Sometimes redundancy is personal, but it can still be a gift

In my work so far, in workshops, mentoring, my writing, I repeat that redundancy isn’t personal. But I’ve been reflecting. This isn’t strictly true in all circumstances.

We need to address the elephant in the room.

Sometimes your redundancy is because of your performance or because you don’t fit in. It is personal.

We aren’t meant to talk about this but it’s true. Rather than have an awkward performance management conversation, and start the often tiresome for all parties performance management process, it’s just easier to make the role redundant. Problem solved.

But the problem hasn’t been solved for the person involved. They don’t realise that it was ‘they’ that lost them their job. The company gave them an easy, softer way out by saying it’s about restructure. That pill is easier to swallow for all parties. But the individual doesn’t learn from it. They are afforded the space to blame the organisation when it would be more beneficial for them to create space for them to think about their role in the situation.

They don’t understand why they continue to find them selves in tricky situations. They think it might be just bad luck. They aren’t given help to work on themselves and change. Some may say those people are beyond help. But what if. What if the had been given the truth. Would they have responded and changed?

Is it for an organisation to deny someone the truth for their own comfort?

And is it for their own comfort.? Because if someone is redundant when it’s a performance issue then someone is still having to pick up the work.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing to say they left because they were shit. Ok that’s a bit harsh, they left because they didn’t match company expectations. That then removes the politics of the situation. It creates a clear space of understanding. The individual can still argue they weren’t under performing, the business just didn’t understand, doesn’t get it etc - but at least its based on a truthful foundation.

And, although it might be hard for the individual, they are under no illusion about what they did wrong - and given the opportunity to work on it in future.

It’s important to share truth. Company policies and legal circumstances sometimes means the truth is better avoided. But really it helps no-one in the long term. It leaves a trail of unspoken facts, whispers at the coffee bar, and somebody picking up the pieces that someone left behind.

If redundancies are big scale, it’s probably not personal.

If redundancy is just your role it might not be personal. But there is a good chance it could be.

If you find your self singled out for redundancy, take it personally. But take it personally to think about what drove that situation. Were you meeting expectations? Were you struggling, and didn’t ask for help? Were you struggling, and you did ask for help? Did your face just not fit? Are you in the wrong job?

Don’t waste time feeling bitter. Spend time thinking about what’s going on for you. The organisation has moved on. You need to as well. And you need to take ownership for your future and your success.

Own your future.

Organisations are complex, because humans are involved. You might never fully understand why it was you. There maybe no clear explanation why it was you. But what you can do is think about what you’ve learnt from your experience. Did you honestly not see this coming? Were there no clues? Or did you choose to ignore them. It’s understandable. Pressure at work, bills to pay, not knowing how to make things better. It can blur the truth about what’s going on.

Turn that energy about ‘they did this to me, they don’t know what they are doing, they have the issues’ to ‘what can I learn from this’.

You might just be in the wrong job.

You might just be in the wrong organisation.

You might just not be the manager’s cup of tea.

You might not be aligned to the expectations of the job.

Take time to think about what’s going on. You can move onwards and upwards, but maybe it’s time for a new direction.

Sometimes redundancy is personal. But be strong, you can still turn it into a gift.