February 18, 2009	Volume 9, Issue 7
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Four Popular Ways to Mismanage Layoffs: Part I

by Rick Brenner

When layoffs are necessary, the problems they are meant to address are sometimes exacerbated by mismanagement of the layoff itself. Here is Part I of a discussion of four common patterns of mismanagement, and some suggestions for those managers and other employees who recognize the patterns in their own companies.

he news of spreading layoffs, production pauses, and bankruptcy-driven closures is by now upsetting almost everyone and every organization. Sadly, the mismanagement that leads to the need for such drastic actions is being replicated in the way managers deal with layoffs. Here are the first two of four fairly common ways to bungle layoffs, emphasizing the personal perceptions of decision makers.

Procrastination

Management delays action to repair the financial damage, hoping that "things will turn around when <whatever> happens."

Usually, in procrastination, management can no longer repair the company's finances even by doing a major layoff. Because of delay, organizational survival is now threatened. They're willing to consider layoffs only when the alternative is total business failure. Employees have actually figured this out months ago, and some of the best people have already departed or are already searching for jobs.

If you're in a position to do something about this pattern, remember that the earlier you act the better. Waiting rarely helps. And the longer you have already waited, the more important it is to act immediately. Don't worry about getting it perfectly right. It is far more important to make a start than to make a perfect start.Denial and procrastination
are costly in themselves,
but they can create some
even more costly
synergistic patterns

If you aren't in a position to do anything about the layoff procrastination, you have three basic options: you can exit the company voluntarily, you can stay but prepare for a possible exit or layoff, or you can do nothing. Most choose the latter. Preparing for a layoff is probably wisest for those who can't move on. But if your personal situation permits it, exiting voluntarily can be an excellent choice, especially if you're among the first to exit, because once the layoffs begin, competition for available jobs elsewhere might be more rigorous.

Denial

More insidious than procrastination is denial, because management fails to see the need for reconfiguration. Spending, expansion and even acquisitions often continue as if future projections were both accurate and optimistic.

In procrastination, the nagging feeling that all is not well has a benign effect — it can make managers cautious. In denial, by contrast, caution is less common — the organization might actually go into a power dive.

As an employee, denial is difficult to recognize, because your main sources of information are the very people who are in denial. But if you examine closely what they say about the parts of the company with which you are personally familiar, you might catch a glimpse of reality.

While denial and procrastination are costly in themselves, they can create some even more costly synergistic patterns. We can be in denial about whether we're procrastinating, and we can procrastinate about examining our actions for symptoms of denial.

We'll examine two common tactical errors associated with layoffs next time. Next in this series   Top    Next Issue

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More articles on Personal, Team and Organizational Effectiveness:

Games for Meetings: Part I

We spend a lot of time and emotional energy in meetings, much of it engaged in any of dozens of ritualized games. Here's Part I of a little catalog of some of our favorites, and what we can do about them.

Shooting Ourselves in the Feet

When you give a demo to a small audience, there's a danger of overwhelming them in a behavior I call "swarming." Here are some tips for terrific demos to small audiences.

When We Need a Little Help

Sometimes we get in over our heads — too much work, work we don't understand, or even complex politics. We can ask for help, but we often forget that we can. Even when we remember, we sometimes hold back. Why is asking for help, or remembering that we can ask, so difficult? How can we make it easier?

Decisions, Decisions: Part II

Most of us have participated in group decision-making. The process can be frustrating and painful, but it can also be thrilling. What processes do groups use to make decisions?

Recovering Time: Part II

Where do the days go? How can it be that we spend eight, ten or twelve hours at work each day and get so little done? To find more time, focus on strategy.

See also Personal, Team and Organizational Effectiveness and Managing Your Boss for more related articles.

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The Race to the South Pole: Ten Lessons for Project Managers

On 14 December 1911, four men led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Thirty-five days later, Robert F. Scott and four others followed. Amundsen had won the race to the pole. Amundsen's party returned to base on 26 January 1912. Scott's party perished. As historical drama, why this happened is interesting enough, but to project managers, the story is fascinating. Lessons abound. Read more about this program. Here are some upcoming dates for this program:

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  your calendarCrowne Plaza Hotel, Cromwell, CT: September 15, Monthly Meeting, Southern New England Chapter of the Project Management Institute. Register now.
   
