Last night found me on the phone with a good friend who was laid off this week (after purchasing a house two weeks ago, nonetheless). He’s such a good spirit, and his attitude is why I know he will land well and probably even better than before. We spoke about what happened. I wish I could say I was surprised, but I’m not. The administration of his organization laid off an entire team whose sole purpose was operational improvement. The cost-savings and improvements were quite good for the entire organization. If you’ve ever managed a P&L, you know that at times, layoffs can happen. What made my head shake (again) with this layoff though is management and administration took no cuts or hits. He mentioned that the rest of the organization was shocked and couldn’t understand the logic or necessity of the decision. Neither can I, honestly.
Management decisions like this won’t always make sense to us, but if managers and administrators don’t explain their decisions, it is quite hard to trust that they have the best interest of their people or their organization at heart. Transparency in decision-making creates trust, even when the news isn’t great. Trust is that belief and willingness to act on other’s words, actions, and decisions. A decision this huge requires not just transparency but compassion and kindness in its execution.
As our conversation went on, we laughed about how we see decisions made like this all the time. Cost-savings need to be had, but they rarely happen to those at the top or those who sit in the indirect cost columns of the P&L. A sense of humor at this age is a must when you’ve seen this happen over and over. We talked about how important compassion and kindness are to the success of organizations. We are in agreement that both verbs need to make a huge comeback in our organizations. This week, I was lucky enough to see compassion and kindness make their way back into the language of leaders…slowly. He also laughingly asked me if I was turning into a hippie. “I already am and am damn proud.” It was amazing to catch up with this individual. The next company to get him is going to be so lucky.
I used the word “manager” a lot in this writing because leaders, true leaders, know that honoring the trust of your team is so vital to the success of the organization. They don’t just believe it, they live it. They honor those psychological contracts…the respect and trust and relationships. They know that honoring the trust of their team will get the job done, and done well. I hope over the next week you take time to honor the trust of your team, even if you aren’t a leader. The return on investment will be more than worth your time. Let your inner hippie fly free; I promise, she’ll make you smile!
What ways do you honor the trust of your time? I’d love to know.