We tackle a tough topic in this week’s cast: Layoffs. We know it’s not an upbeat topic, but it’s highly likely you’re going to be involved in one at some point. Professional managers know how to conduct layoffs efficiently, with candor and compassion. While this is the first time we address the topic, this cast is second in order of the three we plan on the subject. One is on preparation- what you need to do in advance. This is for more senior managers, and those who will be in in discussions with HR. Today we address what everyone always asks us about - How to Actually Lay Someone Off. What do I say in the conversation? How do I say it? How can I deliver this news effectively and compassionately? The final cast is how to communicate to everyone after the fact. It’s an oft-ignored part of the process, but done well it can really help.

Despite our focus on performance at work, we want to state up front that we subscribe to the “soft” manager approach to layoffs. That means that even though you are dealing with THE TOUGHEST SUBJECT POSSIBLE, and the employee may respond with rage or frustration or tears, we think your profession requires you to be compassionate, caring and understanding. We believe these qualities make you a BETTER manager, and not just when you’re laying someone off. So, you may hear some suggestions today that aren’t standard. WE think they ought to be, but they’re not. One thing that will help you understand why we suggest these things is to read them from the point of view of the one being laid off.

We break our recommendations down into three sections: Before, During, and After.

Part of being an Effective Manager is not just focusing on your day to day activities, but thinking STRATEGICALLY about your team, your role, your company, and your industry. We find that most managers are truly HORRENDOUS at this, and that’s why we address it in this week’s podcast. We understand why - there is often a great deal of pressure to get down in the weeds, and often senior managers are delegating out un-connected tasks versus giving perspective and scope.

What got us thinking this way was our recent cast on layoffs (Oct 23). Frankly, nobody likes to talk about it, but as a manager you not only need to be ready to deliver the news of a layoff for the organization, you need to be ready to be laid off yourself. Managers who are most ready to deal with being laid off are those who have good strategic vision, and they get that by regularly scanning their environment.

In this show, we’ll talk about what you should be looking at regularly. We use layoffs as a context, but strategic environmental scanning must be done irrespective of layoffs - this is a habit that highly effective managers take for granted.

Today, we continue our podcast on Strategic Thinking and Layoffs, picking right up where we left off on the November 14 Podcast.

Our focus today is on applying the “Environmental Scan” discussed last week to the particular concerns over a potential layoff and identifying specific actions you can take to both identify the potential of a layoff and, more importantly, prepare effectively in case it should actually occur.

Sites mentioned during the show:

• PubSub
• Gada.be

A better explanation of Gada.be

Radio Shack has laid off 400 employees, notifying them by sending them an email.

Notified by email. You’d think organizations couldn’t go any lower.

Alas, they already have.  A British firm laid off at least one employee recently by sending them an instant message.

Yep, you read that correctly.

It’s creepy, it’s clumsy, it’s unprofessional.

But what does it say about the organization’s managers that they couldn’t be trusted to carry this water?

I can’t say that the company decided to do this because the managers couldn’t be trusted.  In fact, I would bet that thinking about how well the managers could handle this unfortunate task never crossed the minds of whomever made the decision.

But I will also bet that if the company trusted and respected its managers, so much so that it considered its management to be a key part of its success, the managers would have been trusted with this effort.

This was a sad day in the compact between managers and organizations.

This cast reveals the most important concept a laid off manager must know: Finances Rule. it is the first in a series designed to help both prepare for and navigate through a layoff.

Most of us fear being laid off. It’s a good fear to have, frankly - being laid off is a difficult passage for anyone. The fear of being re-employed, the fear of loss of status, the loss of income, risk to one’s family. All good reasons to be scared.

And yet, those who have been laid off express very different emotions than those of us who have not. When those who have been laid off are asked about it, it becomes clear why. It’s not JUST that they’ve, “been through it once and I made it.” It’s what they THEN say: “I’m ready this time.”

And that’s why you’re scared: you’re not ready.

This cast tells you how to start getting ready. And, our entire series about layoffs will be geared to helping everyone get prepared, and helping those that DO get laid off make it through successfully.

We received lots of comments and email regarding our show regarding the first rule of layoffs. While our recommendation struck some folks the wrong way - “finances rule??” - those who HAD been laid off told us we were dead solid perfect.

The fact is, we did not expect three years ago to get such positive responses to our casts and advice on careers and career management. We SHOULD have seen it, but we didn’t (and you’ll learn why in this week’s cast). But we are listening, and thus this week’s cast.

In the same way that “Finances Rule” when it comes to being laid off, PREPARATION makes the entire process so much easier. Both of these recommendations stem from a simple principle: decisions of import made under pressure are dangerous.

So, this week: our Annual Layoff Immunization Guidelines.

This week, we conclude our conversation on the Manager Tools Annual Layoff Immunization Guidelines.