Are you anticipating, weighing up, or already navigating an organisational ending, whether that's a planned closure, insolvency, merger, leadership succession, restructure, or refocus? Perhaps more than one of these at once?

It’s good to see you. You’ve come to the right place!

What brings other people here?

The Decelerator Hotline is a place for leaders to turn for guidance, support and space to think about organisational endings. A few things we've heard many times from the 600+ people who’ve called The Decelerator Hotline…

“I don’t know if we need to think about this yet, but I want to be prepared, not caught by surprise.“

"I don't want this to happen on my watch."

"I don't know where to begin."

"I don't have space to think clearly in my day to day."

"What on earth might a good ending look like?"

"Nothing's gone too wrong yet, but I can't stop thinking about it."

"What are my next best steps?"

“I keep hoping that this will sort itself out, but it doesn’t seem to be.“

If any of that sounds familiar, you're in good company.

The Decelerator Hotline team is here to sit alongside you while you work out what you think, what you need to do, what good might look like, and how you and those around you are doing. Some people come for just one conversation. Others come back to the same Navigator for a year or more. Whatever happens, we're in your corner.

What a relationship with The Decelerator Hotline looks like

Once you sign up, you’ll be paired with one of our Decelerator Navigators, someone with their own experience of organisational endings, who will set up a time to speak with you. Conversations on the Hotline don't follow a script, they are based on what you need. Some people come with specific things to work through, others come just to catch their breath or look at a half-formed thought or hunch in more detail.

Some conversations are one-off. Others unfold over months or years, as an organisation’s situation changes shape.

Calls are usually one-to-one, occasionally with up to two people.

What you can expect from your Navigator

• A confidential space. What you share with us stays between you and your Navigator, so you're free to say things you might not have said anywhere else.

• Time to think. Space to properly work through something you might be carrying alone.

• No shame or blame. We reject simple right-and-wrong framings and hold space for the complexity that endings actually involve. We’re a team of humans, just like you.

• Practical follow-ups. Most callers finish with a few practical next steps, and we'll often follow up by email with resources, relevant examples, and signposts to further support, free or paid, depending on what's useful.

• Signposting to save you time. Where something is beyond what we can offer, we'll point you toward people or organisations who are better placed to help.

A few things people often ask us

• Do you only support closures? No! We support all kinds of endings, not only closures: leadership transitions, programme endings, mergers, insolvencies, organisational refocusing or restructuring … literally any kind of organisational ending is what we’re here for.

• When is the right time to call? Reaching out earlier tends to mean callers and their organisations report feeling that they have more options and more agency further down the line. When people call us at the point of having few or no options left, they tell us they feel less control and agency. So we say: if you’re lingering over this page, you have nothing to lose by giving us a call.

• Will the ending definitely happen because I call The Decelerator? Definitely not! Half the people who contact us about a possible closure haven't closed 12 months on, and 50% haven’t yet and are pursing options like refocusing, merger or bridge funding and transitions. Whatever the outcome, we’re proud that 100% of callers are glad they called, and would recommend the Hotline to a friend.

• Can you provide deeper consultancy support? No. We're not consultants, lawyers or accountants, so we can't give formal advice on insolvency or legal matters, but we’ve pointed many people towards the brilliant people and organisations we know who can provide these things.

• Is it really free? Yes! We are grant funded thus enabling our work to be free at the point of use. We have capacity to take in the region of 25-30 calls a month.

• Things feel very messy, is it too late to call? It's never too late to call. Whatever stage you're at and whatever you're facing, we're here to meet you where you are.