The worldwide layoffs are hitting in with companies like Meta, Amazon, and more laying off employees in 2023. While this is a hard time to lead through, it is often needed to keep businesses running in the long run.
While layoffs are never easier, they are made easier by good leaders who can lead through these difficult times. Here are some tips to lead through these times!
Leading Through Layoffs
Leading through layoffs is difficult, especially when you are losing team members and friends. But you hold the power and responsibility to lead your team through these times and into a better tomorrow.
Here are some tips on how to lead better in these times:
- Get Better at Being Left
People leave, its part of life. While it is hard to lose valued and hard-working team members, there could be better opportunities waiting for them elsewhere. As a leader, you need to get better at being left and to accept that people leaving is good and necessary.
- Have Difficult Conversations
Most leaders and companies skip out on exit interviews as they can be hard to have. However, the information gained from these conversations can be invaluable!
- How do you value people?
People stay where they are valued! Look at how you value people and how you could value them better. Consider the 5 love languages to understand what makes different individuals feel valued.
- Get People to Believe in You!
People will follow those whom they believe in. Get your team to believe in you, and they will follow you through the storm to a better tomorrow. People often quit on people, not the business. So, keep them believing and invested in you.
- Find Ways to Motivate
When layoffs are happening, and people are leaving, it can be hard to find motivation amongst the carnage. However, finding ways to motivate and inspire your team during this time is the only way to get them through this! Find the positive and find the motivation.
- Be Open to Learning
Challenging times are the best times to learn. However, you can only learn if you are open to learning. Develop and maintain an open to learning mind that will help you to grow through any situation.
You will get hurt, people will leave, and some will even blame you. That’s part of being a leader. You need to take this, use it to get stronger, and lead your organization through these challenging times.
Many businesses fail because leaders are too afraid to make the difficult decisions, and to have the difficult conversations, until it is too late! Don’t be one of them.