Leaving Well: nonprofit leadership guidance for workplace exits and transitions

Africa Brooke is a Zimbabwean-born consultant, coach, speaker, and podcaster, recognized for her work in overcoming self-sabotage and self-censorship. As the founder and CEO of Africa Brooke International, she provides consulting, coaching, and support to a global audience.

She hosts two personal development podcasts, "Beyond the Self" and "Unthinkable Thoughts," and is a frequent guest on TV shows, podcasts, and radio broadcasts. Her insights have been featured in publications like The Guardian, and she has delivered keynotes at prestigious venues, including Cambridge University.

Resources and articles mentioned in this episode:

- Get your copy of The Third Perspective at Amazon or Bookshop.

- Read my article on Values and Breathing Space

To learn more about Leaving Well, visit https://www.naomihattaway.com/

To support the production of this podcast, peruse my Leaving Well Bookshop or buy me a coffee.

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley.

Jerry Dugan is a public speaker, author, and the host of Beyond the Rut, a podcast about helping you achieve your dreams and thrive in your faith, family, and career to experience a life beyond the rut.

Jerry's own life growing up through divorce, his dad's attempted suicide, and combat have built within him resilience and the perspective that life is too short to live it stuck in a rut.

Since 2015, Jerry has been the voice behind the Beyond the Rut podcast, a source of empowering narratives and actionable insights that propel listeners beyond stagnation and towards more fulfilling lives. In 2023, he encapsulated his transformative philosophy in a book of the same title, using the R.U.T. framework to redefine success and breathe purpose into everyday existence.

In the dynamic world of corporate transformation, Jerry Dugan stands at the helm of BtR Impact, LLC as its CEO and Senior Leadership Consultant. With a focused mission, he guides leaders to amplify employee engagement, ensuring they achieve peak performance while crafting a seamless blend of work, life, and personal values.

Jerry's pragmatic leadership approach, known as the T.E.N.T. framework, stems from a rich background that includes commanding roles during Operation Iraqi Freedom and corporate healthcare endeavors. This framework is his compass for cultivating leaders across all tiers, fostering teams rooted in trust, collaboration, and transparency to yield concrete business outcomes.

Jerry's vision doesn't stop at breaking free from life's ruts; he envisions a life lived expansively. Residing in Dallas, Texas, he savors the tranquil 'empty nest' phase with his partner, Olivia, after raising a son and daughter into adulthood. They now share their home with three feline companions and a loyal dog named Oreo.

Main quote:

Leaders have to find out how to serve the needs of the organization and the customer by also - and probably first and foremost - serving the needs of their people.

‌Additional Quotes:

My term of service had a date that ended it. There was a very official - unless you re-enlist - last day. So it was like a graduation for me in that respect. Every transition after that though, it's much more fluid. I'm like, wait, am I allowed to leave? Is today the day? Is tomorrow the day? How does this work? Do I have to give a two week notice? Can I leave now? So it's been much more fluid since then, but, I would say bittersweet in most cases.

A big number one that you often hear at an exit interview is, I didn't see opportunities for growth here. They were offering it there so I saw career progression. I saw skills development, responsibility expansion that wasn't being offered here, no matter how much I asked.

How we lead each other is nothing like what we see in the movies. We don't just yell orders and people say yes sergeant, no sergeant. To get that kind of loyalty and obedience, you gotta treat them like people. You gotta genuinely lead them as a human. You're a human leading other humans and you got to respect their dignity. You got to respect their self worth, their worth.

People are six times more likely to stick around if they regularly receive positive recognition for the work they are doing. And it's got to be specific recognition that ties into the greater good. Like, how did your task or your project or your work on a daily basis lead to this metric here or to this strategic outcome?

Stay mobile, stay adaptable, and create that safe space for your team to thrive.

Do it [leaving well] in a way that you preserve the work that you've done. You preserved as many of the relationships as you could, and you've honored the organization on the way out the door. That's the best way to leave well, while also still being true to yourself. You got to be true to yourself and recognize that you are leaving for the right reasons.

To purchase the books we discussed:

To connect with Jerry or learn more about his work:

Website

LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Audiobook | Goal Setting Tool

To get access to the Leaving Well Motivators worksheet, sign up for our email newsletter

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

After spending over a decade supporting entrepreneurs, startups, and corporations grow their businesses internationally, Amy Cunliffe quit and left that career behind.

As a Certified Business Coach supporting business owners in their growth phase, and as the creator of The Entrepreneur Compass, Amy has taken her decades plus experience supporting the international growth of over 500 leaders, startups, and corporations, and helps her current clients simplify their businesses on their journey towards reliable financial growth.

