12/06/2026
The Coaching Corner #1: Real people, real challenges.
➡️When the person who leaves was a pillar
A client had recently inherited several teams.
One of the team leaders, someone who had been in the business for years, held a lot of history, and took up real space in the organization, exited the business.
He decided not to replace her.
That meant several people would now report directly to him, at a moment when he was still learning the team, the dynamics, and the unwritten rules.
This was not just a communication issue, but also a trust issue.
>The leadership tension
How do you explain the change without pretending it is neutral?
Because it was not neutral.
People were going to have reactions. Some might feel unsettled. Some might feel exposed. Some might wonder whether he understood what had just changed.
🤔The key challenge was how to explain it, communicate it and get the team excited about the future, despite the big change.
> The questions we worked through
What needs to be said clearly?
What needs to be acknowledged without being dramatized?
Where might people need time before they can re-engage?
What future does he want to invite them into?
> What became clear
The conversation could not be only an announcement.
It needed to acknowledge the weight of the change, give people room to absorb it, and then help them see how the team would move forward.
✨A question for you
Where are you treating a change as operational, when your team may be experiencing it as somewhat / very emotional?
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A short weekly note on the real decisions senior leaders are navigating behind the scenes.
I'm Karen Gombault, Strategic Advisor and Executive Coach for high-performing leaders navigating the organizational realities of bigger roles.