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  your calendarMITRE, in Bedford, MA: February 15, 2011, Monthly Meeting, Boston SPIN.
   

Organizational Politics for People Who Hate Politics

Have you ever felt powerless to implement an important new idea? Have you ever been "blind-sided" at a meeting? Have you ever lost two good employees because you could find no way to keep them from attacking each other? These are some of the issues of organizational politics. Many of us have become enmeshed in them from time to time, but we've also known some people who seem to be able to engage and prosper. How is that done? We'll inventory the challenges of organizational politics, and provide tools for anticipating and addressing them. The focus of this program is practical — attendees learn concrete techniques for dealing with the problems that arise in workplace politics, while keeping their integrity intact. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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  your calendarOverland Park Convention Center, 6000 College Blvd., Overland Park, KS 66211: October 5, Professional Development Day, Kansas City Chapter of the Project Management Institute. Register now.
   

Managing Virtual Teams for Real Results

Managing global or dispersed teams is challenging — miscommunications, misunderstandings, and interpersonal conflict all thrive in the typical environment of the distributed team. And they're even more common in global teams, because of time-zone offsets and language and cultural differences. We'll inventory the challenges distributed and global teams face, and provide tools for anticipating and addressing them. The focus of this program is practical — attendees will learn concrete techniques for preventing and dealing with the problems that accompany global and distributed teams. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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Person-to-Person Communications: Models and Applications

When we talk, listen, send or read emails, read or write memos, or when we leave or listen to voice mail messages, we're communicating person-to-person. And whenever we communicate person-to-person, we risk being misunderstood, offending others, feeling hurt, and being confused. There are so many ways for things to go wrong that we could never learn how to fix all the problems. A more effective approach avoids problems altogether, or at least minimizes their occurrence. In this very interactive program we'll explain — and show you how to use — a model of inter-personal communications that can help you stay out of the ditch. We'll place particular emphasis on a very tricky situation — saying no to power. In those moments of intense involvement, when we're most likely to slip, you'll have a new tool to use to keep things constructive. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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Person-to-Person Communication for Project Managers

When we talk, listen, send or read emails, read or write memos, or when we leave or listen to voice mail messages, we're communicating person-to-person. And whenever we communicate person-to-person, we risk being misunderstood, offending others, feeling hurt, and being confused. There are so many ways for things to go wrong that we could never learn how to fix all the problems. A more effective approach avoids problems altogether, or at least minimizes their occurrence. In this very interactive program you'll learn a model of inter-personal communications that can help you stay out of the ditch. In those moments of intense involvement, when we're most likely to slip, you'll have a new tool to use to keep things constructive. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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The Race to the South Pole: Lessons in Risk Management for Leaders

On 14 December 1911, four men led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Thirty-five days later, Robert F. Scott and four others followed. Amundsen had won the race to the pole. Amundsen's party returned to base on 26 January 1912. Scott's party perished. As historical drama, why this happened is interesting enough. But to organizational leaders and project managers, the story is fascinating. We'll use the history of this event to explore lessons in risk management and its application to organizational efforts. A fascinating and refreshing look at risk management from the vantage point of history. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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  your calendarWherever you are: it's a teleseminar: February 2, 2011, Teleseminar, Computer Aid, Inc. (CAI).
   

The Organizational Politics of Risk Management

Organizational politics presents a risk not often accounted for by risk models. It creates one of the many components of risk management risk — the risk that the risk management process itself is inadequate. Political considerations can lead to risk products that seem acceptable but which are fatally flawed; or worse, the risk products are plainly unserviceable, but everyone chooses not to acknowledge the problem. In this program we'll examine how organizational politics influences risk management, and discuss several measures for mitigating its effects. Read more about this program. Here's an upcoming date for this program:

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  your calendarWherever you are: it's a teleseminar: September 1, 2011, Teleseminar, Computer Aid, Inc. (CAI).