Posted in C.Mon Man! Moments, Engagement, Human Resources Insights, Leadership, tagged Corporate Life, Engagement, Leadership, Terminated on July 18, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Story told to me today.
Jim, Senior Director for a mid-size company, was recently asked to meet with his VP.
VP – “Jim, we are letting you go today”
Jim – “Why?”
VP – “Because I don’t have confidence in you anymore.”
Jim – “Would you care to elaborate?”
VP – “No”
Ah, nothing like respect in the workplace. Another great C’Mon Man! Leadership Moment brought to you by 3 Connections.
Posted in Engagement, Human Resources Insights, Job Searching, Videos, Articles and Books, Your Career, tagged Career Management, Corporate Life, downsizing, Engagement, Human Resources, job loss, Terminated on June 17, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
Over the past few years I have helped several people through the job search process, many of these interactions have followed an involuntary “push” by their organization. One of the surprising things I have learned is how little anger people feel about losing their job. Mostly people are tired, relieved and downright happy to move on.
I read a guest column by Steve Doppelt in the Chicago Tribune this morning (http://trib.in/KLvl0k) that focused on this very topic. While the center of the story is about how a son struggles to tell his parents about his job loss that he is actually happy about, the background story is about how a job loss can be a positive. It also reminds us that others can see how unhappy we are in our jobs, even if we think they don’t. Here’s a quote from the article:
Father – ”You left your job, didn’t you?”
Son – “Yeah, I did, how did you know?”
Mother – “Well, you have been so unhappy. And, lately you’ve seemed so much happier. Maybe it’s for the best, I would cry every night I got off the phone with you. You sounded so miserable.”
So, are you unhappy in your job? Would you be relieved if someone would end it for you? And, do you think others in your life don’t notice and aren’t impacted by your unhappiness? Think again.
What are you waiting for?
Posted in C.Mon Man! Moments, Engagement, Human Resources Insights, tagged Corporae Culture, Corporate Life, Engagement, HR, Terminated on May 10, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
From time to time I like to share what I call ‘C’Mon Man!’ Leadership moments. These are real tales of leaders behaving either badly, stupidly or both. These stories are all true, with names changed to protect the innocent (and not so innocent). Here is another C’Mon Man! moment I just heard today.
Posted in Engagement, Human Resources Insights, Leadership, Your Career, tagged Corporate Life, downsizing, Leaderhip, Terminated on March 6, 2012 | Leave a Comment »
I was on site with a company last week, meeting with an employee who had just been told that her job was eliminated. She was unceremoniously terminated after 22 years and today was her last day at work. Through her anger and tears she told me that she had been planning to retire soon and was hoping to leave on her own terms. That hope ended when she was asked to meet her supervisor in a sterile conference room located near the building exit.
As we continued to talk, she told me about a company that had changed dramatically over the past few years. It used to be good place to work, a place where people knew each other and cared about each other. But recently, things started to change. The global marketplace had shaken a business that produced a commodity product. Margins were thin and the Chinese could make the product cheaper. Two years ago private equity stepped in. The old world officially spun off its axis and was replaced by a not so kinder and gentler approach to business.
By now most people understand the challenges of running a successful, profitable organization in today’s twitchy corporate world. One of the products of these challenges is a reliance on outsourcing to gain efficiencies … technology, customer service human resources and accounting processes (and people) have all felt the sting.
And, as I watched this sad woman leave her place of employment for the last time, I wondered if we haven’t also started to outsource empathy.
Posted in Engagement, Human Resources Insights, Job Searching, Your Career, tagged Career Management, downsizing, Job Change, job loss, Terminated on December 7, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I met Fred Jones last Thursday.
No, his name wasn’t really Fred Jones … that’s the name of the character who loses his job in a great Ben Folds song that sheds a light on the coldness of the downsizing culture that is so much a part of corporate life these days. The person’s name doesn’t matter. What happened to him, and what’s happening to all of us, does.
The real life Fred (that’s what I will call him) got caught up in a corporate downsizing last week. 56 years old with a wife and two college aged kids. When he was told about his job loss, Fred didn’t get angry. He got scared. He sat in disbelief in the sterile conference room and then he started to cry. He didn’t know what to do, how to tell his family or how to face himself. He was afraid of the future while trying his best to hang on to the past. He asked the HR people over and over again if there was anything that could be done. There wasn’t. And, then it was time for Fred to leave.
In situations like this, many want the company to be the villain. But it wasn’t … this was just business. Fred was not losing his job to cost reductions but to a different strategic direction. Fred had good skills that were now simply the wrong skills. While you could argue with the timing of the change (the holiday season), the company did what they could to help Fred by providing a nice separation package that included outplacement.
Fred was complicit in his personal drama. He hadn’t been paying attention to the shifts in the company direction. He buried his head in the sand and ignored the new rules of corporate life and career management. He found himself being reactive rather than proactive to change. And he got caught.
I am not sure the moral of this story is; I do know that this is a corporate drama that plays itself out over and over again across the country and the globe. And, it just doesn’t feel good.
A student group did an excellent video to ’Fred Jones Part 2, I encourage you to check it out.
Posted in C.Mon Man! Moments, Engagement, Leadership, tagged Corporate Life, Engagement, Terminated on November 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The signs of the impending holidays are upon us. From Thanksgiving turkey and Black Friday sales to never ending Lexus commercials, there are all kinds of signs that the end of the year is approaching. There are corporate signs as well, including the year end downsizing. It’s not unusual for an organization to do some December ”people adjustments” and, according to my companies outplacement practice, this year is no exception. While I understand the drivers for these decisions it always seems to be incongruent with an organizations espoused people values.
My favorite example of this happened a few years ago. A large Chicago based organization made a decision to eliminate many positions before year end. Company leadership decided to make the announcement on December 12 … exactly one day after the annual company holiday party. That made for one happy group of impacted employees. One day, holiday cheer. The next, holiday sneer.
True Story. Remember, I don’t make this stuff up.
C’Mon Man!!!
Posted in Engagement, Job Searching, Your Career, tagged Career Direction, Engagement, Job Search, Terminated on July 10, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I was recently on site with a company that was going through corporate downsizing. 25 people were being told that their job was eliminated and that they no longer had a job with the company. Nothing new, this is life in our Corporate America. The HR VP is a close friend of mine so I offered to be speak to individuals following their termination discussion. (a side note, unike the movie ‘Up In The Air’, companies do not hire people to deliver the termination and separation package message. That is the sole province of the person’s supervisor and human resources. One of the few similarities to the real world scenario and the movie is my remarkable resemblance to George Clooney …). I don’t do much of this work but when I do I have noticed that most people aren’t angry or even emotional. They are usually resigned to their fate (most people have figured things out well in advance), relieved (they are ready for a change), unemotional (this has happened to me before so nothing new) or happy (they are paying me to leave? I am already looking for a job because this place sucks…). Again, life in today’s Corporate America.
Surprisingly, I am caught off guard when someone is sad, tearful or scared. Which is what happened during my recent on site experience. (more…)
