Leading Through Layoffs
One of the things that I’ve least thought of in my career is my layoff experience, both as being the layoff-ee and the layoff-er. I guess I’ve blocked out these relatively painful experiences.
But the more I thought about it, the more I felt that sharing my experience might be helpful to some of you. So, here goes…
How to Survive a Layoff
First, please don’t take any of the below advice as negating the impact of the layoff on you and your loved ones. Each layoff situation is unique, so I don’t want to share things that minimize your experience. On the other hand, I do want to share some of my learnings in the hope that a few might resonate with you and be helpful.
1. Negotiate and take stock of your financial situation, budget & minimize
a. Stop! Do this right now. Even if you’re not laid off yet, you should have a financial plan and be building your emergency fund. No excuses. You need to have a buffer. And, if or when you get laid off, try to negotiate as much severance as possible to add to your buffer.
2. Reflect, pause, and recharge
a. I think many folks overreact and immediately begin their job search while still in a state of shock or exhaustion. Instead, stop, take stock of things, reflect, and recharge yourself. It could be a day, a week, or more, but don’t short-shrift your self-care battery at this important time.
3. Resume prep
a. While not a strength of mine, full disclosure I haven’t updated my resume since 2013, I do think getting some advice on writing / editing your resume is prudent. Keep in mind that there are many rip-offs, so chose your advisor carefully. You might want to engage a career coach if you think a potential pivot might be in your future.
4. DEI and Age Discrimination
a. Don’t be naïve, DEI, Age, and other discrimination is a real thing nowadays. Particularly with automated and AI driven recruiting methods. Do your best to remove risky information from your resume and application efforts. I’m not telling you to lie, but I am saying be aware and careful.
5. Looking for work is NOT your fulltime job
a. I here this all the time, that job hunting, particularly in this job market, is my full-time job. And that not a bad approach. But see #2, and reserve time for networking, collaboration, and learning.
6. Self-Care
a. See #2 and #5. You need to take care of YOU first! Yes, first!
7. Developing Your Brand and your Network
a. If you haven’t been developing a clear persona, brand, and network, then use this event as a jump-start to do just that. Quickly! And, when you get a job, please don’t stop it. Keep it up until you retire.
8. Patience
a. I talk to so many colleagues out of work who are frustrated, afraid, and impatient. Remember, it’s an incredibly tough market and you’ll need to be very patient. Also remember, it’s not you, it’s the market!
9. Help others
a. I’ve probably saved the most important for last. You’ll probably find it counterintuitive, but helping others in your network and collaborative circles is one of the best ways to find work. I think the universe acknowledges these selfless acts and rewards you for them. Also see #7.
Here’s a link to one of my own layoff stories.
Here are a few more links to survival guidance—
Leaders: How to manage and survive a layoff
I’ve found that most leaders mentally minimize the impact of layoffs. I think it’s essentially a defense mechanism to avoid confronting a challenging experience.
But minimization or avoidance is not the way to handle layoff situations. It requires courage, thoughtfulness, balance, empathy, and, dare I say it, leadership to navigate a layoff successfully.
Even if you’re part of the layoff, consider the following. Don’t allow your personal feelings to color your decision-making and actions.
Making the Decision
Be unbiased and fair. Check your biases and check again.
Look for alternatives. There are always alternatives.
Just the facts, but performance and skill intangibles do matter.
Don’t be forced/influenced by others! You must live with your decisions.
Sleep on it.
Look for alternatives!
Note: Layoffs should not be about removing underperformers, as 90% of the time, you should have handled that before your layoff decision.
Having the Conversation
If possible, it should be in person, face-to-face.
Have a script but ensure its genuine and humane. Don’t make it about you, ever!
Express gratitude for their service.
HR should have a clear package available. Understand the need to negotiate and support it.
Extend trust in exiting (packing up their things, shutting down their systems).
Job search support (personal offer to serve as a reference and resource).
Leading through it
Personal reflection, navigating your own feelings.
Celebrate laid off colleague contributions.
Help everyone navigate their stages of grief.
Navigating Survivors Guilt (see below).
Don’t try to do more with less, instead prioritize!
Establish a new horizon for yourself and everyone.
Survivor Guilt
FEAR of Being NEXT
You really need to tackle the elephant in the room after a layoff and that’s—
Am I next?
While you can’t see into the future and can’t commit to avoiding more layoffs, you can lead folks into a future place that is safer than their fear. In fact, you must lead them there.
This is why #4 and #6 above are so important. But first, you must navigate these for yourself before you try to lead others through it. Navigating your own grief is incredibly important. It will give you the context and empathy to help others with theirs.
Another part of the exercise is to build a better more valuable future for your team. I prefer to co-create the future with them. Looking at missteps and mistakes you’ve made and then chart a future where you emerge from the layoff and the mistakes with a view towards a new, more valuable and more impactful tomorrow.
I guess what I’m saying is we have a responsibility as leaders to lead ourselves and our teams through the change, the business and personal impacts, to something…else. Coming out the other side better than we were.
I hope you found this experiential share useful in some way.
Stay agile, my friends,
Bob.
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