Coaching practices for One of My Subordinates' Child Passed Away How Can I Inform My Team
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For One of My Subordinates' Child Passed Away How Can I Inform My Team, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- Nobody in my life gets this kind of loss, and I’m starting to ache for even one person who’s been through the exact same thing and wouldn’t need me to explain why it matters.
- Someone on my team is clearly going through something heavy and I’ve just been carrying on talking deliverables like nothing’s wrong
- There was no funeral, no service, nothing to mark it
- The day they died still plays in my head in jagged pieces
- They handled the money, or the cooking, or were just the person I leaned on
Practices that may help
- Find a community that recognises your specific loss
Seek out people who have experienced the same type of loss — online or in person.
Disenfranchised Grief, Made Practical - Show up for the person, not just the deliverable
Acknowledge what is happening in someone’s life when it is clearly affecting them — before addressing the work.
Caring Personally: The Foundation of Radical Candor - Create private rituals for losses that have no public ceremony
Design your own mourning practice for a loss that comes with no cultural script.
Disenfranchised Grief, Made Practical - Retell the story of the death and its aftermath
Construct a coherent, detailed narrative of the loss — including your experience before, during, and after.
Meaning Reconstruction in Grief, Made Practical - Task 3: Adjust to a world without the person
Actively develop new skills, roles, and identity elements to navigate the changed life.
Worden’s Tasks of Mourning, Made Practical - Speak or write to the person directly
Address the deceased in letters, journal entries, or internal dialogue as a form of active continuing connection.
Continuing Bonds in Grief, Made Practical - Journal specifically about the relationship and what it meant
Write in detail about who or what was lost and why it mattered — creating the record that no one else will maintain.
Disenfranchised Grief, Made Practical - Practice speaking about the loss to people outside your immediate circle
Gradually widen the circle of people who know about the loss and can offer recognition.
Disenfranchised Grief, Made Practical - Inform stakeholders before they ask, not after they complain
I’s are one-way — they receive information; the cost of surprising them is always higher than the cost of telling them.
The RACI Matrix, Made Practical - Respond non-punitively to mistakes
When someone brings you a problem or mistake, make your first move curiosity, not blame.
Psychological Safety in Teams
Related concerns
- Is It Unprofessional To Simply Announce Your Absence In Case Of A Family Death
Gradually widen the circle of people who know about the loss and can offer recognition.
Practice speaking about the loss to people outside your immediate circle
- Disenfranchised Grief During Conflict
Disenfranchised grief, named by Kenneth Doka, refers to grief for losses that are not socially acknowledged, publicly mourned, or openly supported — the death of a pet, an ex-partner, a miscarriage, an estranged parent, or any relationship the community does not sanction. Because social support is a major resource for grief, its absence compounds the loss and can complicate the grieving process significantly.
- How To Talk To A Friend That Just Lost An Eye
Resist the reflex to relate by topping their story with your own.
Don’t make it about you
- Journaling Unrecognised Loss
Write in detail about who or what was lost and why it mattered — creating the record that no one else will maintain.
Journal specifically about the relationship and what it meant
- What To Do When A Family Member Dies Checklist
Actively develop new skills, roles, and identity elements to navigate the changed life.
Task 3: Adjust to a world without the person
- What To Do When A Loved One Dies Aarp
Actively develop new skills, roles, and identity elements to navigate the changed life.
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