Path to Change

Leading and Layoffs

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Many leaders are forced to make difficult decisions that negatively affect people they care about. No one likes to lay people off or cut back resources, creating more work and stress. All of this comes at a great emotional cost.

It’s often said that true leaders emerge during times of crisis. Company leaders have a lot riding on how they respond. These days all eyes are on them. Everything they do and say is scrutinized. Workers are paying attention to every nuance trying to figure out “what’s really going on.”

Unfortunately, few company leaders are actually communicating. A recent national survey showed that 71 percent of those surveyed felt that their company’s leadership should be communicating more about current economic problems, and 54 percent have not heard from company leaders at all on the impact of the financial crisis on their company.

American workers are naturally feeling unsure and anxious during this economic downturn. We look to our workplace leaders for cues about how we should be responding. Silence is a response — but not an effective one.

What can leaders do?

  • Communicate frequently with the 3 C’s: clearly, credibly and candidly. During a crisis, communication is more important than ever. Ambiguity and uncertainty equate to stress. If you go silent, people will make up their own stories about what’s really going on with you and the company. Rumors often generate negativity and fan the flames of fear and anxiety.
  • Keep connected. Manage by walking around. You can’t afford during times like these not to know what’s really going on. Be diligent in seeking out information, even the bad news. It’s a mistake during a crisis to hide out in your office with the door closed. Nervous followers need comfort and reassurance from their leaders. Be visible and keep checking in with all levels of staff to see how people are doing.
  • Ask yourself, “What kind of emotional wake do I want to leave behind me today?” The emotions of a leader are highly contagious, so work hard to manage your own anxiety. No one will affect the overall workplace mood and morale more than a senior leader. Be mindful that any negative comments or tone will carry impact. If you show up like a cat on a hot tin roof, your anxiety will spread like a wildfire. Manage your own anxiety by developing a “self-soothing strategy” you can rely on. Find someone you can vent to safely, such as a trusted outside adviser or coach who also can offer an objective perspective.
  • Pay attention to task and people; be alert to their emotions. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking all is well or that your people will simply need to “deal with it.” Develop a proactive plan to recognize, identify and deal with current challenges and emotions in the workplace. Set time aside in team meetings to allow people to vent and talk about their anxieties and challenges. Listen and acknowledge what you hear them saying.
  • Be the anchor in the storm; display calm confidence and optimism. Model what you want from your team. This is your golden opportunity to truly lead by example and live your values.
  • Keep your team focused. Identify the single most important priority goal that everyone needs to commit to in order to weather the storm. Make sure everyone understands it and is clear what their part will be — their action item(s) in helping the team achieve it. Let them know there will be no tolerance for the “it’s not my job” syndrome for this goal! Create a measurable scoreboard for the goal, review it at every team meeting and recognize/celebrate critical milestones.
  • Engage hearts and minds (particularly your top performers’) to increase productivity. Facilitate a session to get all hands on deck. Bring the team or company together to brainstorm creative solutions for the game plan. Focus on core strengths and values, company vision and how to keep customer confidence high.
  • Stay the course. Reinforce the plan with follow-up, recognition, redefining expectations and adequate resource support for weathering the storm. Retaining your top talent during slow growth will be challenging — they get restless. Work to keep them engaged, well supported and rewarded. On that note, everyone’s extra effort should be noted and recognized.

#1 Leadership Mistake: Silence

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THESE ARE ANXIOUS times in the American workplace. Retailers had the worst Christmas season in decades, long-standing companies are closing their doors, workers are being laid off by the thousands and cutbacks are far and wide. Needless to say, tensions are running high everywhere. There is a lot of fear of the unknown; workers are literally worried sick. How to deal with all of this anxiety is a timely topic worthy of exploration.

In small doses, anxiety can be a useful emotion. It helps alert us to danger and can spark us into taking needed action. But when anxiety is chronic and hinders us (driving negative behavior or paralyzing us), it’s time to address it.

Wise leaders understand that emotions are contagious. Anxiety left unchecked can spread like wildfire in today’s environment. Companies and senior managers need to take a proactive approach to managing anxiety or risk it paralyzing their work force.

