Grief comes to work, whether workplaces are ready for it or not.
When someone experiences the death of a person they love, they don't leave that loss at the office door.
They may return carrying shock, exhaustion, brain fog, anxiety, changed capacity, and a world that no longer feels quite the same.
Leaders are expected to know how to respond.
Most have never been taught how.
That is where grief-informed leadership begins.
Grief-informed leadership changes the response.
It gives leaders the confidence to respond humanly, practically and consistently when loss enters the workplace.
You cannot remove grief from the workplace.
You can change how people experience the workplace while they are grieving.
Grief changes how people work.
Grief can affect concentration, memory, decision-making, emotional regulation, energy and confidence.
Someone who was highly capable before a death may suddenly struggle with things that once felt automatic.
That isn't a performance problem.
It's a human being trying to work while their nervous system is carrying loss.
And the workplace response matters.
Good leadership can create safety, flexibility and connection.
Poorly handled responses can add isolation, pressure and harm to an already impossible time.
The goal isn't to turn managers into grief counsellors.
It's to give them the confidence to lead well when grief arrives.
Leading Through the First 90 Days After a Death
When someone in your organisation experiences a death, the first response matters. But so does what happens a week later. A month later. And when they return to work and everyone else assumes things are getting back to normal.
This free practical guide helps leaders navigate the first 90 days after a death with greater confidence, humanity and care.
Inside you'll find guidance on what to say, what to do, how grief can affect someone at work, supporting a return to work, and the things organisations often don't realise matter until they get them wrong.
You don't need to become a grief counsellor.
You do need to know how to lead when grief arrives.
Free PDF. No sign-up required.
WHY THIS WORK IS DIFFERENT
Lived experience meets organisational reality.
This work doesn’t come from theory alone.
I bring together lived experience of catastrophic loss, years of working alongside leaders and organisations, and a practical understanding of what happens when grief enters a workplace.
I’m not here to turn leaders into grief counsellors.
I’m here to help them know how to respond, what to say, what not to say, and how to lead when there is no perfect thing to do.
Because when someone’s world has changed, how their workplace responds matters.
