We invest a great deal of time and energy in welcoming people into organizations today.

There are onboarding processes, induction plans, welcome packages, introductory meetings, and the well-known first 100 days. By now, companies understand quite well that the way people join an organization can determine how quickly new employees find their bearings and develop a connection with it.

But eventually, there is also a last day at work.

And suddenly, a completely different set of rules seems to apply.

Someone who was a valued colleague, top performer, or trusted sparring partner just yesterday resigns. Or the organization decides that continuing the working relationship no longer makes sense.

And what should be a normal process can quickly turn into an emotionally charged situation.

This is where a leadership capability becomes visible that receives surprisingly little attention:

The ability to manage separations well.

Organizations are not static entities. People join. People develop. Roles change. Interests shift. And people leave organizations again.

This is just as much a part of organizational life as growth, promotions, or new hires. Yet many organizations still treat departures as if they were accidents. As something that should never have happened in the first place.

Perhaps it is time to start approaching endings with the same care and intention as beginnings.

Why We Are Better at Onboarding Than Offboarding

When a new employee joins, very few companies today would say:

“They’ll figure it out somehow.”

When someone leaves, however, things often look very different.

Information comes too late. Managers take the departure personally. Colleagues are unsure how to respond. Customers hear about the change indirectly. And after years of good collaboration, the final few weeks suddenly become uncomfortable.

Yet the logic should actually be quite simple.

An organization cannot decide whether people will eventually leave.

But it can certainly influence how they leave.

That is the difference between professional offboarding and leaving behind a trail of damage.

Good offboarding is therefore not simply an administrative HR task. It is a leadership responsibility.

Of course, access rights need to be revoked, hardware returned, and employment references prepared.

But the questions that really matter lie elsewhere:

How do we communicate with each other?

How do we inform the team?

How do we communicate with customers?

What actually needs to be handed over?

How do we want to bring our time together to a close?

And what kind of relationship do we want to have afterwards?

Why Resignations Become Personal So Quickly

On paper, a resignation is a business decision.

In reality, it is rarely purely rational.

Leadership, after all, is about relationships.

You invest time in people. You build knowledge. You develop projects together. You may even be planning the next few years with someone.

And then that person says:

“I’m leaving.”

Of course, that can be disappointing.

That is human.

For a moment, it may even feel as though someone is letting the team down. Especially when a great deal of time and energy has been invested in that person’s development.

In the podcast, we speak very openly about the fact that these feelings are perfectly valid. What matters is what happens next.

Because it becomes problematic when disappointment turns into exclusion.

When an employee suddenly stops receiving information.

When meetings take place without them.

When colleagues sense that they should probably avoid working too closely with “the person who is leaving.”

Or when someone who was valued yesterday is suddenly treated like a traitor.

Good leadership does not mean having no emotions.

It means handling them responsibly.

Poorly Managed Departures Cost Organizations a Great Deal of Energy

Many companies postpone necessary separations for a surprisingly long time.

Everyone involved already knows that the working relationship is no longer functioning.

And yet, nothing happens.

People often describe this as a “professional working relationship.” In reality, it often means:

We have agreed to a ceasefire.

The work somehow continues. But it consumes a disproportionate amount of energy.

The team notices the tension.

Managers spend their time dealing with conflicts instead of shaping the business.

Customers may sense that something is wrong.

And the person involved may already be doing little more than the bare minimum.

In our conversation, we describe this kind of delay as one of the major consequences of poorly managed separations.

Of course, that does not mean every conflict should end in a separation.

Quite the opposite.

Many difficult situations can be resolved.

But it makes just as little sense to maintain a working relationship at all costs when it has long been clear that it is no longer the right fit.

Sometimes, a clean separation is the more respectful decision.

For both sides.

The Final Steps Can Change How We Remember the Entire Journey

Imagine hiking together for seven hours through a beautiful landscape.

You have good conversations. You laugh. You help each other. Perhaps you lose your way at some point and find your way back together.

And then you spend the final half hour shouting at each other.

What will you tell people about the hike the next day?

Probably not much about the first seven hours.

Surprisingly, the same thing happens in organizations.

People work successfully together for five, seven, or ten years.

There are shared projects, successes, setbacks, and personal relationships.

And then, sometimes, just a few weeks are enough to rewrite the entire story.

Suddenly, everything was bad.

The manager was supposedly always difficult.

The employee was never really that good anyway.

Does it have to be this way?

No.

A good time together can still have been a good time, even if it eventually comes to an end.

That is why the final stages of a working relationship should be managed with care and intention.

The People Who Stay Are Watching Closely

When someone leaves an organization, the focus is understandably on the person who is departing.

But there is another important audience:

everyone who stays.

Colleagues pay close attention to how an organization treats someone once the working relationship comes to an end.

They see whether that person continues to be treated with respect.

Whether information is withheld.

Whether people suddenly start speaking negatively about them.

Whether their employment reference takes unnecessarily long to arrive.

And this leads to a very simple question:

If I leave one day, will they treat me the same way?

In the podcast, we discuss exactly this effect. Poorly managed departures do not just change the relationship with the person leaving. They also change how those who stay perceive the organization as a whole.

That is company culture.

Not the values poster.

Not the careers page.

Not the campaign featuring smiling employees.

It is about how we treat people when they are no longer directly contributing to our organization.

A professional separation therefore sends an important message:

You are more to us than your current role.

Offboarding Is Employer Branding

Of course, the impact does not stop at the office door.

Former employees talk about their experiences.

In private.

With friends.

On LinkedIn.

At their next employer.

Or on employer review platforms.

Companies cannot control that.

But they can influence the story there is to tell.

