Balancing work and personal needs is tricky business in organizations where the work seems to mushroom out of control. To get what you want for yourself, you must demonstrate a genuine commitment to the company's efforts as well.
People who get ahead in downsizing organizations are the ones who take the initiative to be part of the solution, not the problem. Instead of railing against the boss, they do their best to add value wherever they can.
When Baxter Healthcare Corporation began its downsizing initiatives several years ago, it needed a human resources professional to staff its outplacement center. No one wanted the job because it seemed too temporary.
Ten years later, many people who thought that job would be too short-lived are gone and Maureen Gold (who accepted it) was still there going strong. In fact, the company's career center has not only outlived its skeptics, it's become one of the more enduring parts of the organization. In the process, Maureen Gold had discovered her own professional mission. A former teacher, she loves "to see the lightbulb go on in people's heads when they realize they have choices."
Gold's message is one of empowerment. Regardless of whether you stay with the company or leave, she says, the important thing is to realize that it's still up to you to manage your career. "Through all the craziness, you can find opportunities to grow," she says.
Attitude Is a Key Variable
When a national chain of bookstores consolidated its operations and eliminated several suburban stores, the company's advertising manager suddenly found herself saddled with public relations responsibilities as well. Although she hadn't been familiar with PR, she viewed it as a "learning opportunity"-a chance to expand her skills and experience into other arenas.
"I could have sat around moaning that I'm not a PR person, or that PR isn't my job," she says today. "But what good would it have done? Like it or not, I'm a PR person now. Fortunately, it's kind of fun."
To maintain your sanity and self-esteem, you need to accept responsibility for your decision to stay. If you can't do that, make arrangements to leave. After all, what's the point of holding onto your job if you end up becoming a physically and emotionally charred wreck in the process?
"When you accept that you're 100 percent responsible for who you are and where you work, you lose the need to blame others or hold them emotionally hostage," says Linda Bougie.
After that, there can be a joy in staying, says Gold. When you're able to see the changes around you as an opportunity to invest in yourself, you won't feel like you're just holding onto your job. You'll realize that you're developing skills and experience you can take with you when you leave. "In this day and age, everybody needs to learn how be a change manager," says Gold. "It's the most marketable skill there is."
Unfortunately, most employees are so busy bemoaning their fate, they lose out on that window of opportunity.
"Survivors are afraid to get their hopes up," says Phyllis Edelen, a human resources consultant in Gary, Indiana, who's managed career centers for AT&T and Kraft General Foods Group. "Instead of getting involved, they sit around waiting for the other shoe to fall."
She understands their fears but questions their lack of motivation. "People may be waiting for the next disaster, but in the meantime, they don't do anything to prepare themselves for that day," says Edelen. "Despite all that mental anguish they put themselves through, it hits them just as hard when they do get laid off."
No job lasts forever, so why waste the time you have worrying about when the boom will strike? If you've chosen to stay (at least for now), focus instead on self-development. Use the days, weeks and months ahead to build some new skills (including job-search skills), experiences and contacts that will enable you to build bridges out of your current situation.
A Learning Opportunity
Yolanda Banks is a survivor who rose to that particular challenge.
Banks is an environmental coordinator for a medical manufacturing plant in Niles, Illinois, that has a two-year plan to close down its local operation and relocate elsewhere. Every round of layoffs brings her one round closer to the day when she, too, must go. It also means saying goodbye to treasured friends and co-workers, many of whom consider themselves fortunate to be among the first to leave.
For those who remain behind, a bitter legacy awaits. For years, they've worked together to make the plant a productive facility-and they've succeeded. Now, everything they worked so hard to build must be systematically dismantled.
Animosities are running high. Many people are frustrated and bitter. Productivity is down along with morale. The potential for accidents skyrockets every day. Ordinarily, this would not be Banks's problem. But her manager didn't survive the first round of cuts and she did, which makes her the ad hoc manager of safety and environmental health. She may not have the title and she certainly didn't get a pay raise, but she still accepts the responsibility. To do her job well is to ensure the safety and good health of her co-workers. For her, that is more important than any personal grudges she harbors against her employer for closing its doors or doubling her workload.
Banks's attitude makes her different. In an environment riddled with fear, mistrust and anger, motivation is low and risk-taking almost nonexistent. Almost all the employees are nursing their wounds and waiting to leave. It's become bad form to show any enthusiasm or excitement for your job, let alone your employer, who is, in everyone's eyes, Public Enemy Number One. Still, Banks understands that you can't discover and express your talents while hiding under a rock and hoping the winds of change will blow over.
Even in an organization that's redefining itself, there are things to be learned and accomplished on your way out the door. As Maureen Gold says, "It makes a difference how you leave."
Yolanda Banks has never been a manager before, so this is her big chance to become one. She admits she could use a men-tor. But, at this point, a mentor would be a luxury. She has to learn to mentor herself. Fortunately, she has the mental skill to do it.
To self-mentor, you have to be your own best role model. Create the prototype and then live it. This means taking responsibility for learning what you need to know to do your job. Banks is a good teacher who knows how to ask the right questions. This quality will allow her to resolve the problems she faces. When a drum of questionable origin showed up on the dock, for example, she used her research and investigative skills to figure out where it came from and how to dispose of it.
Banks already knows an important principle of leadership: Don't wait for someone else to solve a problem. Instead, take the initiative to solve it yourself. That same initiative appeared again when the plant manager was seeking ways to motivate his remaining personnel to meet productivity standards and goals. Toward that end, Banks recommended (and piloted) a stress ergonomics program that, for very little money, was already being implemented successfully at companies such as 3M.
Stress ergonomics is a fancy name for a simple 10-minute stretch break, which (as most fitness experts will tell you) can do wonders to boost energy levels. The program has 98 percent participation, but it doesn't play entirely to rave reviews. In spite of many enthusiastic supporters, it also has its fair share of detractors. Some say it's a ridiculous waste of time. Others agree it's a nice program-but too short and way too late (they complain the company should have instituted the plan years ago).
