Jason Buffington .com

transcript

This week, several thousand more talented professionals often with decades of experience and years with their company were cut loose. Over my career, I’ve been laid off … been fired … been ‘reorg’d’ out of the team.

So, this is part 1 of 2 for those that recently got tough news.

Most of us go through the five stages of grief.

1. Denial – your first reaction is “Is there a mistake?  I’m doing all these things the company needed – and I’m doing them well.”  

Most of us are stunned … and it sucks.

As insultingly obvious as it sounds, the sooner you start to move through this stage, the sooner that you’ll start to put together your future.

• Anger – man, I’ve struggle with this one in the past. For large layoffs, anger is usually aimed at senior leadership – as well as the manager that cut you. Did they know beforehand? Was it personal?  Did they advocate to keep you OR was it their idea?  You’ll never know …

In my past, I kept revisiting anger … I’d be fine few weeks, then something would come up … a memory, a deadline that I was no longer responsible for, some paperwork … and I went straight back to anger of betrayal.

• Bargaining – this is asking, “Are there other roles I could switch to? Is it too late to reconsider?” This is especially true if you’re in a role where there were no negative performance indicators.

If you assume good intentions, then assume management already considered other roles – especially if they’re saying “we cutting here, to make room over there.”  Poor intentions is when you’re given the news and everything immediately turns off. You can’t un-ring that bell.

• Depression – this is the one that slows your recovery. Regardless of your bills or dreams, there will be days where you sleep late, go to bed late, and don’t do much in between.

In my past, I’ve wallowed in this, bounced between depression and anger, and finally one day, there’s more of that in your rear-view mirror than in front of you.  Which brings us to …

• Acceptance. This is where you start to move forward.

For those that recently got bad news, let’s repeat:

It sucks … It’s unfair … Something really did ‘happen to you’, it’s okay to feel that way … and you likely aren’t going to feel like ‘bouncing forward’ right away. Give yourself permission to feel the feelings – because you’re less likely to really move on until you do.

Next week’s segment picks up there … so, I’ll see you next Monday.