Here are a few coach’s tips to address and reduce workplace anxiety:

  • Discuss relevant matters openly and appropriately. Bring your team together to talk about their stress and emotions. Tell them what is going on; give as much information as possible. The worst thing senior leaders can do during these turbulent difficult times is to go silent. Communicate often. Discuss how the organization plans to get through the tough times ahead, letting individuals know how they can contribute.
  • Foster an environment that promotes fairness, compassion and transparency. People are in turmoil — to ignore this is ill advised. This is a time to be available if you are a leader; listen well and acknowledge the concerns of staff. Caring about the emotional health of employees is important. Leaders can’t afford to be oblivious to what is going on with their people emotionally — it results in collective distress, which leads to poor performance. Recognize when workers are “flooded” (overwhelmed by their emotions in a fight-or-flight reptilian brain response) and allow them time and space to recover.
  • Keep your people connected (and I don’t mean electronically). It’s not healthy for people to hide out in cubicles struggling to concentrate day after day. We need human-to-human contact. It helps soothe anxiety and fear. Research shows that positive human contact reduces stress hormones. People in pain are helped when others reach out to them (allowing them to function more effectively again). Allowing time for employees to share human emotions and feelings is not only good for business — it’s being a good human being.
  • Leaders’ emotions are particularly contagious, so managing anxiety is important. People look to their leaders for cues about how they should respond. How leaders “show up” emotionally can have a huge impact (positively or negatively) on an entire team or organization. Leaders can’t help their people manage their emotions unless they first manage their own behaviors.
  • Develop self-soothing methods. There are numerous techniques that can help — tightening and then relaxing muscles, awareness of breath (slowing it down), deep cleansing breaths, meditation, listening to classical music or talking a walk around the block. All can help you feel more centered and calm.
  • Dig yourself out. Reduce physical and electronic clutter — it adds to anxiety and drains energy. Find a workable system to track e-mails and filing. Clear time in your day to organize, prioritize and plan.
  • Learn to notice and track your anxiety. One in 10 people are prone to anxiety disorders (get professional help if this is you!). It can be helpful to track and record in a journal or matrix what triggers anxiety for you. See if by keeping track over time you notice any patterns. Identifying the negative internal tapes that accompany anxiety can be helpful in getting rid of them. Practice noticing the thought pattern and letting it go or “shooting” your automatic internal critic.

Invest in your people with skill development, coaching support and training. Given the extreme stress levels in today’s workplace, this is a prime time to offer staff or management conflict resolution, emotional intelligence and/or communication training. There are learnable skills, techniques and tools that I train that can help your people work through differences more effectively in today’s turbulent, uncertain environment.  Call today for help:  360 682 5807

Leaders can help layoff survivors

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When forced to layoff staff, workplace team leaders are faced with many significant challenges, not the least of which is raising morale and worker engagement during unprecedented bad times. Workplace layoff survivors are commonly angry, feeling powerless, overwhelmed and highly stressed. Those left behind are being asked to do more with less and are distracted by the flood of bad news and job security fears. Perks are going by the wayside, and the pressure to produce has never been higher.

Understandably, employee engagement and morale are difficult to cultivate in this environment. Research confirms that following layoffs, survivors report higher levels of distrust and lower levels of motivation and engagement. The result? Absenteeism goes up and productivity goes down. Few businesses can afford this now.

How do you keep survivors motivated and engaged?

