There IS Crying in Management

This comment chain is timely for myself, I will be having a reduction in force conversation with a direct of mine this week. Has been with the firm for 6 years(industry for 20+) and compounded further by the fact that his brother works in an external position with our team and is one of our top performers. I know nothing but try to be human with my team, but the conversations I am having with HR around the nature of these RIF's seem to handcuff a good bit of the emotional connection... Any thoughts are welcome, appreciate the forum.

I'll bet if that 18 year veteran employee has a choice to work with your friend that he/she would go back to work for him in a heartbeat (if this was consistent with the rest of his management career).

Far too infrequently I expose my human side to my team, and instead I focus on getting things done. Yet when I do, like this year when we lost 4 associates in 5 months including 1 position that turned over twice, my team responds in AMAZING fashion.

I do care, and I do get it, I just don't always remember to share it. I can only hope this executive let his former associates know just how hard it was for him to do what he had to do.

Fchalif-

It's our privilege to serve you.

Thank you for trusting us with your staff recently, and enjoy that weather down there.

Mark

One of the many reasons I have been hooked to MT for the last 3 years is the humanity.The human side of our lives is what we all need to focus on. Numbers will always be there, but they don't behave by themselves. It is our behavior that makes the difference. Crying is behavior and is quite fine, no need to repress it.

I have had the pleasure to listen to the podcasts, read many of the recommended books, AND have met Mike and Mark at a conference. What makes MT so powerful is that the human side is put first, the rest falls from that.
One on One!
Can't get more human that that - two people building trust, and sometime laughing, sometimes crying. Powerful! Let's all do it. We all have a chance to choose to do it.

Mark and Mike - THANK YOU.

Grace in crisis is always a memory that warms and brightens with age.

Mark

Ah. My first post DID get posted. Sorry!

This is why professionals leave with grace.

I am in the fortunate position of finding a job before I was pushed. I am seeing my seniors of thirteen years going through hell in carrying out a reduction in workforce.

You may scorn, thinking that they are not the ones worried about their house, their family. You will get through this. You will come out more experienced and stronger (especially for those who are going through their first recession), your bosses will not know if this is the case and will worry.

Tears are a sign of a great boss.

This is why, if you are on the receiving end, you behave like a professional. You may be worried about losing your house, your family... It is no excuse for acting up. I have changed job (just in time) and seen how my seniors for thirteen years are suffering by undergoing a reduction in workforce.

Of course people may scorn and say that they are not the ones going through the pain. But think about how your childhood experiences continue to haunt you. This is because you did not have the tools to deal with the situation and cannot see the eventual outcome. Your bosses, the ones telling you there is no job for you, who are going through the same turmoil, they do not know you will survive.

You will come out the other side. More experienced and stronger. You boss will not know what has become of you. Tears are a sign of maturity.

I lost my job at the end of August (and started a new one by beginning of October, thanks to the advice here.) I was thoroughly disgusted by the fact my own manager didn't sit in with the HR rep. His peer did.

As much as layoffs hurt, it's nice to hear how they were handled at that company.

Telling someone that they have lost their job is the single most difficult and distasteful part of management for me. You do it because you have to - it is part of the job. I have had to let people go purely because of reducing costs and I have had to let people go because of recurring performance problems. In either case, it is hard. And yes, I have cried. The budget cut ones are the toughest for me, because it has nothing to do with them directly. I have been on the other side as well - and I always appreciated it when the person telling me was clearly pained by the process. As we know from M&M - we work with PEOPLE - all the jobs with dogs and trees are gone. And people are impacted deeply when they lose a job.