Dealing with the death of team members

In late November and early December of last year we dealt with the death of two young team members in unrelated events. We lost one team member to an illness that lasted several weeks and another team member to a sudden health event over a weekend. Both of them were in their 30s and extremely well liked members of the department. For the most part, we all work in the same building on one of three floors. In total we have about 400 people in the department but we act like a much smaller department. We all know each other well and the team demonstrates a very caring attitude. We took these losses hard. It is hard to understand why young people who are so full of life leave us. It is hard to grasp the reality of death.

Like with so many other things that we do, we dealt with it as a team. Many of us attended memorials and we hosted a very moving celebration of life for them in the department, we talked to their family members, we sent gifts, we told stories, we laughed and we most definitely cried.

As a leader this was a very difficult thing to experience. At times I was not sure what to do but I knew the team would be watching. Ultimately, I did not do anything except be myself. My team would have known in an instant if I was not being myself. No matter if I wanted to be quiet, or talk or cry my team knew that I was struggling too. I mention this because I think it is important for leaders to be transparent, human, empathetic, sympathetic and most importantly....caring.