Main quote:

We've got to stop gripping for dear life. When you're gripping with your life, what can I hold in my hands? Nothing, right? I'm not creating any space for anything new to come through. If you're gripping this old job or this old identity or this person, you're never going to be able to let it go. Give space, like open those palms up to allow them to receive.

‌Additional Quotes:

Could you give yourself the permission to evolve? Could you give yourself the permission to say that's okay?

We are the ancestors of the future, and we are the caretakers for the next generations, and so when I think about leaving well. If you're leaving your role, that you leave it in such good stead for the next person to slip into simply, easily, with comfort, and that you know that you've done your best, and you go forth with grace.

To connect with Amy:

Instagram

Amy's free workshop

Book a Complimentary Coaching Session

~

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Ashlan Glazier-Anderson is a Professional Certified Marketer (PCM) and Certified Digital Marketing Professional (CDMP) with over 15 years of experience in the field. She has worked in a variety of industries, from advertising agencies to corporate America to nonprofit organizations. She thrives on helping clients solve problems and create unique strategies to best reach their target audience, drive revenue, and grow their businesses at scale. As an entrepreneur, she can help you build a strong marketing function, with the right systems to get more done with fewer resources.

Ashlan holds a Master's degree in Strategic Communications from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, Marketing from Portland State University (PSU). She completed a Certificate in Nonprofit Program Evaluation with the PSU Nonprofit Institute.

Ashlan is an active volunteer and serves as Professional Chapter Leadership Advisor for the American Marketing Association, Past President of AMA PDX, the American Marketing Association Portland chapter, and Board Secretary for the People's Nonprofit Accelerator. Through these organizations, she continues to increase her knowledge, strengthen her leadership skills, and expand her network to better serve her clients.

In March 2020, she was recognized for her service to the community as a Portland Trail Blazers Hometown Hero by Director's Mortgage. She was born in Hawaii, moved to Oregon at the age of 10 and recently relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada where she lives with her husband, Jon, and their fur babies Ahri (mixed breed small dog), Loki and Leilani (two former ferral cats who were raised as siblings).

Main quote:

Organizations: you should be rewarding people who say that they want to stick around, want to do more, want to do better with you. And if you're not hearing that, if you're not listening to that, then people are going to leave you and that's going to be what happens.

‌Additional Quotes:

Investing in your people matters so much more than anything else.

Leaving well means that you have taken the intentional time to Set people up to lessen the blow of you leaving.

To connect with Ashlan or learn more about her work:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn

Pinterest | TikTok | Twitter

Check out Ashlan's recent guest appearance on the School of Moxie podcast.

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Matt Anderson is the founder of Proximity Design Studio, a social innovation start-up whose mission is to imagine, create, and scale new solutions that invest in the well-being of parents to keep families together. Proximity is a media production and strategic consultation company that believes in the power of storytelling to shift the mindsets that hold in place policies and practices that benefit systems over people. Matt has worked in the child and family services sector for over 20 years and brings a unique depth and breadth of experience to the work of Proximity.

Matt's background includes public policy, business development, program development, multi-media storytelling, and executive leadership. Matt produced the award-winning feature documentary film From Place to Place, two seasons of the podcast Seen Out Loud, and many other multi-media projects. Matt's career began with youth who were aging out of foster care and those early relationships shaped his philosophy that we should listen to people's stories, learn from their expertise, and take action with them. Matt is a native of Pittsburgh and is in the process of moving from North Carolina to Washington D.C.

He is a devoted optimist and believes wholeheartedly in the good in people and the world we live in. His favorite way to spend an afternoon is finding unexpected and meaningful ways to connect with people by exploring a new town or city-human connections. Their stories are the things that fuel his purpose and passions in life.

Main quote:

I had to trust myself. I had to have faith in the fact that once I let go, then everything that I need will be available to me. The fear of letting go is so powerful, but what has surprised me is that I let go into a realm of abundance, a space where all things become possible to me.

‌Additional Quotes:

I knew I had to leave. When I felt that again, I was like, Oh, I'm not right with the organization. I'm not right with our clients and I'm not right with myself. I have to leave. I'd be doing everybody - forget myself - I'd be doing everybody around me a disservice.

We only learn by doing, we only find out what's possible by doing. We have to take action.

If you leave with integrity and you leave whole, I think you leave well.

To connect with Matt or learn more about his work:

The Proximity Podcast

Instagram

Facebook

Matt is proud to be partnered with Mother's Outreach Network and the recently produced Standing With Moms documentary.

