There is an interesting question sent to me, asking, "With so much of layoffs happening in the companies around the world, how can one deal effectively with layoffs?"
I traveled to Mexico to facilitate a workshop for a company and for their leadership team. Now during the lunch, the discussion revolved around the rapid changes that were taking place globally in the business environment today and how hard every company works to prepare and adapt to these changes. And amongst all this conversation, I sensed that one of the biggest concerns these executives had was about the layoffs that keep happening in the organisation. And they were always concerned of what if they would lose their job.
So I think this is not something new. We are the corporate world. You know, for more than 21 years, I've been associated with the corporate world through my coaching and I see that layoffs are a huge part of our corporate culture. Most people remain concerned about layoffs, and they're always praying that their name is never on it. So they're always living at the edge of their work.
Now the reason you know, whenever someone asks me about these layoffs and how they should deal with them, I ask people this question, "Are you prepared to lose your job if your company was to take you out?" And at all times they are stunned at this question that I asked them. Well my friend, the reason I asked this question is to make you prepared for losing your job, and to make you prepared to get something better in your career life. See, we all are governed by the Universal Law of Impermanence. If you read my second book, I have written a lot about it. We operate in a highly complex and fast changing business environment. Things change, people change. You know your boss changes. The environment of the company changes, the economy changes.
There are times when you feel like utter garbage and you've got to understand that it won't last. And there are times when you're sitting on top of the world, everything is going well, you're getting promoted, things are going good, and that too will end. The reason we fear layoff is because we believe things are permanent. And because you believe things are permanent, you stop learning, you stop growing. You're just comfortable where you are. But the moment you realize that everything in the business sphere is impermanent, that everything in it will come to an end, that is the time that you will be able to face the ever changing and disruptive professional world fearlessly and afresh, and so, rather than fearing the layoff.
And when the answer is yes, I am prepared, it means you are. You have become a person who can get a job anywhere because you have transformed yourself in many ways.
Your Good Friend + Mentor
Payal Nanjiani
Leadership Expert | Author| Executive Coach
Listen to the full episode on Layoffs, here.
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