Why Organizational Change Feels Like Grief
We tend to talk about organizational change in terms of plans, timelines, and milestones. But anyone who’s lived through a restructure, downsizing, or leadership shift knows…the experience feels a lot less like a project plan and a lot more like loss.
That’s because organizational change often carries the emotional weight of grief.
Loss Beyond the Obvious
When we think of grief, we usually think of losing people. But in the workplace, we can grieve:
A team we loved working with.
The identity we held in a particular role.
The stability of knowing what to expect each day.
A sense of belonging and trust in the organization.
These losses are real, even if they don’t make it into the official change-management memo.
Why the Feelings Run So Deep
Work is not just tasks…it’s relationships, identity, and meaning. When change disrupts those, it shakes the foundations of how we see ourselves and our place in the world.
And because humanitarian work often overlaps with personal values and identity, these changes can hit even harder. It’s not just a job we’re losing; it can feel like losing a part of ourselves.
The Myth of “Just Professional”
In many workplaces, there’s an unspoken rule to “keep it professional,” which often means suppressing real feelings. But grief doesn’t work like that. It doesn’t stay neatly contained in a corner of our lives.
Ignoring it doesn’t make it go away. It just makes it harder to process, prolonging the impact.
Making Space for Grief in Change
Healthy organizations recognize that:
Change always involves an emotional dimension.
People need acknowledgment and time to adapt.
Leaders play a critical role in naming loss and guiding teams through it.
This isn’t about slowing progress, it’s about building resilience through honesty and care.
Moving Forward Without Erasing the Past
Grief doesn’t mean we can’t embrace new opportunities. It means we carry forward what mattered to us, even as we adapt to what’s next. In organizational change, honoring the past can make the future stronger.
Holding space with care and solidarity — here’s to staying whole, together,
~ Kate
Thanks for reading The Olive Pages: Fieldnotes on care, clarity, and staying whole
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KRC provides coaching, psychosocial support, and organizational consulting to humanitarian professionals and mission-driven organizations worldwide. Based in lived experience and trauma-aware care, our work helps clients navigate burnout, moral injury, organizational change, and career transitions — while staying human in the process.