Leadership and Redundancies

I am not going to sugar-coat it: redundancies are hard for both parties. Or at least they should be.

I'm a bit of a subject matter expert in this area as I have been in the role of finding people redundant and I have also been the one being found involuntarily redundant and it's one of the most telling times in leadership; a true reveal of the leadership style and priorities. Hopefully, the following tips will be useful to those on both sides of the table.

For the Leader Communicating the Redundancy

The first thing you need to know is that there will most likely be emotion. If you have never been found redundant yourself, I strongly urge you to spend some time using cognitive empathy before you break the news: people are losing something quite important and they are being forced to re-evaluate their self-worth. For those who prize "fairness" as a personal value, it will shake their world view. It is painful.

Secondly, you and your leadership team should do everything in your power to remove bias from your decision-making by using:

• The immediate strategy and tactics as a "true north" for assessing what skills are needed

• A new skills matrix for all the skills that will be required to execute the new reality

• The past year's performance and coaching documentation for each employee being evaluated

• The perspective of other leaders.

Things I would not advise:

• Talking about how hard this is for you and how much you are suffering (even though you might be). This can be percieved as selfish and disingenuous.

• Talking about how great this is going to be for them. Unless you are George Clooney in "Up In the Air", this tactic is used too soon. I refer to the Kubler-Ross grieving model.

• Making promises you do not have the power to keep.

For Those Found Redundant

I again refer to the Kubler-Ross model of grieving above. You need to build a toolkit of behaviours and resources to assist you through the mourning process:

• A network of individuals outside of the organisation to stay in frequent contact with; literally schedule quick chats and texts to stay connected.

• Use your organisation's EAP (employee assistance program) to speak to a counsellor to assist with some personal strategies for keeping mentally fit

• Consider speaking to your GP about your emotional state and/or contact Lifeline if your thoughts involve self harm

• Ask for references while you are still "warm" in people's memories and document these

• Consider making a list each day of items that feed your body, mind and spirit

• Also consider journaling your reflections each day or using an app like Daylio to stay aware of your moods

• Take advantage of free courses offered online in topics that you enjoy

• Reflect on how you have overcome other challenges in your life; what could you use now that worked in the past?

• Do nice things for other people; it feels good and is most often free to do.

Summary

Job losses are hard. For leaders, how you handle this now will define your leadership legacy. For those losing their job, take ownership of the situation and take care of yourself. As my Mom used to say, "Nothing bad lasts forever". #leadership #redundancies #workplace #legacy