Pack Your Parachute - Living Through Layoffs!

Layoffs happen. Most likely, you either have already or will
experience a layoff during your career. When they occur, you have
no control over when or how they happen. Being blindsided by a
layoff can be devastating, depending on how prepared you may be
to handle it.

I've worked at 7 seven companies where layoffs occurred and have
been laid off at 4 of those companies. I've also had to be the
person to carry out the layoffs and terminate people. Being on
both sides of the layoff, I have been taught the value of always
being prepared; always having a parachute if you get pushed out
of the airplane while in flight.

Being prepared means knowing how to Pack Your Parachute and carry
it with you at all times ready if you get laid off, change
companies, or if funding dries up. In the show today I walk you
through:

1. Dealing with the loss and grief of being laid off, losing
friends and colleagues.


2. How to move into grief, including a breathing exercise, during
the initial loss.


3. The three steps of packing your parachute which include rest
and recovery, re-connecting and then finally reformulating
yourself in a new way and restarting your career.

I also talk about the inside company re-connection and how a
"side hustle" within your company can be beneficial.

Ultimately, packing your parachute builds the muscle of
resilience–the core strength needed to use your parachute one or
more times over the course of your career!

Episode Highlights:


[04:35] As of this recording, Google has just laid off 12,000
people. Microsoft also laid off 10,000 people. Before that,
Amazon also laid off a large number of people.


[05:13] Layoffs aren't uncommon. They are cyclical. This is why
people need to be able to pack their own parachute.


[05:41] It's also important to be where you are and grieve the
loss.


[06:27] The five stages of grief include shock and denial, anger,
depression, detachment, and the final stage of acceptance.


[08:28] You can invoke the eight second breathing technique to
deal with these stages of grief.


[08:52] Inhale for eight seconds. Hold your breath for one
second. Exhale for eight seconds.


[09:10] This is about the amount of time that it takes to shift
your body from the sympathetic or fight or flight reaction to
parasympathetic which takes you out of the fight or flight.


[12:11] You have to rest and recover before you move on to
anything else when packing your parachute. Develop a practice of
rest and recovery throughout the day.


[13:21] When you move on to dialogue and bargaining and reaching
out to others is when you begin to reconnect. You begin to
appreciate your new opportunity to move forward.


[14:55] I share a story about when I wanted to move from selling
hardware to software after a layoff.


[17:07] The “inside the company” reconnection. This is a side
hustle inside the company. I want to be connected across
disciplines and operating units. It's an opportunity to go deeper
and wider inside the company.


[18:42] The final stage of grief is acceptance. This is when you
restructure and restart who and how you are going to be in the
career portion of your life.


[19:33] The layoff may have actually been a bit of a gift and an
opening. Use this time to reformat and restructure your work.


[20:08] Ultimately, packing your parachute builds the muscle of
resilience.


Links & Resources:


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