To get access to the Leaving Well Values worksheet, sign up for our email newsletter

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Stephanie Barron Hall (M.A. Organizational Communication & Leadership) is a speaker, Accredited Enneagram Practitioner, published author, and host of the Enneagram in Real Life Podcast. Stephanie has been facilitating personality-centric team development for years as an outside consultant for organizations ranging from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies. Stephanie's approach to the Enneagram is grounded in communication theory and emphasizes deep personal work through application, curiosity, and self-awareness.

Main quote:

What do I need from me? What does my family need? What does my future self need? So I think that's leaving well and in whatever scenario, I think that's really important.

‌Additional Quotes:

It's like that concept of you build the plane while you're flying it. We love to say that. But you can only do that for so long before you actually have to really legitimize things.

When we have these mass layoffs that we've been seeing, that's really destabilizing. I think that managers forget about that emotional aspect of humans, no matter who you are, it's going to impact you.

When people bring me in, they're ready to talk a little bit, at least about emotions so I'm able to meet people there and to talk about those things. A lot of the time leaders will say, I don't understand why this is happening. Or there's this issue on my team where there's this conflict. They want something tactical but it's an emotional problem.

To purchase the books we discussed:

Necessary Endings, Dr. Henry Cloud: Amazon | Bookshop

Drive, Daniel Pink: Amazon | Bookshop

To learn more about finding your Enneagram type.

To connect with Steph or learn more about her work:

Website | Instagram | Youtube | Podcast

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Yanique is the author of White Women Cry and Call Me Angry: A Black Woman's Memoir on Racism in Philanthropy. I'm a huge fan of Beyoncé. I have been to all her concerts except Coachella (but I have watched it repeatedly on Netflix). I love a good meal, whether it be Jamaican, Indian, or Thai. It's the curry for me! My favorite way to spend an afternoon is curled up in my bed talking to friends and family, reading a book, or watching a movie.

Main quote:

I can leave a situation, even if it's not good for me, even if it's toxic, and recognize the humanity in the leaders and the people who I may have left behind.

‌Additional Quotes:

I used to wake up with my computer, 5 a.m. on my lap, in bed. Without that work to do, I had to find other ways to wake up. It started with waking up to hydration, drinking water before getting out of bed, stretching, moving my body, exercise, eating something nutritious, a thing that I skipped a lot, walking the dogs, meditating, using the Headspace app, journaling.

We can thrive on less money than we think. That string is often what keeps us in places we shouldn't stay in. It's a tough thing to believe, and I didn't believe it until I went through it myself.

Leaving well means knowing what is nourishing to you, knowing what is values aligned. And when a container, whether that be a workplace, a relationship, whatever the container is. when that container can no longer hold you.

To purchase Yanique's book, connect with Yanique or learn more about her work:

White Women Cry

Instagram

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Robert Pardi is a Life Coach, Author, speaker and one of those rare individuals who embraces change. In fact, he lives by a philosophy he calls Possibility in Action, which has allowed him and his clients to escape conformity and reimagine life.

After experiencing the devastating loss of his young wife to metastatic breast cancer, Robert reimagined his entire life and left the world of finance to share the many lessons he learned throughout his life's journey while relocating to Italy.

He is committed to helping people bring desired possibilities into their reality. He acts as a catalyst to break people out of habitual living and consciously craft their life to live an elevated life experience.

He believes that personal growth is a lifestyle and that possibilities exist all around us but without action they remain in the land of wishing.

Main quote:

Leaving well means that you are giving yourself the opportunity to fully express who you want to be in the journey of your life. It's not running away. The idea of leaving - people almost talk about it as like an escape -leaving well is not running away. It's running towards, towards the future you want.

‌Additional Quotes:

Adversity should never be the dominant color on the canvas of your life. It is a contrast color for something else.

Why do we get into burnout? Because we have no boundaries and we're sucked into things that basically feel like an obligation, and we're not getting a return from it.

There are borders and there are boundaries. Boundaries are actually an invitation. They're the rules of the game. You're not going to let somebody in your house and walk on your white couch with muddy shoes. You don't want them to walk over certain emotions. What you're doing when you're setting boundaries is saying here are the rules of the game. I'm inviting you to sit in a space where I can show up authentically, vulnerably, and myself and contribute all of it. It's a beautiful thing, actually.

Know your values, know the story you want to look back on. Look at the fears, look at the risks.

There's no stability except for what we bring to the table.

