React with Courage to the Unexpected
My employer had just undergone a rightsizing effort to optimize our workforce and strengthen our financial situation. A result of this was that I now had two departments to manage instead of one.
I also had twice the staff. I embraced this challenge with enthusiasm, implementing changes to merge the two departments into one cohesive unit.
On Friday, as I wrapped up the workweek, my boss poked his head into my office and asked if I’d be in town on Saturday.
Unsure of his peculiar question, I nodded.
“I may call you to come into the office for a meeting. Make sure you’re available.” Without further explanation, he left.
I wasn’t sure if I should be worried or excited. On Saturday morning, my phone rang. It was my boss. His tone, more blunt than usual, filled me with apprehension. He summoned me to the office.
Upon arrival, he informed me that our effort at rightsizing fell far short. To stay in business, we needed to slash expenses by the end of the month. The only way to do that was to prune the workforce.
In quick order, he told me three key pieces of information.
First, he gave me the names of five members of my staff I would have to lay off on Monday morning. Next, he gave me three more departments to manage. Third, he told me which of the staff from my new departments would remain. He would lay off the rest.
My assignment was to develop a plan by Monday morning to make everything function and maintain all essential work.
Though sad for my coworkers who would lose their jobs, I dove into the challenge of developing a plan to make everything mesh. By Monday morning I was ready.
Laying off five employees—for no fault of their own—was draining. Yet once that was behind me, I excitedly implemented my planned changes, in a strategically determined order, to bring about the needed structure to move forward.
Although I let go of many secondary efforts, I established a structure to effectively deal with all essential aspects of my five departments without negatively impacting customers.
We were in crisis mode, and I thrived under the challenge.
Though I excel at responding well to major problems as they come up, I’ve often struggled to recognize incremental changes that occur gradually.
What I didn’t see was our company slowly moving out of crisis mode and returning to a more stable situation. But I stayed in crisis mode and didn’t move out of it. It took my boss reassigning me to a different position for me to see my error.
I do, however, credit him for developing a plan to keep the company afloat. And I’m proud of the role I played to help make that happen. I only wish I’d been better able to navigate the aftermath.
At the beginning of my book Sticky Leadership and Management, I mentioned times of my leadership success and times of leadership failure.
In retrospect, I see that most of the times I deem as failures resulted from me not seeing and reacting to the minor shifts that occurred on a day-to-day basis.
Guard against repeating my mistake.
Leadership and Management Success Tip
It’s critical to recognize and react to the monumental changes that inevitably occur in business, as well as the incremental shifts that pop up in every organization and in any job.
Read more in Peter Lyle DeHaan’s book Sticky Leadership and Management, featuring his compelling story-driven insights and tips.
Peter Lyle DeHaan is an entrepreneur and businessman who has managed, owned, and started multiple businesses over his career. Common themes at every turn have included customer service, sales and marketing, and leadership and management.
Peter shares his lifetime of business experience and personal insights through his books to encourage, inspire, and occasionally entertain.