3 Critical Moves to Make Post-Layoff

Are you a leader grappling with the challenge of layoffs? Let us guide you today through this demanding journey. We promise to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of how to navigate through these tough times with transparency and honesty. Learn how to effectively communicate the reasons behind these layoffs and provide essential support to your team.

In the second half of our conversation, we steer towards leading during difficult times. We emphasize the importance of active listening, allowing team members to voice their emotions freely, and reassessing work dynamics. We provide valuable insights for leaders aiming to lead through turbulence and emerge stronger on the other side. Get ready to transform your leadership style and empower your team to face adversity with strength.

In this episode, we discuss the following:
1. The importance of having transparent and honest communication with your team.
2. Allowing your team to express their emotions and concerns.
3. Reassessing the workload and adjusting expectations accordingly after a layoff.

This episode is sponsored by LucidPoint
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CONNECT WITH SUSIE:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/susietomenchok/

CONNECT WITH JAMES:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/capps/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Welcome to the Quick Take podcast, the show where you get targeted advice and coaching for executives by executives. I'm Suzy Tominczuk.

Speaker 2: 0:24

And I'm James Capps. Give us 15 minutes and we'll give you three secrets to address the complex topic of issues that are challenging executives like you today.

Speaker 1: 0:35

Hey, quicksters, it's Quick Take. I'm here, I'm Suzy, with my co-host, james. How are you, james?

Speaker 2: 0:43

I'm fantastic, Suzy. How are you today?

Speaker 1: 0:45

I'm good. I'm good, although, like this has been just a weird time. I've talked to a lot of people about so much with the economy and everything that's happening. There's so many changes within organizations and just got off the phone with an executive who they've gone through a few layoffs this year and he was saying that they're probably facing another, and it made me think what do you do, how do you survive that? And what do you do once it's over?

Speaker 2: 1:14

Yeah, I mean these are challenging conversations. I mean, certainly I've said to numerous folks that I've coached you don't want to work for a company that's good at this. No, that's good Because ultimately it is something that you hope doesn't happen very often. But I think when I think about a reduction in force or eliminating a big group of people, those things happen, whether it's a layoff, or whether you even at just somebody leaves or you have to let somebody go. The good approach is apply across all those scenarios.

Speaker 2: 1:50

I just think when you do something large like this, you have to be a little more thoughtful, because it does impact so many people. When I think about a layoff, I think it's so important that leaders are thoughtful and really consider how they want to respond after the fact. Yeah, certainly we could talk about how you respond or how you deal with it before. We can certainly talk about how you deal with the folks who are getting let go, but I think that the area that I'd like to focus on are really the team that remains and how do you handle that.

Speaker 1: 2:24

Yeah, I think that's good, and sometimes when people have to go through it and they're the leader that's in charge, it feels so emotional because you feel bad. So I don't know if you're going to talk about this, but even shifting into that solution-based move forward and giving yourself that permission to churn the page, if you will.

Speaker 2: 2:49

Well, I think there's two things here. You, as a leader, have to acknowledge that you have a fiduciary responsibility to the firm and to your clients to move forward so that's real. But you also have a human responsibility to your team to manage that too, and I think oftentimes we will sacrifice one or the other. But my recommendation is you have to embrace both. And if you think about it from this point of view, your staff is a diverse group of people, and how they respond to a situation like this is going to be different. Yeah, some are going to need some more.

Speaker 1: 3:25

TLC.

Speaker 2: 3:26

Connection with you?

Speaker 1: 3:27

Yeah, Maybe some more.

Speaker 2: 3:27

Yeah, a little TLC. Yeah, that's a good way to look at it. And some other just want to move on, and so you, as a leader, have to address all those, and I think it's good practice to do so. So if you just acknowledge the fact that you have to do a couple of hard things and move forward, then I think your team will be better off and I think you can move beyond it.

Speaker 1: 3:47

So what you're saying is make some space and decide how much space the team needs to digest or just understand, so that they can Get kind of refocus.

Speaker 2: 4:01

Exactly right, exactly right. Let me jump in. I think the first thing that you have to remember is that you're a leader. Right, you are the leader. And so people are going to look to you during difficult times, and during those difficult times, the only option you have is to be honest and to be transparent. So my first piece of advice is after a laugh, people want to hear we are done.

