Guest article is by John Cooke, chief executive of a trade association in the telecoms sector.
These are some thoughts about what leaders and managers should do to cope in the midst of major restructuring exercises, especially those involving redundancies. It came about from a talk I gave to a group whose members were about to start some major restructuring programmes, and had asked me for my ‘top tips’ on surviving restructuring. This certainly isn’t a definitive or comprehensive guide to the subject, but I hope that it might be of some use to anyone facing a restructuring exercise, especially if you haven’t been through it before.
It is based on personal experience and observation of three major mergers, of several other major restructurings in between times, and of leading the stakeholder communications around the closure of a variety of industrial and commercial facilities. The merger experience covers once as part of the team doing the taking over, once in a ‘merger of equals’, and once in a firm being taken over: I’ve done some restructuring, and I’ve also been restructured.
Here are seven things to think about during restructuring. They are:
- Look after yourself.
- Remember your personal brand.
- Don’t get mad. Don’t get even. Think instead what you can learn.
- Be true to yourself.
- Don’t spread yourself too thinly.
- The Western Front and Eric Cantona
- Look after your people.
Why are there seven steps? That’s simply because that’s how I’ve chosen to arrange these observations. I could have made it five, or twelve, or seventeen, but opted for seven because lots of lists come in sevens, like dwarves, wonders of the world, samurai, or gunslingers led by Yul Brynner.
They are in no particular order, with two exceptions. The advice to look after yourself is deliberately first, because if you don’t do this first, you may not be in a fit state to do the other things. The advice to look after your people is deliberately last, not because it is of least importance, but because you’ll be much better at looking after your people if you’ve thought about all the other things first.
1. LOOK AFTER YOURSELF
If your organization is restructuring, and you might up with a less enjoyable job or no job at all, it’s important that you look after yourself. This is first on the list because if you don’t do it, you may not be in a fit state to do the other things, and because managers in a crisis often do forget to look after themselves.
If you don’t have any people to lead, it’s entirely reasonable to look after yourself, because looking after you may well not be a priority for anyone else, including HR or your manager. But if you do have people to lead, and are trying to be fair to them and to maintain their morale, it’s very important that you look after yourself, too. That isn’t being selfish, either. Rather, it’s because as a leader, you have a duty of care to those whom you lead. How can you fulfil that duty of care if you yourself are stressed-out and demoralized, and operating below par?
Think of it like the oxygen masks on a plane. You are told to put yours on first before helping others. If you are sitting next to a loved one, that may sound selfish. But if you’ve passed out, you won’t be able to help them.
Part of looking after yourself is remembering not to beat yourself up if you have to break bad news to others, or thinking that if something has gone wrong you must be to blame. Hand-loom weavers didn’t lose their jobs in the Industrial Revolution because they were bad weavers, but because Mr Hardwood had invented the steam-powered ‘Ravelling Nancy’ or whatever. Most of the crew of the Titanic had nothing to do with it hitting the iceberg. Redundant video or cassette tape salesmen aren’t redundant because they were bad salesmen, but because we moved to DVDs, CDs and downloads. Stuff happens, and in most cases, it’s almost certainly not your fault, so don’t go thinking that it is. You are probably just someone trying to do his or her best to cope with the fallout. This advice does not apply, of course, if you are the general who thought it would be a good idea for the Light Brigade to charge into the Valley of Death, but it does apply to most of the people most of the time.
2. REMEMBER YOUR PERSONAL BRAND
In managing one’s career, a good bit of advice is to think about your own personal brand – how you want others to perceive you. . Like any other brand, its reputation must be protected. And that seems to me to be as true during difficult times as it is in good times, though few of us remember to do it.
