Layoffs and the Slow Death of Trust

Layoffs are still going on, although the economy as a whole is improving. In advertising, when accounts are lost, heads often roll because there is less money to pay people. In other industries, layoffs are caused when two companies merge and there are ‘redundencies’ of positions, so one is eliminated. One company in every merger is the dominant culture and more of their employees tend to survive with positions intact. Do you keep your ear to the ground in your company? How do you gauge what the climate looks like?

Understandable but there is a profound consequence in any company when layoffs occur. Morale tanks as people mourn lost colleagues and friendships. With less hands to do the work (which still needs to get done), most employees work harder and feel less appreciated. Depending on the scope and level of surprise about who is let go, fear can stalk the halls as people wonder if they might be next. Trust in the company is damaged and leads to a ‘We shall see…’ attitude when upper management speaks blithely about things getting better, turning around. It doesn’t look like it to us in the trenches when layoffs happen. Trust, once lost, is hard to restore.

What can be done? Well, there are a few possible ways to react.

1) Pretend everything is OK and your job is secure. In fact, you believe yourself to be indispensable. Bad move – nobody is irreplaceable, NOBODY. You might want to consider expanding your skill set to increase your marketability or creating a financial safety net, just in case.

2) Do your job with a bare minimum of effort, dust off your resume and start contacting headhunters for a way out. Be serious about this if you are going to make a move. Operating with one foot out the door is an impossible way to keep working effectively and, too many mistakes may lead to termination against your will. Talented people often leave after a round of layoffs because the work environment is so painful and unsettled and they can find another job easily. They won’t be back once that trust is broken.

3) Do your job with excellence and wholeheartedly and set up additional streams of income (real estate, online marketing, network marketing, businesses, work from home options, etc.) on the side. You have been kept for a reason and you are valuable and appreciated. As long as you choose to stay, do your very best. Know that uncertainty is part of the job market ALWAYS, with ANY company and prepare for it. This is the option I favor.

The only elements you can control are your own skills, marketing, endeavors so, if you can identify your strengths and weaknesses, you can capitalize on one and complement with alliances for the other. If you are not reliant on any one market, as markets go UP and DOWN always, you have a better chance of riding it out. Also, the practice of excellence in all your circumstances (whether or not you feel like it) is a mark of character that is noticed in the world, trusted and invested in.

Maybe your company is thriving and there is no danger of layoffs at this time. And maybe it’s not. Whatever your situation, are you ready?

Do It Now! DIN DIN DIN

Do It Now - easier said than done sometimes. When I was a child, my grandfather (and sometimes my mother) always told me DIN DIN DIN about doing homework or chores. I thought it was complete nonsense because I wanted to be reading, playing or watching TV instead of doing what I was SUPPOSED to be doing.

As I look at my 500 emails a day, my job responsibilities, real estate and online businesses, relationships and chores these days, I am forced to admit that DIN DIN DIN is a really effective way to complete action items more effectively. I simply don't have time to look at the same thing or deal with the same piece of paper more than once if I don't have to. Do It Now, Delegate, File, Give Away, Throw Out are useful distinctions to make when figuring out next actions. The other observation is that leaving projects incomplete (and by that I mean with no forward progress after touching them) sucks my energy. That said, I am prone to getting overwhelmed at times, so I have to break projects down into possible parts to get done in a limited framework of time or I get discouraged. I notice that I, like many people, notice what I don't get done in the timeframe I consider appropriate more often than I celebrate my many successes. Do It Now is all about increasing energy flow because incomplete projects, relationships, whatever block energy and finishing stuff accelerates it and adds excitement and joy to life. I am never happier than when I am moving forward, learning and growing and DIN DIN DIN supports that.

Grandpa (and Mom - gosh, did I say that), you are RIGHT! Do It Now simply works.

Feeling Dissed Lately?