Speaker 2: 4:25

Yeah nobody else is going and the action has been completed. You need to get people to start focusing on the work and now being concerned about, however, the announcements for being made. You know, and verably, that information is going to run through the company like wildfire, and whether it's through teams or text messages, or you know people getting walked into a certain conference room, everybody will suddenly be on edge, and so you. The first thing you need to do is you need to sit down with the team and say we are done and then explain why the action happened. You know it's absolutely critical that that your team has good talking points and that your leadership comes together to ensure you're all speaking from the same Hemnol, if you will, and so you know that moment of opportunity there for you to be the leader, be transparent and communicate to the team is so important, and that's really got to be the first thing that you do.

Speaker 1: 5:16

Yeah, I think that's so good and being just helping people understand, even if you don't know for sure yeah, what is happening in the next upcoming months. You know that for right now, this is it so yeah, you always.

Speaker 2: 5:31

You always ask you know or we'll get asked are. Will there be layoffs in the future? Yeah you know, of course there will be layoffs in the future.

Speaker 1: 5:38

Yeah, of course.

Speaker 2: 5:39

Well, I can't say that with a hundred percent certainty, but 98% of the companies will do some sort of layoff in the Future of a thousand years. So, ultimately, a leader is gonna say look, I can't Promise you anything. I can tell you this activity, that this action is complete, and so I think so you need to get that on the table. So the first thing you want to do is you want to be clear, you want to be transparent and you want to communicate to the team the current status.

Speaker 1: 6:02

Yeah, and then how long do you let them stay there, like do you let them ask a lot of questions or am I jumping ahead?

Speaker 2: 6:09

No, no, you're absolutely dead on, and I think that that Communication is tight, it's short and it's clear. But then the second one is you have to flip the coin and start listening you have to allow them the opportunity to be emotional.

Speaker 2: 6:20

You have to let them go through their process. So it's exactly as you described Everybody's gonna go through that on their own, in their own way. Some will want to bring it up in a meeting and be very frustrated. Some will be once someone on one time with you. But this is where you have to be just a listener. You have to allow them the opportunity to process, process this situation. So you've given them all the information you have and then you let you to let them go through that kind of conversation. You know some of it's gonna be rational, some of it's gonna be irrational, some will blame have blame that they're pointing at but at the end of the day, you know your job is to ensure that they get the opportunity to process this, because that's that's what a good leader.

Speaker 1: 7:00

You know, it's interesting as I flash back to times years ago. I think it was not done that way. I think it was like announced don't ask any questions, move on. And then what happened was that just creates so much anxiety? And then the rumor mill and all the talk. So, like Giving that space for people to be able to process Eliminates or doesn't eliminate, decreases the amount of kind of the chatter, the noise.

Speaker 2: 7:31

Right, and I think it. You know. You know, in a lot of cases, you know you this, this situation that was standing. We have talked at length about how you create and a Safe place for people to work people, for them to feel comfortable. They're wanting to be part of the, the organization, and this is just part and parcel of that. You know, if this is the, this should not be the first or only time you listen to your folks. This should feel like a Something that you've done in the past. Yeah, things, projects don't go well. Maybe you know, uh, somebody has resigned, though you know you need to. You're always going to be doing things and having ceremonies, if you will, to Listen to your folks. This should just feel like that. Yeah, and so you know, this is one of those things. You certainly are setting the foundation throughout the, you know In the, throughout the year, or, or you know, previous to the layoff perhaps, but it is key for them to understand that you're there and you're supporting them.

Speaker 1: 8:31

Yeah, and it makes me think and if you're sitting here thinking I already do that, good for you. That and that should become an automatic thing that you do in, like you said in, anything that happens in any transition is Making that space for others so that they feel heard you. That's the key.

Speaker 2: 8:48

Absolutely, and I think that, especially in a way off or a riff, this is hard right. This is where you, as a leader, are going to be emotionally vulnerable and you're going to have to hear and listen to people being uncomfortable. This is something that's often overlooked and avoided. You know, I've heard stories of leaders that go in and say that the way off is complete, and then they close their door or they just they disappear. And this is the opportunity. This is the moment in which you can continue to build on a difficult situation you know as hard as it is. You know never let a good crisis go to waste and this is a time in which you can really bring your team together.

Speaker 1: 9:31

That's such a James Never let a good crisis go to waste. What's a third?

Speaker 2: 9:39

You know. I think the third one really is builds on that a little bit of this. You need to reassess the work, right? That's pretty good that you know. If you've been impacted, that then things are going to change. And just to simply to say look everybody, now we're going to figure it out, let's just keep the work going. Look, as a leader. I think it's important for us to put a strategy together to figure out how we're going to respond.

