Closure, Clarity, and Finding Allies
Tuesday, December 16, 2024
Today was about endings and beginnings in equal measure.
I spent most of the day working through offboarding materials—self assessments, strengths, values and intentions now I have left.​
But here’s what I’m noticing: offboarding isn’t just administrative logistics. It’s psychological closure.(bps)​
The Psychology of Letting Go
Research on redundancy identifies six psychological stages, the final one being acceptance—where you stop resisting what’s happened and start focusing forward.​
The offboarding process, when done thoughtfully, can actually facilitate this transition. It provides rituals of ending. Handing back equipment isn’t just returning assets—it’s symbolically releasing your identity as an employee of that organisation. Finalising paperwork isn’t bureaucracy—it’s drawing a clear line between what was and what comes next.thinkergy​
The problem is that most organisations treat offboarding as a compliance exercise rather than a human experience. They miss the opportunity to provide meaningful closure, which matters not just for the person leaving but for the employer brand and relationships they’ll need in the future.​
For me, working through these materials today felt less like loss and more like liberation. Each completed task was permission to fully invest in what’s next.
Coaching Towards My Best Self
I also had a coaching session that focused on building an action plan—understanding where I am now, what I’m genuinely interested in next, and how to find my best self to improve my chances of doing meaningful work.
The psychology here matters. Self-assessment isn’t navel-gazing; it’s foundational to career development. Research shows that understanding your core strengths, values, and behavioural patterns through structured reflection creates the self-awareness necessary for making decisions aligned with who you actually are, not who you think you should be.career-counselling-services+2​
My coaches homework for me was about identifying:
- Where my energy comes from (not where I think it should come from)
- What values I’m unwilling to compromise (the non-negotiables)
- Which strengths I’ve been underutilising (the capacities I’ve been sitting on)
What emerged surprised me. I’ve spent years building expertise in organisational psychology, coaching, and workplace culture—but I’ve often positioned myself as a generalist rather than owning the specificity of this mission: solving workplace bullying through emotional intelligence and systemic change.
The coaching helped me see that discovering my best self isn’t a diluted version trying to appeal to everyone. It’s the focused version doing one thing exceptionally well.
Building the Infrastructure
I also spent time today adding the newsletter to LinkedIn and creating a Newsletter signup page on the website. Small steps, but important ones. If this movement is going to work, it needs channels for connection. It needs ways for people to stay engaged, share insights, and signal that this matters to them.
Every person who subscribes isn’t just receiving updates—they’re becoming part of the network. And networks matter when you’re trying to change systems.
Finding Allies Inside Organisations
Yesterday I mentioned the importance of finding internal allies, and the psychology research backs this up powerfully.
Allies are force multipliers. When employees act as allies—advocating for change from within—they amplify efforts to create inclusive, respectful cultures. Their credibility and positional power can elevate voices that would otherwise be ignored.​
The research on organisational change is clear: change agents who possess deep internal knowledge, established trust relationships, and long-term commitment are uniquely positioned to drive sustainable transformation. External consultants can provide frameworks and expertise, but internal champions understand the culture, the informal power structures, and the specific barriers to adoption.​
This is crucial for solving workplace bullying. You can’t parachute in solutions from outside. The culture has to shift from within, supported by people who already have relationships, credibility, and influence.
What makes someone an effective internal ally? psychologytoday​
- Emotional intelligence – Understanding resistance behaviours and alleviating stress
- Strategic thinking – Seeing the bigger picture and anticipating roadblocks
- Psychological safety mindset – Creating environments where people can speak up
- Deep organisational knowledge – Understanding how things really work, not just how they’re supposed to work
Importantly, these allies don’t have to be senior leaders. They can be HR professionals, team leads, respected individual contributors—anyone with moral courage and the willingness to act.​
But here’s the challenge: internal allies often experience anxiety about speaking up, particularly when addressing sensitive issues like bullying. They worry about career consequences, social backlash, and being labelled as troublemakers. Research shows that allyship initiatives need to provide psychological support and clear frameworks for action—what researchers call “LEAP” behaviour: Locating oneself, Engaging in discussions, Asking probing questions, and Providing support.​
This is where external support—resources, research, toolkits, community—becomes critical. Internal allies need armour. They need evidence. They need connection to others doing the same work so they don’t feel isolated.
That’s what I want to build: an infrastructure that empowers internal allies to drive change from within their organisations.
What’s Taking Shape
Nine days in, and I’m starting to see the shape of this work more clearly:
1. It’s about enabling internal change, not imposing external solutions.
2. It requires both psychological insight and operational infrastructure.
3. It needs to serve the people inside organisations who already see the problem and want to be part of solving it.
Today’s Reflection Question: Who are the internal allies in your organisation who could drive cultural change if they had the right support and resources?
Responses