Many people think of a brand just in terms of a product, or a service, but it also covers people. That may be true for the likes of a politician or sports personality, you may think, but not for most people. You may think that, but you’d be wrong. Everybody is perceived by others in a certain way, and has certain attributes attributed to them, whether they like it or not. Think of your colleagues, and you will almost always think of an attribute that they have: Ben, in finance, may be known for his passionate support of Partick Thistle; Julie in HR for wearing short skirts; Bill, in marketing for being determined to get the job done; and Sandra, in sales, for being creative. Whether or not you have your own marketing campaign and registered trademark, you have a brand, i.e. a quality or qualities that people think of when your name comes up. And it’s something you should probably work on, rather than just leaving to chance. You wouldn’t do that in a job interview, and nor should you the rest of the time. And in a crisis, your brand is particularly important.
In a crisis, you will be watched by your peers, by those above and below you in the management chain, and, possibly, by potential alternative employers. How do you want them to think of you? Do you want them to think of you as someone unable to cope in a crisis, or as someone keeping his or her head in difficult circumstances? Do you want to be pitied, or respected? That last is, of course, a rhetorical question.
Make sure that they all see the image that you want to convey – the swan gliding serenely over the surface of the water, not the angst-ridden, mad paddling below the surface. Remember, most others around you, including those who appear calm in a crisis, will also be racked by internal doubt: it’s just that they don’t show it. Either that or they are from the planet Vulcan.
Your brand is particularly important when you are leading people through a crisis. Think of it as if you are the captain of a ship in a bad storm, and your team is the crew. The captain might say, “Look, this is a really serious situation, but our best chance is if everyone does their jobs as well as they can”. Or he might say, “We are all doomed”. One of these approaches is likely to produce a better outcome for all concerned than the other.
3. DON’T GET MAD, AND DON’T TRY TO GET EVEN; THINK INSTEAD WHAT YOU CAN LEARN
Restructuring very often involves a breaking of what we see as the unwritten moral contract between an organisation and its employees. That contract is that if you work hard and conscientiously, and deliver what you are reasonably asked to do, the organisation will do right by you in return. Sometimes, the organisation can’t deliver its part of the bargain. That’s not necessarily because management is stupid, or doesn’t care, or is trying to exploit you: sometimes, an organisation and its managers are simply overtaken by events.
Whatever the causes of the breakdown, two possible reactions to it are: first, a sense that it is unfair; and, second, a desire to lash out in anger at the party that has ‘betrayed your trust’. These are perfectly normal, understandable human reactions. The problem with them is that you can expend a vast amount of time and, more importantly, emotional energy thinking about the injustice that’s been done to you and working out how to get revenge. But that doesn’t really get you very far in improving your situation. It’s easier said than done, but when you feel let down and angry, don’t get mad, don’t waste time trying to work out how to get even, just accept the situation you are in, and try to work out how to make the best of it.
The main thing is this. Imagine yourself in a job interview, six months or a year from now. The interviewer asks something like “So, you were in the midst of this awful restructuring. What did you learn from it?” And you answer “Well, I learnt X, Y, and Z. And I can now apply that learning in this role we are discussing now”. So, despite all the crap going on around you, ask yourself at the end of each day or each week what you have learned and how that enhances your CV.
I said earlier that bad stuff happens, and in most cases, it’s almost certainly not your fault. While that’s true, it doesn’t mean that you have no responsibility for anything, or that you won’t make mistakes. You do, and you will. Just remember to learn from them – a lesson that applies at all times, not just in restructuring. “Mistakes”, said James Joyce, “are the portals of discovery”. Or, as Plutarch put it “to make no mistakes is not in the power of man; but from their errors and mistakes, the wise and the good learn wisdom for the future”. At least that was the gist of it, as he was talking Ancient Greek, obviously.
4. BE TRUE TO YOURSELF
During difficult restructuring, simply surviving may well represent success, and it has a lot to be said for it. However as Jimmy Reid said in his inaugural address as Rector of Glasgow University, in 1972:
“Reject the insidious pressures in society that would blunt your critical faculties to all that is happening around you, that would caution silence in the face of injustice lest you jeopardise your chances of promotion and self-advancement. This is how it starts, and before you know where you are, you’re a fully paid-up member of the rat-pack. The price is too high. It entails the loss of your dignity and human spirit. Or as Christ put it, “What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?”