Speaker 2: 10:02

If it's a large reduction in force, you just simply can't don't have the same capacity. And even if there isn't a broader strategy was in the firm to address a decreased in capacity, you need to have an honest dialogue with your team to make sure that they feel like they're heard. There is nothing more insidious that will undermine your team's ability to be successful than not addressing the fact that now you have five, 10, 15% less people. And if you don't talk about this, they will find a way to talk about this amongst themselves and it will result in poor morale, poor performance, poor throughput. It will be an issue Now you may not have a solution and it may end up being simply as simple as we have to suck it up and move on, but having the dialogue, talking about the micro adjustments you have to make, talking about the realities of it, is super important and I think if you don't have that conversation with your people, you're really going to undermine your relationship.

Speaker 1: 10:59

What about having kind of your plan half baked and say, or maybe fully baked, but you say this is what I'm thinking about, this is what I, as I've quickly assessed how we're going to level up to handle this or respond. This is what I'm thinking. What do you think? What do you think about that approach?

Speaker 2: 11:21

I think it's super important. If you're going to do a layoff and you're behind closed doors early on, you should already be talking about the implications. If we're going to eliminate these three people, these 10 people to this office whatever the number is you need to know and go in at the boardroom table to say this is what's not going to get done, or these are the implications of doing so. So you probably have a plan. But boy, your point is so good that if you can engage the folks in the dialogue after the fact, that's super important. One thing we don't talk about and didn't discuss upfront is really survivors remorse, and that is such a real thing the folks that are still behind are going to have. They will have guilt, they will feel bad. They know the people who have been let go or eliminated. They know them personally and they're going to be thinking about that. So engaging them in the solutioning, engaging them in the conversation after the fact, is a really good way of helping them process.

Speaker 1: 12:18

It made me also think that those emotions could be high for you too. You might be thinking about all the context of what that means for that person, and so that having a plan and even thinking about how you're going to say it is really important so that you don't get off track or you don't make it. You know, put gas on the fire if you will.

Speaker 2: 12:40

Yeah, yeah, I think for you know this kind of a situation, it's great to say like there's three bullets that I want to talk about. You know, immediately after and hit these three things, it is easy for you know if you haven't done a lot of layoffs or you you're you're. This is an emotionally charged situation. You know that's when things go awry. That's when we say stuff that we don't mean or we have to clean up later. You know this is not the time to throw the company under the bus. This is not the time to throw your boss under the bus. This is the time to rally the troops and help them come together as a team to deal with an adverse situation. So yeah, emotions are high, but I think, as you can engage people to keep them involved and help them be part of the solution, I think you can move through.

Speaker 1: 13:21

I think that's really great and they need you to do that, so that's how they need you Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 13:28

And leadership is super important and you know this is where it, when, when stress behaviors happen, when people are, you know you're going to be in a situation where you Not at the you know feeling in a difficult place. This is when people are really lean on leadership.

Speaker 1: 13:41

That's fair. All right, tell us the three.

Speaker 2: 13:45

Number one. You know, open with transparency and honesty. Be clear and communicate to the team what's going on and when it's starting, when it's ending. Tell them everything. You know that that's going to pay you dividends. And then, second, listen. Allow them the opportunity to communicate with you what they're feeling, how they're feeling. You never know exactly where they're going to be coming from. The way they're feeling on the table is healthy for them and may allow you to solve some problems that you didn't see were coming. And then, third, engage with them on the way that you're doing the work. Assess the outcomes and the results of that, of this layoff, and determine what kind of work does need to get done. Be creative. Maybe adjust the organ a little bit, maybe move some people around, maybe use this as an opportunity to elevate some people or to break up some legacy organizational structures that no longer fit. As I said, never let a good crisis go to waste.

Speaker 1: 14:40

Yeah, and get that by end. That's good. Have a plan, don't just let it happen and show up.

Speaker 2: 14:48

Yeah, this is one of those cases where plans are worthless. But planning is essential and I think you got to go into it with some conversation.

Speaker 1: 14:57

You dropped another one. People are going to have to have a pencil when they listen to this.

Speaker 2: 15:01

Well, that's not mine.

Speaker 1: 15:01

I think that's Eisenhower's Not fair, but still you're dropping them.

Speaker 2: 15:06

Okay, I got it.

Speaker 1: 15:06

Well, thanks for being. Thank you, james, that was really helpful. Thank you, quicksters, for being here with us. James and I are both on LinkedIn. We'd love to hear from you. Let us know what's on your mind. We just love to hear from our community. So, thanks for being here and until next time, just know that we appreciate you. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Quick Take, where we talk about the questions that are on the minds of executives everywhere. Connect with us and share what's on your mind.

Speaker 2: 15:37

You can find us on LinkedIn, youtube or whatever nerdy place on the internet. You find your podcasts. All the links you really did are in the show notes.