Protecting your team from layoffs
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Some background about this chapter
I wanted to share this chapter because the industry is announcing a new wave of layoffs. I wrote this article originally in 2014 when I heard about layoffs from friends at a former employer. Many layoffs we hear about these days involve companies canceling entire divisions or products and letting go of their respective organizations. This type of layoff is different from what I discuss in the article. My former employer conducted a near-annual exercise in the style of GE, where they let go of some percentage of the company. However, the across-the-board cuts are still quite common.
The advice in this article still holds up, so I'm sharing it. I hope it will be helpful for you as a lead, manager, senior manager, or even as an IC to know how to raise your (or your team's) visibility in an organization.
While I don't discuss it in this chapter, I have had to lay off employees and entire teams at prior companies. It is a gut-wrenching exercise. I've spoken about it but have yet to write much about it. I've been so busy with the book launch that I haven't written much on the blog lately, but if you'd be interested in an article about letting people go with empathy and compassion, let me know.
Protecting your team from layoffs
Originally published on October 3, 2014
It’s that time of year again; when my inbox and social media feeds fill with news of former coworkers who got caught in my old company’s yearly layoff exercise.
I’d like to say that I was lucky that in eight years as a manager there I didn’t have to lay off anyone, but it was a lot of very hard work. So, for my former colleagues or any manager, here are some tips to help you keep your team visible and vital in a large company. It was never a matter of just the groups or individuals doing a poor job would get hit. It was the teams and individuals who weren’t visible beyond their immediate peers. If management doesn’t know who you are or why what you do is important, they are far less likely to keep you around.
Stay Focused on Company Priorities
Senior management hopefully is making the company priorities clear. Unfortunately, an anti-pattern I often have seen is to ignore these messages because “It will just shift again. I’m working on the critical stuff.” This attitude is willfully ignoring that clear prioritization message. It is equivalent to saying that you are smarter than your company’s senior leadership. This may be true, but I guarantee they have much more insight into the competitive landscape than you do. Ignoring them is not only lousy self-preservation, but it is also disrespectful.
As a leader, you must always ensure that your team works on items relevant to the company's priorities. This doesn’t mean you should completely pivot every time priorities change, but you should adapt your team’s mission to support those priorities.
Keep Your Team and Team Members Visible
It has been said that the best way to promote yourself as a manager is to hire people more intelligent than you and support them as best as you can. This is true in my experience.
If you have smart people, ensure they are visible in the larger organization. Give them public kudos for work well done and opportunities to demonstrate their brilliance, like internal tech talks or blog posts.
The visibility of bright individuals has a halo effect on their team, especially if there are multiple bright folks on the team. At layoff time, your team will be too awesome to mess with. Building a bright team also reflects well on you as their manager.
I want to make one thing clear, however. Visibility isn’t about people tooting their own horn over mediocre accomplishments. It is about doing good work and then talking about it. Intelligence without application is valueless. Do something extraordinary aligned with company goals, and then talk about it. Share the knowledge and share the lessons with others. I call this “taking a victory lap.”
Manage Out Low Performers
This advice may seem counter-intuitive in a layoff-prone company. For example, you might think you should keep your low performers around if you may some day need to lay someone off. But unfortunately, this is incorrect on multiple levels.
First, it is a jerk move. If you have folks struggling in your environment/culture, you aren’t doing them any favors by keeping them around as “cannon fodder.” If they are a bad fit and haven’t improved with all manner of coaching and mentoring, help them find a better role. It is the best thing you can do for them.
Second, they bring the rest of their team down. The rest of your team may be great, but those low performers will be a drag on the whole team, performance and morale-wise.
Poor performers give you and your team a negative vibe, just like high-performing folks give you a positive one. When it comes time for senior management to cut people, having known poor performers makes you a target. Instead, build a reputation for raising the level of your worst performers or managing out the ones you can’t help. Actively managing your team will help inoculate your employees from a layoff. When senior management decides to lay off, it may not just be your lowest performers that are affected. Better to protect the whole team and do the right thing for people who would be happier elsewhere.
Manage Up
This guidance may sound political or calculating, but it isn’t meant that way. When I say, “manage up,” I mean actively communicating with your manager and soliciting help or feedback when needed.
Your manager is busy. They are probably unaware of what is happening in every team in their organization. If you have great performers in your team, tell your boss when they accomplish something noteworthy. If you have folks with issues, let your boss know what you are doing to help them. Let your boss know how you align your team’s goals with the company and its goals. Then get feedback. What could you be doing better? Is there something you are missing strategically? By nature of their place in the organization, they have more visibility into what is happening across the company. Take advantage of that.
Knowing more about your team and its capabilities will be necessary when a senior leader looks across their organization to decide where to make some tough cuts.
These techniques aren’t just for protecting the team from layoffs
Hopefully, these tips shouldn’t seem only like good ways to manage against layoffs but like good strategies for managing, period. You should always recognize top performers for their work, raise the level or manage out the low performers, align with the company’s priorities, and make sure your boss knows what is going on.
Thanks again for reading! If you find it helpful, please share it with your friends.