How To Reframe Redundancy
You know that saying, ‘What am I - chopped liver?’ Well, that’s what I remember thinking when I was made redundant a few years ago. ‘How come you don’t want me?!’
That, and I that wanted the outside world to think that it was MY choice to leave the company rather than have people think I was pushed. So in my leaving email, it was ‘Tracy has decided to leave’ rather than ‘Tracy was made redundant’.
And from what I can tell that’s normally the way it goes when people are made redundant. There seem to be a few negative connotations - you're not wanted but others are; you weren’t good enough to keep and so on.
But in my great age and wisdom and with the benefit of perspective I now look at redundancy in a very different way.
Firstly, I realise it’s rarely every personal. It’s a business decision. In my case, two divisions were merging and my role was going to be subsumed by someone else’s. It didn’t have anything to do with me not being brilliant (she says, modestly) but my role was surplus to requirements.
Secondly, my being pushed out of the comfy nest forced me to look elsewhere and find another path. I had, in truth, been thinking of moving for a couple of years but it was only being made redundant that really focused my mind on what I was going to do next.
I don’t think it would have this wonderful new phase in my life had I not been made redundant.
Thirdly, I think part of the fear is not having a fancy title or the status that comes with it anymore. So much of our identity can be tied up in our job title, ‘oh, I’m a XYZ at ABC company’ so when we are not that, we don’t know who we are. But we are not just our job titles. We are whole humans who bring impact to whatever we do. That’s who you are, not your job title.
There are lots more I could say about redundancy and, of course, I will not dismiss the worries of where the next job is coming from and the next pay-check, especially at this time BUT I want to underline:
It’s not personal. The more you realise that the less shame or awkwardness or self-doubt you will feel. To combat this, try to understand the company from the bigger picture - what are the market changes, what would you do if you were in charge - would you keep yourself and your department?
It can be an opportunity. To stop, to assess which direction to go in next. Especially if you have some redundancy pay. If you can, use some of it just to have a break and some thinking time about what you really want to do next.
Make sure you know who you are and the value you bring to any role in life. Beyond or below the job title, who are you, what do you offer, and how do you make lives or teams and organisations better? The more you do this, you will see that a job or role that comes along is just one chapter in YOUR life rather than that job or role BEING your life.
I hope that helps. If I can help more, let me know!
Be Fearlessy You!
Tracy