There will be no growth if there is no feedback. First and foremost, you have to not only communicate, you have to help people understand the value of transparency, the value of being direct, the value of honesty and openness.

Grief is a big pile of crap, right? That's also the best fertilizer possible. Yes there's longing and there's sadness, and there are lots of emotions around that. And it truly offers you the opportunity to grow.

To connect with Robert or learn more about his work:

Books | Free Resources | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Bethaney Wilkinson is a facilitator and spiritual director who is passionate about holding space for the changes we long for most in the world. She is author of The Diversity Gap: Where Good Intentions Meet True Cultural Change and hosts a podcast by the same name, which has been downloaded over a quarter of a million times worldwide. She is the founder of multiple social impact efforts including A More Beautiful Way, The Diversity Gap, Grace Dialogues, and Atlanta Harvest. She has dedicated more than a decade to exploring the intersections of community, racial healing, and social change—specifically in the organizational context.

As part of her work, Bethaney has been invited to share at major conferences and in partnership with top global companies, including Google, Creative Mornings, Ball, Magna International and more. She has a degree in Education from Emory University and in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. She is in the process of becoming a Certified Spiritual Director via the Kairos Spiritual Direction Training Program from Parish Resource Center. She is also in the process of becoming a Certified Breathwork Facilitator to better support BIPOC communities on their embodied healing journeys.

As a facilitator and thought leader, Bethaney is passionate about amplifying creative solutions to the challenges facing diverse communities and organizations.

When she's not holding space for individuals or teams, you can find her reading about spiritual formation, playing with her dogs Isla and Bear, or sustaining Cedar Wilde, a 1-acre homestead and market garden with her husband Alex.

Main quote:

It serves me - and it might serve others - to look at all of the different types of changes and the discomfort that they bring, as invitations. To deepen self awareness, deepen love of neighbor, to deepen our expertise in managing a team.

‌Additional Quotes:

People tend to have very unrealistic expectations about how long something is going to take, how long it takes to really understand one another, how long it takes to get on the same page. It takes a long time and having a workshop here and there doesn't quite get us to where we're trying to go. Information is incredible and I love a good light bulb moment. I love learning new language for things, but embodying a new way of leadership, a new way of working across lines of difference in ways that truly honors the dignity of every person at every intersection is really hard work. And, it's often messy.

Part of the reason transformation takes so long is because people are already at capacity in life, typically. We are leading full lives with partners and kids and homes and communities and things happening all over the globe. I think that our capacity tends to be limited, at least in modern times. The amount of space it takes to think deeply about the shifts needed in our organization, that space tends to not be there unless we create it.

The really practical cost is higher turnover. It tends to lend itself to a disengaged workforce, people who feel used and not valued. There are real financial costs to that turnover. Depending on the nature of the organization, it can lead to broken trust in a community, the communities you're serving, the clients you're trying to reach if you aren't able to be responsive and adaptive to like the felt needs of the people you're serving.

What does it mean to let things rest, to let things lie fallow for a time, and then return to the next phase of it when we're ready.

Leaving well means looking at the real, even if it's uncomfortable and doing the best you can with what you have and honoring the present reality. Knowing that in some grand sense, there's grace for every step of the journey.

To connect with Bethaney

Website

Instagram

To connect with A More Beautiful Way:

Website

Instagram

~

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley

Amy graduated from U Penn with a bachelor's degree in English and a masters degree in Reading/Language arts and her first career was teaching as the Reading Specialist and classroom teacher in New York City. She pivoted careers to pottery and sculpture as she was raising her family and then transitioned to a role that didn't involve an office or a boss when she created It's Your Move, a concierge moving service.

The client specialty of It's Your Move was helping older people transition from their "big" house to a smaller space, guiding them through the process of sorting through and clearing out items they either couldn't use or didn't want. As Amy said about her experience with their clients: "I learned a great deal about how people process change, loss, and how they almost always find their way to a lighter, happier place."

Main quote:

Forgiveness is really very powerful. And we sometimes forgive other people, but we forget to forgive ourselves.

‌Additional Quotes:

It can be painful and also be valuable, and strengthening. It can be a good thing. I got through that, I can get through this. Then joy begins to come into it, because it doesn't control you, you control it.

I think regret is a really terrible emotion. And if you leave something and you left something unfinished, that can nag at you. If there's something you want to say to somebody, say it. If you love them, tell them you love them. If you got a bug to pick, pick it, say it, live truthfully.

To take the Workplace Transition Archetype Quiz

To learn more about Leaving Well

This podcast is produced by Sarah Hartley