Navigating Loss Without Losing Momentum

By Rebecca Contreras, CEO, AvantGarde

The start of a new year invites reflection - on what we’ve experienced, what we’ve learned, and what we choose to carry forward. In business, January often comes with renewed energy and optimism. But leadership requires honesty and transparency: a new calendar year does not erase the realities of the loss that we sustained in 2025.

For many organizations serving in Government, including AvantGarde, 2025 was marked by monumental challenges, setbacks, and loss. We navigated contract cancellations in Q1 driven by shifting federal priorities, endured the longest federal shutdown in modern history that forced us to lay off half of our team, and faced difficult decisions that tested our resilience as a company. These moments were not abstract - they had real impacts on our people, our operations, and our plans.

Loss, in business and in life, is not an exception. It is inevitable. What defines organizations is not the presence of loss, but how leaders and the people that serve respond to it.  Authentic, transparent posture through the loss is revealed.

The Risk of Mishandling Loss in Leadership

When loss is not navigated intentionally, it can quietly reshape organizational culture and leadership posture. Common responses include avoidance, complacency, or short-term decision-making that sacrifices long-term vision.

Loss itself is not the greatest risk. The risk lies in allowing disruption to dictate direction, fracture trust, or stall progress. Strong leadership requires acknowledging impact while maintaining clarity, discipline, emotional health and forward momentum.

A Leadership Framework for Navigating Loss

Acknowledge the Impact and Create Space to Pause

In fast-moving environments, pausing can feel counterintuitive. Yet it is one of the most critical leadership tools during periods of unplanned disruption.

A pause allows leaders to assess facts, regulate emotion, and avoid reactive decision-making. It creates space for perspective, alignment, and recalibration. Pausing is not stagnation - it is preparation for a more deliberate next step.

For organizations, this means slowing long enough to sit in the moment of change, understand what has changed, what remains within our control, and where strategic adjustments and pivots are required.

• Focus Relentlessly on What You Can Control

Periods of loss often strip away certainty. Contracts end. Timelines shift. External forces override internal planning. What remains constant is our leadership posture in it.

Effective leaders distinguish between what cannot be changed and what can still be shaped: mindset, priorities, investment decisions, and culture. Even in disruption, organizations retain the ability to make progress - if that progress is intentional.

At AvantGarde, this principle guided our continued commitment to our authored 2025 Pivot Plan, even during a difficult year.

• Advancing the Pivot Plan Through a Challenging Year

The purpose of developing AvantGarde’s Pivot Plan early in Q1 of 2025 was to own and get in the driver’s seat of our destiny to ensure long-term resilience and relevance - especially in an evolving and fast-changing federal and state marketplace. While 2025 presented real headwinds, it also reinforced why this plan matters.

Our Pivot Plan remains anchored in three core goals:

1. Expanding & Diversifying Market Presence and Growth

2. Improvements in AvantGarde’s Infrastructure

3. Embracing AI and Automation Responsibly

Despite the challenges of the year, we made measurable progress across all three areas.

We advanced our market expansion strategy through a refreshed brand identity that more clearly reflects who we are today and where we are headed. We are thankful to Zilker Media in Austin, Texas who supported our HQ team in the development of the new AvantGarde Brand strategy. We also successfully secured a new vehicle statewide contract in Florida, marking an important step in diversifying our footprint beyond our traditional federal government base.

Internally, we continued strengthening AG’s infrastructure - laying groundwork that supports scalability, operational discipline, and long-term sustainability.

In parallel, we took deliberate steps toward embracing AI and automation responsibly, developing an internal AI Policy and Training Plan that prioritizes ethical use, workforce readiness, and alignment with client needs. These efforts are not about technology for technology’s sake - they are about equipping our teams to work smarter, protect trust, and remain competitive in a rapidly changing environment.

Progress during loss may look different than progress during periods of growth - but it is progress, nonetheless.

• Staying Connected to People and Purpose

Loss can create isolation if leaders are not intentional. Strong organizations do the opposite: they lean into connection and collaboration through it all.

This includes staying closely aligned with leadership teams, supporting employees through uncertainty, and maintaining transparency during difficult decisions. Relationships preserve trust, reinforce accountability, and sustain momentum when conditions are challenging.

At AvantGarde, our ability to navigate 2025 with integrity was directly tied to the strength of our people and our shared commitment to one another.

• Sustaining Leadership Through Disruption

Navigating loss requires attention not only to strategy, but to sustainability - mental, physical, and emotional. Leaders who prioritize resilience are better equipped to make sound decisions and guide organizations through uncertainty.

Small, consistent practices - reflection, structure, movement, and intentional routines - help leaders maintain clarity and avoid emotional reactivity. These are not personal preferences; they are leadership disciplines.

Closing: Don’t Let a Chapter Define the Story

Every challenging season is a chapter - not the full story. Organizations recover. Teams rebuild. Momentum returns when leaders remain anchored in purpose and disciplined in action.

Loss is inevitable in business. But allowing yourself to be defined by it is a choice.

With intention, clarity, and resilience, organizations can navigate disruption without losing themselves - and emerge stronger, wiser, and better prepared for what comes next.

As we begin a new year, we choose to get into the driver’s seat of mapping out our new norm and future.  We look forward to rebuilding in 2026!

To learn more about AG’s capabilities and experience, visit avantgarde4usa.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.