If you treat someone disrespectfully during their final weeks after years of good collaboration, you should not be surprised by negative reviews.

Conversely, a well-managed departure can send a remarkably strong employer branding signal.

In the podcast, we talk about companies that even publicly support former employees in finding a new role. Colleagues post recommendations and say something along the lines of:

“We’re sorry to see her go. But if you’re looking for someone great, talk to her.”

What does that tell a potential applicant?

A great deal.

It shows:

Even when the working relationship ends, people continue to treat each other with respect.

That is probably more credible than many polished campaigns about company culture.

A Good Separation Keeps Doors Open

There is something else that is often underestimated.

A resignation does not have to mean the end of a relationship.

Perhaps the former employee will return one day.

Perhaps she will become a customer.

Perhaps she will recommend the company to others.

Perhaps, a few years later, an entirely new form of collaboration will emerge.

Careers today are becoming increasingly non-linear.

People move between organizations, gain new experience, and sometimes return later with new skills and perspectives.

Why should companies deliberately destroy these relationships?

A professional offboarding process therefore does more than protect the past.

It creates opportunities for the future.

What Does a Good Separation Culture Look Like?

Every separation is different.

A voluntary resignation is different from a redundancy. A working relationship that has been deteriorating for years requires a different approach from two partners realizing that their goals have simply moved in different directions.

Even so, there are a few principles that almost always help.

1. Normalize Separation

People leave organizations.

That is normal.

Not every resignation is an act of betrayal.

And not every separation is a failure.

The more openly and naturally companies can talk about this, the easier it becomes to address difficult developments early on.

2. Don’t Ignore Emotions

A separation can hurt.

That is not a sign of unprofessionalism.

But emotions should be something people can talk about rather than allowing them to indirectly shape behavior.

Status, recognition, and unmet expectations in particular can play a significant role. Addressing these issues early can prevent conflicts from emerging later whose real causes no one fully understands anymore.

3. Create Clarity

Uncertainty is one of the biggest drivers of poorly managed separations.

Who does what?

How long will the person remain with the company?

Which responsibilities will they continue to handle?

What needs to be handed over?

What will customers be told?

What do colleagues know?

The clearer these points are, the less room there is for rumors and exclusion.

4. Communicate Differently with Different Stakeholders

Not everyone needs the same message.

A long-standing customer will have different questions from a newsletter subscriber.

A close colleague will probably want to hear about the change personally rather than discovering it by chance on LinkedIn.

That is why it is worth planning communication carefully:

Who is directly affected?

Who should be informed personally?

Who needs detailed information?

Who simply needs reassurance that everything will continue as usual?

In the podcast, we also discuss how this kind of orchestration is more challenging than it sounds and how even good planning cannot prevent every mistake.

5. Keep Handover Processes Pragmatic

Of course, there is knowledge and responsibility that needs to be handed over.

But not every minor detail requires a ten-page handover document.

The question should not be:

“How do we document everything?”

Instead, ask:

What does the organization actually need to ensure that customers, teams, and projects can continue without disruption?

6. Mark the Departure Intentionally

A farewell does not need to be dramatic.

But it should be acknowledged.

A meal together.

A personal thank-you.

A message to the team.

Perhaps a brief look back at what was achieved together.

This creates a clear sense of closure.

And that is exactly what is often missing when separations are handled poorly.

The Ability to Manage Separations Is the Ability to Manage Change

Why does this topic belong within the context of Veränderungsstabilität?

Because change almost always means letting go of something.

A role.

A process.

A familiar way of working.

A product.

A strategy.

Or a person.

An organization that automatically interprets separation as failure will also find it more difficult to embrace other forms of change.

Because then every ending represents a loss.

But Veränderungsstabilität does not mean holding on to as much as possible.

It means being able to distinguish between:

What needs stability right now?

And what needs to change?

That is exactly what we discuss in the podcast. An organization that is stable in the face of change is not frozen in place. It can consciously move between stability and change and accept that sometimes something new can only begin when something else comes to an end.

Conclusion: Good Leadership Also Shows at the End

The way an organization handles separations says a great deal about it.

Perhaps even more than the way it handles new hires.

During onboarding, both sides share a common interest.

Everyone wants to make a good impression.

Offboarding is more difficult.

And that is precisely when you see whether an organization’s values truly apply.

Respect.

Trust.

Fairness.

Professionalism.

Or whether those values only apply for as long as someone continues to perform their role.

A good separation does not have to be pleasant.

It can be sad.

It can be disappointing.

And it can be difficult.

But it should be clear, respectful, and mature.

Because sometimes, a good ending is simply a good ending.

And that can be enough.

Go Deeper: Listen to the Podcast Episode

In a blog article, the topic of separation culture can be explained relatively neatly.

In the podcast, it becomes much more concrete.

In the latest episode of Veränderungsstabil, Matthias Musmacher and Holger Heize discuss why separations in organizations so often go wrong, the human and financial costs involved, and what professional offboarding can look like.

And we do not stop at theory.

We also share how we are currently approaching separation at O’Donovan ourselves, the thinking behind our approach, and what did not go quite as smoothly as planned.

So if you want to know what these principles look and feel like in everyday business, the episode gives you a behind-the-scenes look at how we are putting them into practice.

🎧 Listen to the full episode of Veränderungsstabil here.

Are You Facing a Major Change in Your Organization?

Separations are just one form of organizational change.

New structures, changing responsibilities, strategic realignments, or transformation programs present leaders and teams with similar challenges.

O’Donovan supports companies in shaping these changes in a way that enables organizations to remain effective, keeps customers in focus, and gives people the clarity and direction they need.

👉  Schedule a no-obligation consultation with O’Donovan Consulting.