Alison Lucas, of Randolph Partnership Ltd, and Lizzie Bentley Bowers, of The Causeway Coaching Ltd, are co-authors of Good Bye: Leading change better by attending to endings (Practical Inspiration Publishing) and professionally accredited coaches and facilitators.
Most career advice focuses on beginnings.
How to land the new role.
How to negotiate the promotion.
How to make a strong first impression in a new team.
How to approach the first days, weeks and months.
What often gets far less attention is that every beginning has multiple endings wrapped up in it too.
Projects finish. Teams change. Roles evolve. Sometimes we leave by choice. Sometimes circumstances change around us. Redundancy, restructures, promotions, new opportunities; each of these moments marks the end of something that once mattered.
Even when an ending is positive, a promotion, a new job or the completion of a major project, it still means leaving something behind: colleagues we have built relationships with, work we have invested energy in, and a version of ourselves that belonged to that role or team.
How we experience endings at work shapes our confidence, our relationships and the way we step into whatever comes next. Yet despite the quality of an ending having a direct impact on what comes next, endings at work are rarely talked about openly. They tend to be handled quickly and quietly, as if the goal is to minimise fuss and move on as fast as possible.
One reason endings are often rushed is that they are inherently uncomfortable. They can involve loss, uncertainty and mixed emotions. Workplaces tend to focus on the practical elements of transition: handovers, final meetings, the logistics of leaving. These matter, but they only address part of what is happening. The deeper transition is psychological. It takes time to recognise what is ending, to process what it meant, and to begin imagining what comes next.
Our aim in writing Good Bye has been to offer a simple framework for paying better attention to endings in order to create even brighter better beginnings. This approach involves four steps that help people navigate endings more constructively: Reality, Emotion, Accomplishment and Ritual.
The REAR Steps
Reality means recognising clearly what is actually ending – a role, a team, a project, or a phase of your career – and all the implications that come with it.
Emotion acknowledges that transitions carry feelings, and that those emotions need to be identified and given some airtime.
Accomplishment is about recognising what has been achieved during that chapter of work, including the skills developed, the challenges navigated and the contribution made.
Ritual simply means marking the transition in an intentional way. This might be a conversation with colleagues, taking time to reflect on what you have learned, or even just pausing to acknowledge the moment before moving forward.
When we take time to work through these steps, we create the opportunity to pause and recognise what a chapter of work meant, and to strengthen the relationships, achievements and lessons from this phase of our careers. When endings are ignored or rushed, the opposite can happen. Doubt lingers. Conversations feel unfinished. The transition into the next role or opportunity can feel less grounded.
Learning how to navigate endings well is an important but often overlooked professional skill, particularly when it comes to careers. Consider a different kind of transition that many readers here may recognise. After several years in a non-technical role, you decide to retrain and move into coding. It’s a decision that has taken time, courage and a willingness to start again.
Friends and colleagues are supportive, even admiring. The focus quickly shifts to what lies ahead: new skills, new opportunities, a different career path.
But alongside that momentum, something quieter is happening. You are stepping away from a professional identity you have built over years. Letting go of a role where you knew how things worked, where your experience counted, where your contribution was visible and understood.
You may feel energised by what’s ahead, while also uncertain, exposed or even questioning your decision in moments. There may be pride in what you have done so far, alongside a sense that it is not yet complete.
Taking a moment to recognise what is ending, to acknowledge what you have built and learned, and to mark the shift in some small but intentional way can make a significant difference. It allows you to carry forward what matters, rather than leaving it behind, and to step into this new chapter with more confidence and clarity.
This is true not only for major career changes, but for the many smaller transitions that happen throughout our working lives.
In fast-moving organisations people are often encouraged to “look forward” immediately. While optimism is valuable, moving too quickly can sometimes mean skipping over the important work of recognising what has just ended. Paying greater attention to endings allows us to recognise what has mattered, honour what we have contributed and step into the next stage of our working lives with greater confidence.