Few of us are lucky enough to have our ideal job, and life is often about some compromises at the best of times. So we should be particularly willing to compromise in a restructuring. Compromise may be essential if you are to be able to feed and clothe your loved ones, or indeed yourself. But whatever you do, don’t compromise your core principles or core values. If you do, you’ll end up disliking yourself, and that will inevitably turn into a downward spiral of low self-esteem, low achievement, failure and despair. Just don’t go down that route. Remember Jimmy Reid’s advice.
5. DON’T STRETCH YOURSELF TOO THINLY
If you are the manager working out how to do stuff with fewer people or less money, be realistic about what you can achieve.
There’s always a bit of waste in any organisation, so you should look for maximum efficiency, but ‘efficiency savings’, much beloved of all politicians everywhere, will only get you so far. You need to avoid overstretch. It’s much better to do a few important things and do them well, rather than trying to do too much and doing it all badly. With the former you’ll please some of the people, and the rest will understand if you explain it to them. If they don’t, that’s tough. And you will have by then agreed with your line manager what’s most important.
If something is a statutory obligation, you’ve no choice but to do it. For everything else, you do have a choice. So ask yourself, “is this activity critical to our success, and would the sky fall in if we stopped doing it?” If yes, keep doing it. If no, it’s a candidate for the chop.
In doing this exercise, be ruthless in considering what’s critical. ‘Critical’ means ‘critical’. It doesn’t mean ‘handy’, or ‘useful’, or ‘desirable’ or something that must be done ‘because we’ve always done it that way’ or because the Head of Paperclips requires a weekly report on it.
You will win no friends and do nothing to further your career if you meekly accept being told to do the impossible, and then fail to deliver the required miracle.
6. THE WESTERN FRONT AND ERIC CANTONA
In case the title of this bit isn’t self-explanatory, let me elaborate. There are two parts to it. The first is to remember that there’s always someone worse off than you. The second is to remember Eric Cantona, and I’ll get to him in a minute.
One of the most excruciatingly irritating things to be told when you are in a painful or stressful or upsetting situation is that someone else is experiencing something similar or worse. When I’ve broken a finger, or have had toothache, I haven’t felt less pain if someone told me that it’s not nearly as bad as childbirth or whatever. One reason someone else telling you this sort of thing is so annoying is that you might recognize more than a grain of truth in the argument. And if you tell yourself that someone is worse off than you are, that can help.
I’ll tell you what has sometimes worked for me.
That has been to remember that, though I may, at times, have been unhappy with aspects of my job, or my then manager, or facing potential redundancy, if I’d been born in a different generation, it could have been worse: I might have been in a hole in the ground in northern France, covered in mud, and being shelled. That sometimes works for me, because it happened to my grandfather when he was a young man serving in the Gordon Highlanders, and I have fond memories of him. Not that he ever really talked about it, but I do have a photo of him on my mantelpiece. Find an image that resonates with you, assuming that you don’t also remember my granddad. It might be something that you’ve read about or seen on TV: the image of a starving child in the Horn of Africa does rather put a different perspective on a slightly lower than expected pay rise or missed promotion.
Now let me turn to Eric Cantona.
Let’s suppose that you are facing redundancy. It happens. Redundancy and unemployment are bad. They are scary, demoralising, can lower your self-esteem and are bad for your physical and mental health. So I don’t want to play down the impact. However, lots of people who are made redundant do end up with better jobs and with happier more fulfilled lives. It is not the end of the world. It can be, especially if you let it, but it doesn’t have to be. If you do get made redundant, remember Eric.