Dis words like disempowered, disrespected, dismissed and disregarded go right along with mis words like misunderstood or misrepresented. So recently, I was feeling dissed at work and by my family and I had a lot of stories about what was happening and whose fault it was. Not mine, of course. I was being affected by other people’s actions and attitudes, real or perceived, and began seeing myself as a victim in the situation. After a while, that’s all I could see and that version of my reality got BIGGER and BIGGER and BIGGER. Nothing I could do about it because my ability to see clearly was impaired by the filters covering my senses.

Fortunately, I participate in Todd Falcone’s A Team which 100 individuals all about pressing ourselves beyond our limitations to grow our various network marketing businesses. So that very week, he recommended a book called The Oz Principle: Getting Results Through Accountability. I started to read about how in the U.S.A. especially the culture has developed an acceptance of victim rather than accountability mentality. We have one of the most litigitous societies among the industrialized nations. It was a Eureka moment for me as I realized THAT WAS ME! I had fallen into it without even noticing. The gift is that once I could see again, the scales just vanished and I became joyful, resourceful, helpful to others and open to opportunities again. But the circumstances had not changed an iota. I was the differentiating factor.

Where in your life are you feeling dissed or missed? Could it be you? How can you turn yourself around in an instant so, whatever the circumstances are, they become irrelevant?

1,140 Minutes a Day - Enjoying Yours?

Everybody has 1,140 minutes in every day, no matter what their economic status, race, religion, national or political affiliation. What are you doing with yours? Are you enjoying most, if not all, of those moments?

Take a look at how you are dividing up your time. For me, some of its passing is unconscious. What percentage is used up by sleep, work, family, relationships, volunteering, fun, whatever? More importantly, if you are spending 16 hours a day at your business or work, is it by choice or default? What do you most like to do? Are you doing it? If it’s a lack of money or time that’s stopping you, what changes do you need to make to alter your current situation? Savor life because those 1,140 minutes each day, once they’ve slipped by, are gone forever.

Consider working smart instead of, or more likely in addition to, working hard for a time to reach your dreams. The only way they are defeated is if we give up. Never give up on yourself.

How to Make Powerful Distinctions and Be Happy

First, identify the activities, environments and relationships that fire you up and those that drain you. What are you passionate about - your work or business, family, friends, hobbies, travel, education, investments, sports, what? Next, examine specifically what is exciting for you and try to figure out why.

For example, I tutor in East Harlem at a middle school and we were talking about career paths. I started asking the kids what they liked and did not like about school. Finding a career that makes you happy, that energizes you, is a matter of making distinctions as simple as "I like doing this," I don't like doing that." Once you have clarity, in the next job, you can choose more of what fires you up until your work is mostly a perfect fit of activities and relationships you enjoy. Conversely, you can decline jobs that don't fit you because you know what aspects of the work are displeasing to you (say, too many meetings, too much number crunching, lack of competitive spirit).

We exist in two environments usually, work and home. Here there are physical distinctions like furniture, space, light and color. There are also people environments to consider - friendly/standoffish, professional/casual, quiet/loud, efficient/sloppy, collaborative/competitive, neat/messy and so on. We might expect (or tolerate) different standards at home than at work. For example, where I work, it is a standard cubicle setup with grey or taupe walls. Since I like color and contrast, my cubicle is decorated with paintings and prints to tease the eye. In addition, my cubicle neighbor had a climbing green plant on his desk and I had the same kind of plant dying at home so I brought mine in and we are creating a jungle. Fun!

When I wanted an intimate relationship, I considered qualities that were essential and others that would be nice but optional. Then I could eliminate immediately those who lacked my "must have" qualities. For me, although I always dated shorter, financially stable, corporate men with long hair, I married a fantastic, tall artist with short hair. My "must haves" were love, a commitment to family and a passion for work and those were "must haves" for him too. I married at 35 a man I could not imagine living without, and who made me laugh. Together almost 19 years, that laughter has been more vital than I ever imagined.

The point, I guess, is to know yourself and go through life simply noticing what pleases and displeases you. If you then use that information you learned as guidance for making all kinds of important decisions, happiness will come easier to you. Try it and see...