  • Console your team and foster healing. Allow them time and support to talk about their emotions and frustrations. When they do, cast aside any judgments you may have and listen simply to “understand” them. Demonstrate empathy for those in pain during these difficult times. Leaders who try to push past this without allowing time and healing with their people are making a mistake.
  • Work to rebuild trust. Teams simply can’t operate optimally without trust. Trust is enhanced when leaders demonstrate concern and act with integrity. Trust is also fostered by being transparent and talking straight about reality. Be courageous in front of your team by asking for help, or admit, “I was wrong,” if applicable. There is expert help available to help you and your team get through this difficult time.
  • Reassign roles and responsibilities to remaining workers carefully. In my coaching experience, most leaders don’t pay enough attention upfront to clarifying expectations and role changes. Focus on quantifying and clarifying things such as how much time should be required and what “quality” and “success” look like. There may be noncritical tasks or assignments that will need to be let go. Helping your team prioritize the new workload is important. Each team member should understand how the work he or she does contributes to company or team objectives.
  • Be realistic and support with resources. Some employees will require additional training, coaching and direction to be successful.
  • Provide leadership. Check in with team members to see if they need more support or clarification about who is doing what, when. Make believers of your team that “we’re all in this together.” Communicate that success or failure will be determined by how the team responds under pressure. Reinforce that all hands on deck are required.
  • Acknowledge small wins. Celebrate any success to keep morale up. One Gallup survey reported that 60 percent of American workers report getting no praise or recognition in their workplaces. This isn’t OK. Recognition doesn’t have to be huge bonuses. Small rewards can work — relief from repetitive tasks, pizza parties, an extra day off, etc. The idea here is to foster a team or workplace culture of appreciation, not fear. Leaders who demonstrate they care and appreciate their workers’ efforts will be rewarded with performance.
  • Facilitate teamwork and collaboration. It’s up to the leader to provide an environment that supports and encourages input from everyone for healthy dialogue and debate. Done well, this process will surface tough problems and better solutions.

Again, there is help out there for this. Expert facilitators can help managers and teams with practical problem-solving techniques and approaches that foster collaboration and creativity.

  • Consider doing it differently. It may be useful for your team to re-examine how work is being done and whether it should be done in this environment. This is a good time to look at alternative ways of work system design and prioritization.
  • Use humor, even to poke fun at what’s lousy. One leader recently joked to his senior management team, “The good news is that our building is up to the latest ADA standards and has complete wheelchair access. I figure it will be handy when we’re still working here in our 90s.”

Perspective is in the mind of the beholder and attitude is often the key. Sometimes it helps to remind yourself, and those alongside you, that thirst is quenched from the half of the cup that is full. Be thankful for simple blessings, including jobs and wheelchair ramps.

Job loss top stress

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Layoffs are a traumatic event for those losing jobs.

The personal impact of losing a job is significant. According to the Holmes Social Adjustment Scale, losing a job is ranked as a top stress in someone’s life. Losing a job often means a loss of income, security, a community and a sense of identity.

We grieve the loss of a job like we grieve other human losses. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ classic work on death and dying explains how grief happens in stages:

Denial: “This can’t be happening.”

Anger: “Damn those greedy Wall Street fat cats.”

Bargaining: “If only the market would just stabilize.”

Depression: “I’m a failure.”

Acceptance: “I need to plan for my future.”

No matter what stage you find yourself in, remember these stages are normal, and grieving a loss is a process. What becomes problematic is when people get stuck in one of the stages before acceptance and lose hope, direction and confidence.

What should you do after a layoff?

  • Give yourself permission to grieve. Getting a pink slip, no matter the circumstances, is a traumatic and life-changing event. Feeling pain, fear, uncertainty and loss is normal. It’s important to find someone you can talk to about how you are feeling. Take some time — but not too much — to regroup and recharge. You can’t afford to get “stuck.” If you do, seek professional help.
  • Be kind to yourself. Don’t take it personally or internalize losing your job as part of layoff as a failure on your part. This isn’t about you; it’s about the economy and bottom-line business.

