Layoffs happen. Most likely, you either have already or will experience a layoff during your career. When they occur, you have no control over when or how they happen. Being blindsided by a layoff can be devastating, depending on how prepared you may be to handle it.
I've worked at 7 seven companies where layoffs occurred and have been laid off at 4 of those companies. I've also had to be the person to carry out the layoffs and terminate people. Being on both sides of the layoff, I have been taught the value of always being prepared; always having a parachute if you get pushed out of the airplane while in flight.
Being prepared means knowing how to Pack Your Parachute and carry it with you at all times ready if you get laid off, change companies, or if funding dries up. In the show today I walk you through:
1. Dealing with the loss and grief of being laid off, losing friends and colleagues.
2. How to move into grief, including a breathing exercise, during the initial loss.
3. The three steps of packing your parachute which include rest and recovery, re-connecting and then finally reformulating yourself in a new way and restarting your career.
I also talk about the inside company re-connection and how a "side hustle" within your company can be beneficial.
Ultimately, packing your parachute builds the muscle of resilience–the core strength needed to use your parachute one or more times over the course of your career!
Episode Highlights:
[04:35] As of this recording, Google has just laid off 12,000 people. Microsoft also laid off 10,000 people. Before that, Amazon also laid off a large number of people.
[05:13] Layoffs aren't uncommon. They are cyclical. This is why people need to be able to pack their own parachute.
[05:41] It's also important to be where you are and grieve the loss.
[06:27] The five stages of grief include shock and denial, anger, depression, detachment, and the final stage of acceptance.
[08:28] You can invoke the eight second breathing technique to deal with these stages of grief.
[08:52] Inhale for eight seconds. Hold your breath for one second. Exhale for eight seconds.
[09:10] This is about the amount of time that it takes to shift your body from the sympathetic or fight or flight reaction to parasympathetic which takes you out of the fight or flight.
[12:11] You have to rest and recover before you move on to anything else when packing your parachute. Develop a practice of rest and recovery throughout the day.
[13:21] When you move on to dialogue and bargaining and reaching out to others is when you begin to reconnect. You begin to appreciate your new opportunity to move forward.
[14:55] I share a story about when I wanted to move from selling hardware to software after a layoff.
[17:07] The “inside the company” reconnection. This is a side hustle inside the company. I want to be connected across disciplines and operating units. It's an opportunity to go deeper and wider inside the company.
[18:42] The final stage of grief is acceptance. This is when you restructure and restart who and how you are going to be in the career portion of your life.
[19:33] The layoff may have actually been a bit of a gift and an opening. Use this time to reformat and restructure your work.
[20:08] Ultimately, packing your parachute builds the muscle of resilience.
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