When redundancy strikes, is it the last straw or the beginning of something better?

Redundancy can hit suddenly, and it hits hard.

One of the things it undermines most significantly is our sense of control over our lives. I’m talking here about a value that for many has already taken a battering because of COVID and the subsequent lockdowns around the world: the concept of autonomy.

If this freedom to make your own decisions is also something you prize particularly highly, the blow redundancy delivers could feel even more personal.

In this article, I’ll be linking to a piece I wrote recently for The Group Hug: 10 Tips When Facing Redundancy; sharing a more detailed guide I published this week: Facing Redundancy? 10 Tips for a Calmer Transition; and explaining how these resources came to be written.

If you want to skip straight to those resources, scroll down the bottom of the page.

Autonomy Fights Back

Autonomy is one of my highest values and boy has it been challenged during lockdown.

Some days it can feel like I have no agency over how I will spend the day. There are strict limits on outside activity, who I can see and for how long and how close I can get to those not in my household (which, because I live alone, amounts to the whole world). Before the pandemic, I pretty much took all these simple decisions and choices for granted, but they each matter hugely to me and for now, they have all been handed over to the government. That’s a challenge.

But most days are better than this, I remember and relish the freedom I have to decide on many aspects of my day: where I walk, which tasks I complete and in which order, who I call, work with, collaborate with, which music I’ll listen to (Elbow seems to be my lockdown soundtrack), when I’ll go out to buy food, what I’ll spend time thinking about, counting the things I’m most grateful for. When it comes down to it, so many activities remain under my control.

I have to give myself a gentle reminder some days, that actually I’m one of the lucky ones. I’m well, my family are well, my friends are well. I have mental and emotional resources to draw on, and as a coach, I know how to be kind to myself - handing out permission slips to feel disgruntled at times and to allow much more flexibility in my work schedule. I know too that finding ways to live from all my values is a great source of strength.

Pandemic tremors

My finances and security have taken a knock during this pandemic, everything is now uncertain, but I have the knowledge that I can build back again. After divorce, leaving friends and a job I loved on another continent to start a new life in a city where I knew no one - that all took a dose of resilience and resourcefulness I can draw on again. I believe I will find a way through, I trust myself to somehow make it work. I don’t know exactly how yet, but I have hope, and belief that it will be OK.

That doesn’t mean throwing my hands up in the air and singing ‘che sera sera’! Well, not often anyway!

No, it means taking stock, reinventing how I work, developing the services I offer to suit these very different times, and mostly, just keeping on going. Helping where I can, connecting where it matters, recognising the common threads of suffering and loss we’re all experiencing, avoiding too much news noise, and looking after my mental health.

All this requires effort as well as hope, strategy as well as optimism, energy alongside resilience, and creativity along with persistence. The practical knowledge required to steer a business through a pandemic and recession are not enough. What makes tactics work are often the so-called ‘soft skills’ associated with mindset, emotional intelligence and character strengths.

And it’s also these that will see you through the shock of redundancy.

Redundancy during lockdown - what next?

When I was asked to write an article on redundancy by Alison March, Director of The Group Hug (a support group for those going through and rebuilding after divorce), my immediate though was ‘But I’ve never been made redundant, I don’t know what it feels like, I’m not the right person.’

Perhaps you recognise the voice of the imposter. Again, my coach training helped me to understand that this was not about me, but it was about what I could offer that might just help someone experiencing the awful shock of losing their job. I’ve written about it before after the local airline Flybe went into receivership. It was a terrible earthquake for people in this area.

I realised that while I’ve only once left a job I didn’t want to, I do know about what it takes to weather a storm, to recover, rebuild from scratch, and create a new career and a different life.

I know what it means to leave behind the person you used to be, and look squarely at the person you will be now and in the future.

I understand uncertainty, doubt, fear, loss of control, loss of identity, loss of a way of life that was familiar and loved.

And I also know that the end of one period of life, is also the start of another - and that’s why I decided to use my experience to pull together 10 tips to help anyone facing redundancy. This is about far more than CVs, it’s also about finances, wellbeing, support, strength, new alternatives - and also about the possibility that this could be a positive new start, however hard that might be to believe.

You’ll find the full article on The Group Hug website here.

10 Tips for a Calmer Transition

Download my guide here

This image gives a brief overview of the tips, but the full picture is contained in my Group Hug article.

I also wanted to add something more, so I’ve written up a more detailed guide, complete with links to useful resources. It’s called Facing Redundancy? 10 Tips for a Calmer Transition because I wanted to focus on steps to regain control of your life. To exercise autonomy.

I hope it’s useful, and if there’s anything I can do to help, please do get in touch.

Facing Redundancy?

10 Tips for a Calmer Transition.

Download my guide here

I also offer a free 30-minute discovery call for anyone wanting to discus their future career and how they can make positive changes. If you’re thinking about a new career direction, use the link below to arrange a chat. I’d love to hear from you.