For those with pending layoffs:

  • Get your ducks in a row before you leave. Complete all required HR paperwork and investigate your options regarding stock, vacation or time-off pay and insurance. Collect any money (such as expense reports) the company owes you. Gather references while you still have easy access to your colleagues, co-workers and boss. Create a database of everyone you know and who knows your work. Don’t burn any bridges — it’s a small networking world out there.
  • Update your resume and highlight results and accomplishments. Run your resume by your current boss or co-workers to make sure you haven’t overlooked anything. While you still have a job, gather representative samples of your work. Hiring managers want to see concrete examples of what you can do. PowerPoint presentations, company collateral or reports you have created will be good to share in job interviews.
  • Consider a career change. Your job loss may be an opportunity in disguise. Change, though difficult, is often when we grow the most. Markets, industry, technology and yes, you — all change. Take time to re-evaluate your passions, core values and what matters to you. Identify what you really love to do, activities that energize you vs. those that “drain” you. Career coaches can help you explore how your interests, abilities and experience may fit in other industries or positions and move forward. Perhaps this is your time to go back to school or upgrade your skills to move into another industry or position.
  • Develop resilience. Accept change as a natural part of your career life rather than allowing it to derail or deplete you. Job security is a thing of the past. You remain a capable, competent worker. Remember, the economy has cycles and life has peaks and valleys. What matters to your surviving and thriving is how you respond.
  • Explore possibilities about what you can create in the next chapter of your career. Spend time getting clear about your vision of what you want to achieve. Be proactive and identify opportunities to grow. Scott Peck, author of “The Road Less Traveled” offers this: “It is only because of problems that we grow mentally and spiritually. It is through the pain of confronting and resolving problems that we learn.”

Management During Hard Times

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LEADERS FACE huge challenges during layoffs. One of the greatest is trying to figure out how to keep human capital loyal, engaged and inspired during a climate of layoffs and declining pay raises.

A survey from the Center for Work Life Policy of 1,500 high-income workers indicates that trust and loyalty levels are hitting new lows. Only slightly more than half of those surveyed felt “loyal” to their company and nearly two-thirds said they felt “demotivated” at work.

The pace, pressure and complexity of work has increased dramatically. Meeting the productivity and profitability demands of today’s economic reality will require teamwork and collaboration. Research shows that teams of four or five people can think of more ideas and better solutions to problems together than the same individuals working alone. Unfortunately, these days many employees are focused on self-preservation, which can be the death of the “team.” Getting everyone rowing in the same direction will be a huge competitive advantage in this economic crisis.

What can managers do to improve team engagement and motivation during times of adversity?

  • Walk your leader “talk” or risk losing respect and loyalty. Demonstrate how you are sacrificing if you expect your people to do the same. The best example of what can happen when leaders don’t: The congressional and public outrage that followed the CEOs of the Big Three automakers arriving in Washington on their corporate jets to plead for bailout money. Hardly a demonstration of personal sacrifice. Actions always speak louder than words.
  • Treat employees like the adults they are. Don’t sugarcoat bad news or use phony management-speak. Share information and be transparent about how you or the company are making tough decisions.
  • Call your team to bold action. Identify what’s at stake, what’s in it for them and the need for “everyone’s head in the game.” Motivate and engage workers by involving them in the problem-solving process to surface new ideas, test assumptions and build a solid plan. In the end, they will be more committed to their part of the action plan.
  • Foster community. Humans need connection to make it through and make sense of difficult times. Give people opportunities to share experiences and their concerns. The expression of emotions can foster support for one another. It allows people to see how others are having similar experiences (“We’re in this together”) and can clear the air. (The danger for dysfunctional behavior is high when emotions are driven underground.)
  • Help your team learn to work better together. Bring in a facilitator to drive more honest, healthy debate in meetings and improve problem solving. The stress of today’s workplaces necessitate that workers learn how to resolve differences and communicate more effectively with one another. For workplaces, the skill of giving and receiving feedback should be as fundamental as computer skills. Yet few employees know how to do it. The good news: There are professionals who can help your team learn new critical skills.
  • Demonstrate respect. We all want to feel valued. How management treats workers is critical to whether or not employees will be engaged, loyal and motivated. Telling employees they are “lucky to have a job” sends the wrong message. Instead, send the message that the company is lucky to have such talented and committed workers to get the company through hard times! Leaders need both employees’ hearts and minds in the game to win.
  • To keep A-list players motivated, maintain training or coaching programs targeted to management or leadership development. Cutting these programs sends a message that there are no longer long-term career opportunities, leaving the business vulnerable to having stars picked off by competitors.