“REDUNDANCY” how to SURVIVE it and SUCCEED

APOLOGIES

I have no excuse as to why it has taken me so long to do my next post, and now that is out of the way; my next post.

Last month my previous employer decided to let me go from his organisation for whom I had been working for four years . For me four years is the longest time I have ever worked for one organisation (other than my own start ups) and it’s funny but as you get older the more you resist change, and yet the more certain it is to happen.

For me it wasn’t a bolt out of the blue as I had had several discussions with the owner over the last few months which put me in the powerful position of knowing what was likely to happen. I realise it is a totally different experience to be told one morning “Pack your things security will show you out”, but this leads me to my first SURVIVAL tip…..

UNDERSTAND WHO YOU WORK FOR

It is the duty of every employed person to understand the organisation, business, department, whoever you work for, as this knowledge is the key to step one to your survival success. It is not all right to take no interest in the business for whom you work no matter what your position is. What I am suggesting is that you study your companies Annual Reports, read the paper to see who is buying out whom in your industry, take an interest in who gets appointed as the new CIO, CEO CFO, as that is often an indication as to the new direction the company will take.

For to long people have turned up for work just concerned with their tasks at hand and not interested in doing anything other than their allotted job and often are totally shocked when their company gets bought out by a rival or work suddenly gets outsourced to another country. Nothing happens in a vacuum so stay alert and be interested in who you work for, in fact  you also might actually ……

LEARN SOMETHING NEW

And LEARNING SOMETHING NEW is a key to both survival and success as organisations and businesses look to reduce costs, increase profits, merge, develop strategic partners, share common capabilities, so the job descriptions change. I am sure many people have looked back at their job description and realise how different it is to what they actually do, especially as the work force shrinks and the business demands grow. So people need to look at the direction their position is taking and start learning what that might mean for their next position. The newspaper industry is a classic example of people not understanding how technology was revolutionising their industry and how powerless they were to stop it. The ones who survived and succeeded where those who were best at adapting to the new technology, but also this brought huge opportunities for those prepared.

People are more aware today of technology changes, but most are unaware  that every day there are mini tech revolutions as the internet, web applications and smartphone technology rapidly changes how and where the world does business. Ironicly a lot of answers can be found on the internet and if you choose to join discussions, use social business tools like IinkedIn   you might get an understanding of what your next position might be needed to know. But all this is academic if you are not in the right……..

EMOTIONAL SPACE

This is by far the most difficult part of the equation as no matter how happy, confident, positive you are REDUNDANCY is a big emotional bang, and we often spend time questioning our ability. I don’t know if you are like me but once that happens I go into a strong self analysis stage and the real danger here is that the outcome is often bitterness. We become aggrieved at our treatment and that leads to negativity in general, and that in turn paralyse’s our ability to make good decisions…….you know where this is going.

So how do you overcome this emotional space, well the answer like everything is it is different for all of us but there are some steps you can take.

Try not to spend time with other reduntant people, at first it may be comforting as you share the same grief, but  it can soon turn into a  positive thinking vacuum and a rapidly spiralling negative nightmare.

Set yourself tasks to positively occupy your time, like talking to recruiters or searching for jobs online, in the newspaper etc. I realise that talking to recruiters is generally a useless way to find a job but it is a great way to find out what you might have to change in order to find your next role (add that to LEARN something new).

Use this as a time to re-asses your priorities, what is really of value to you. Generally you will find a new TV, Car, House suddenly is less as important as friends and family.

Try being more humble, humility can be a great gift and you will be surprised at the rewards, for to long we have be sold the false rewards of being able to buy happiness. Set yourself free from consumerism and feel some pressure lift.

Set yourself small projects that you can succeed at and then reward yourself once you have achieved them, one of the things we so often forget to do is to tell ourselves WELL DONE when we have achieved something. This is not about ego, this is not about telling other people how great we are this is about telling ourselves how great we are, VERY DIFFERENT and very important to a positive mind.

Search for positive and inspiring role models, TED talks are a fantastic online resource for being inspired, but there is nothing better than going to listen to a person who has overcome great odds and achieved  to show us what we are capable of, which leads me to………

THE POWER OF NETWORKING

And it is here where the real work of SUCCEEDING REDUNDANCY starts because networking is what human beings are all about. Facebook is NOT networking, getting off your backside and going to events to meet like minded people IS. Every day there are events happening that we can attend, in fact it is not unusual for me to attend two or three a week. I go there to learn, meet new people, expand my network and sell a product, and that product is ME.

This is not about EGO this is about COMMUNICATION, this is about meeting new people and learning new things (put this under learning something new) but MOST importantly it is about building your brand and your brand is what makes you….well you.

Your brand is your reputation (truthful, reliable, helpful, passionate,……”fill in your own details here”)  plus your experience mixed together with your personality and topped off with your ability. And it is unfortunately not decided by you but by other people. And this is where the SUCCESS part of the story starts as the more people who know you personally the more likely you are to hear about what is going on.

The most important thing in networking is adding VALUE to the people you meet, unfortunately we are living in a society that is brought up to ask “what’s in it for me”. Turn this thinking round and become USEFUL, helping people has its own rewards (like feeling good about ourselves) which is of course a positive (see emotional space).

But the best thing it does is increase the Value of our brand, and as we all know from advertising, people desire the valuable brands. I don’t usually ask for a recommendation on LinkedIn and am humbled that people take the time to write them, but what they do is show people that don’t know me how I am valuable and therefore EMPLOYABLE.

This is my BRAND and this is all I have to offer, but this was all that was required in order to be approached by my NEW employers, a fantastic company who really VALUE my brand and feel that it aligns perfectly with their goals and Brand….SUCCESS.

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