Early in my career (okay, okay, in the 1980s) I was brought into a Wisconsin-based Insurance Company to assist with a major corporate down/right sizing effort (19% of their workforce). An opportunity to put my text-book knowledge to work - an opportunity not to be passed up.
As a rookie I made a rookie mistake on this consulting gig -- I ate lunch in the company cafeteria. (No, the mistake wasn’t eating the food served in the cafeteria!) By eating in the cafeteria I got to know many of the employees personally--- I met husbands and wives who worked together, saw photos of employee’s children, learned about the child with Down syndrome, etc.
After a few weeks on the job I received the initial list of employees whose jobs would be eliminated. There I saw the names of the couples --- both jobs would be lost in one fell swoop. I saw the name of the delightful woman from accounting who was raising her grandchildren, and then there was the name of the mom of the five year old with Down syndrome. The names of the people on the list had personalities and I was now on an emotional roller-coaster ride as the realization set in that I would be delivering the news to these people that they no longer had jobs.
Intellectually I knew the jobs needed to be eliminated. I had seen the company’s financials and understood if the organization did not make significant cuts all jobs would ultimately be lost.
It was time to come up with a plan --- to find the silver lining.
My boss was gracious enough to hear my pitch ----- and to enthusiastically embrace it. We set aside a room by the “Personnel” area (I did say this was in the 1980’s correct?) for employees to work on their resumes and receive coaching on interviewing. A job fair was arranged and local employers, staffing agencies and government agencies were invited in to assist those who were losing their jobs. Within two months of lay-offs being announced over 80% of impacted employees had job offers from other firms. The silver lining was solidified. It may have been a rookie mistake to eat in the company cafeteria....AND it is what ignited an outsourcing program.
Several months later I was at a local grocery store when I heard my name being called (the really good thing about a name like Nora...when someone yells it in the mall or at a store there is a REALLY good chance they are talking to me).......I turn and see a woman behind the bakery counter frantically motioning for me to join her. “Nora!” she exclaimed “Hi!!!”
She went on to tell me, very excitedly, that getting laid off was the absolute best thing that had ever happened to her. When she went to work at the insurance company it had not been her intention to stay there more than a year or two....but with each passing year new and different financial obligations kept her at the job. She was content, liked the people she worked with and thought highly of the company as a whole. But her passion --- what she DREAMED of doing since she had been a little girl --- was to be a pastry chef!
She confessed that she would not have left the company on her own --- she was too comfortable and too logical. What was an emotional roller coaster at the time was the best thing that could have happened to her. She was now on her way to achieving her childhood dream and was happier than she could ever remember being as an adult.
If Joan can go from content underwriter to enthusiastic bakery apprentice YOU too can find the silver lining in any challenges life may throw your way! What are YOU passionate about --- and what can you do today to make your dreams come true?
Wishing you the very best with all your endeavors,
Nora A. Burns, SPHR
Nora is founder and President of Insightful Endeavors International, Inc. She works with corporations, associations and teams across the globe to understand how our differences (cultural, generational, personality, etc) are the keys to fabulous, innovative teams vs being barriers as we often make them out to be. To register for one of her public workshops click here!
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