How I came to understand this work
I sat in meetings holding back tears.
I answered emails while my heart was breaking.
And I smiled through presentations, trying to silence my own grief.
End-of-month reviews came and I did my best.
Industry conferences and training sessions were always focused on what’s next, what’s new, targets, outcomes, performance.
And I remember a voice that echoed through it all:
“We better hit these targets, otherwise no bonuses for you girls this month.”
And in that moment, I didn’t think about the bonus.
I thought about survival.
I thought about just making it to 5pm so I could go home and fall apart in private.
I don’t share this for sympathy. I share it because it’s real.
Because in workplaces where grief is silenced, something else is silenced too:
connection, vulnerability, courage, and truth.
And what’s left is performance without presence.
Before the grief, there was a girl in navy blue
Before all of this, there was a girl in navy blue and high heels.
A trainee at 18 in Local Government, where the future felt bright and limitless.
My corporate career began the moment I stepped into that uniform — hair freshly done, makeup on, heels clicking across the floor. That was the beginning of “me.”
Or at least, who I thought I was becoming.
But the truth is, this journey began long before that.
As a little girl, I loved helping my mum. Writing cheques, filling out deposit slips, sealing envelopes. Playing “teacher” with friends. Pretending I was the checkout operator, counting change, organising order out of chaos.
I was always drawn to structure, systems, people, responsibility.
At 18, I was nominated Trainee of the Year in Central Queensland and soon after secured full-time work in Local Government.
By 2009, I had completed my studies with REIQ and stepped fully into a 15-year corporate career — starting as a Property Manager, then moving into Executive and Personal Assistant roles.
From the outside, it looked like progression.
Inside, something else was also forming.
The part I never spoke about wasn’t because I couldn’t.
It was because I didn’t yet know how.
The silent reality inside workplaces
Grief doesn’t announce itself neatly in a performance review.
It shows up quietly:
-in delayed responses
- in emotional fatigue
- in irritability that no one understands
- in withdrawal that gets mislabelled as disengagement
- in overworking to avoid feeling anything at all
And most people are never taught how to recognise it.
So instead, we label it.
We correct it. We manage it. We push through it.
What if we saw grief instead?
What if, instead of seeing someone who is “too emotional,” we saw a human who has never been given space to mourn?
What if, instead of seeing a colleague who is “disengaged,” we saw someone quietly grieving the life they once had?
What if, instead of seeing anger, we saw the weight of years of unprocessed pain?
What if, instead of judging someone who keeps cancelling plans, we saw a nervous system trying to survive another wave of loss?
What if, instead of calling someone “stuck,”
we recognised the courage it takes to keep going without the person they love most?
What if, instead of seeing a leader “losing their edge,” we saw someone carrying invisible grief while still holding everyone else together?
What if, instead of rushing to fix, advise, or move past it… we simply asked:
“What would feel supportive for you right now?”
Grief is not a problem to solve.
It is an experience to witness.
And when workplaces learn to see through that lens, something changes.
We don’t just improve wellbeing.
We restore humanity.
Why this matters in workplaces today
Unacknowledged grief doesn’t stay at home.
It walks into meetings. It shows up in performance.
It impacts communication, leadership, retention and culture.
When grief is unsupported, people don’t stop functioning — they simply disconnect.
And disconnection costs more than time.
It costs trust, innovation and emotional safety.
But when grief is acknowledged and held with care, people don’t become fragile.
They become real. And real people build stronger organisations.
A different way forward
Workplaces are not just systems of productivity.
They are environments of human experience.
And grief will always exist within them.
The question is not whether your workplace will experience grief.
The question is whether it will know how to hold it.
Work with Amy Rosso
I now work with organisations to support leaders, teams and workplaces in understanding grief, emotional trauma and human behaviour in professional environments.
Through corporate speaking and training, I help organisations:
- Build emotionally aware leadership cultures
- Recognise the hidden impact of grief in performance
- Create psychologically safer workplaces
- Support employees through loss without losing productivity or connection
- Rebuild communication, trust and resilience in teams
Invite Amy to speak or train your organisation
If your organisation is ready to move beyond performance-only culture and into people-first leadership, I would love to work with you.
Corporate Speaking | Workshops | Leadership Training
Let’s create workplaces where people are not just managed… but truly seen.
Let’s shift the culture.
