points to help you proactively set the tone with your team—before you're announcing the departure of an employee.
When shared authentically, these points can:
- Help prevent avoidable departures by encouraging open dialogue
- Empower and strengthen your team to thrive through transitions
Let’s dive into what to say ahead of time so that future departures support team trust instead of undermining it.
Talking points
Below are the talking points you'll want to hit; the key is to adapt these talking points into your own voice.
When a team member chooses to leave
"Whenever someone leaves our organization, I take it seriously.
If it’s voluntary, I want to understand why. I get curious.
If it’s due to life-changing circumstances or a great new opportunity, I want to celebrate and support them in their next chapter. While we’ll miss them, we can acknowledge that they’ve been part of our journey—and we’ve been part of theirs.
If someone leaves because they didn’t enjoy working here, I’m still curious. While the feedback may be hard to hear, it’s a powerful opportunity to learn, adapt, and improve. I also want to honor their contributions and wish them well.
Announcing the departure of an employee is never easy. But the hardest part for me, as a leader, is when a departure comes as a surprise—especially if I could have done something had I known earlier.”
A request to the team
"What I ask from everyone on this team is courageous courtesy—if you have concerns, please bring them to leadership before looking for another job.
If you do, I commit to addressing your concerns (when aligned with our culture) or supporting you in finding a better-fitting opportunity.”
When a team member is let go
"We address egregious and malicious actions swiftly. However, this is rarely the case. Often there is either a character mismatch that hasn’t had success in being coached or a competency gap that hasn’t had success in being trained. Know, though, that coaching and training have been attempted.
We don’t give up on people easily. We invest in our team. We care about those individuals who choose to be here and that we choose to have here.
These decisions are never made lightly and require tremendous thoughtfulness.
Just as I’m asking you to have courageous courtesy, you can know that at no point will anyone be “surprised” by being asked to leave due to a character or competency concern. That individual will have had sufficient opportunities to try and improve and address their character or competency gap."
Respecting dignity and confidentiality
"We also honor one another’s dignity—which means we don’t share when someone is struggling. Unless a coworker personally chooses to disclose their challenges, their departure may come as a surprise.
Basic human nature doesn’t do well with surprises. You may even feel a sense of betrayal towards the organization. Your coworker, your colleague, your team member, maybe even your friend has just been fired.
Here’s what I ask of you in those moments: Give leadership the benefit of the doubt. Assume our positive intent, and know that the person had both ample notice and support."
A culture of integrity in transitions
"As I stated before, I don’t take the departure of someone from our team lightly. We are a conscious community, brought together to fulfill a shared purpose. It is our responsibility to make sure this community has integrity in both character and competency.
Losing a team member is always difficult. But keeping someone in a role that’s not a fit is worse—for them, for you, and for our culture."
Why these talking points work
By using these talking points before you're announcing the departure of an employee, you're creating a culture of:
- Transparency
- Fairness
- Empathy
- Integrity
It’s natural to want to focus on the positive. But proactively setting expectations around how departures are handled builds trust in times of change. It also supports not only any departing individuals but your remaining team, your organization, and your purpose—ensuring everyone can move forward with clarity and respect.
Here’s to creating a culture where transitions reflect the best of who you are as a team.
Want to strengthen your leadership around transitions?
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