In 1992, Eric was playing for Leeds. His then manager, Howard Wilkinson sold him to Manchester United. This wasn’t because Manchester was offering a king’s ransom of a transfer fee that Leeds just couldn’t refuse. On the contrary, they paid about £1.2million – chickenfeed in football transfer terms. It was simply that Wilkinson and Leeds thought Cantona surplus to requirements. Or, put another way, ‘redundant’. Wilkinson was not a bad manager – he guided Leeds to the English championship in 1992. If you know anything about football, the rest, as they say, is history.
However, if you don’t know football, I will explain. Man. United had spent a quarter of a century, without Eric Cantona, failing to become English champions. With Cantona as star player, they won four titles in five years, including two League and FA Cup Doubles. It wasn’t all down to Eric, of course. But Man. United is one of the world’s most famous and successful clubs, with a host of star players in its history. Among United fans, Cantona is an idol, a demigod, a legend amongst legends. Not bad for someone deemed ‘surplus to requirements’.
So if you do get made redundant, don’t automatically think that you are a worthless failure. You are simply surplus to requirements in somebody’s subjective opinion – however objective they say they’ve been in reaching that decision. Remember Eric Cantona!
7. LOOK AFTER YOUR PEOPLE
Big restructuring programmes involving, or even potentially involving, redundancies are bad for morale! They can lead to a sense of alienation and disaffection. People worry when there’s uncertainty. As a leader or manager, one of your jobs is to manage this. How you do so depends on the situation, but some generic tips are:
Talk to your people more than usual. Listen to them even more so. Don’t assume what they are thinking or feeling. Don’t think “if I were so and so, I’d want X to happen/the logical course would be Y”. For one thing, logic often flies out of the window at times of stress, but more fundamentally, you are not so and so, and you don’t know what’s in their mind. If in doubt, ask them.
Keep asking them, because their view might change. I recall one colleague who, in a particular restructuring, wanted redundancy. They didn’t want to work in the new set up, and they wanted the payoff. But when the letter arrived, they felt ‘rejected’ and needed support.
Pay particular attention to younger, less experienced staff members. You might think they’ve less to worry about, e.g. no kids, no mortgage, etc, but they can be hit hard by the threat of redundancy, when older hands, who’ve seen it before, may be much more relaxed.
If someone is appearing to be coping well, don’t take that at face value. They may be coping well, in which case, that’s fine. But check that they aren’t in denial. It can happen, and if it does, you’ll need to work with the person to get them to address the reality of the situation.
There isn’t a golden rule about how different people will react, so treat them all as individuals. It may be that the one you think will cope best won’t, and the one you think might cope worst will be fine.
Try to be as reassuring and empathetic as possible, but don’t patronize or give them some old flannel that you don’t believe and they won’t believe either. Subject to HR constraints (ask HR for guidance on this) be as open and honest as possible. Don’t hide bad news; just try to break it gently, and do your best to help people find a way through.
Where redundancies are involved, don’t assume that those keeping their jobs are fine. Seeing friends and colleagues getting the chop can lead to ‘survivor guilt’.
Where people are being made redundant, you still need to look after them. It’s morally the right thing to do. And it could happen to you, one day, so do unto others etc. Also, remember that those left behind will see how those being made redundant are treated: their view of you and of the organisation will be affected accordingly.
Give people something positive to think about and to work towards. Give them something to learn. (See ‘Don’t get mad’, etc)
If you are in a position of authority, don’t encourage mutiny. People will grumble. That’s natural. Accept it. Letting them let off steam may help morale. But be careful to avoid being seen to agree too much with criticism of senior management, even if you think your people have a point. Think of Tom Hanks in ‘Saving Private Ryan’. In a crisis, people will cope better if they think someone in authority has at least some notion of how to fix it. If you agree too readily that the high heid yins in your organisation are a bunch of numpties who couldn’t run a whelk stall, this risks undermining morale even further. Caveats to this advice are that you should not blindly defend things that are immoral (see the Jimmy Reid quotation in ‘Be true to yourself’), or just plain daft, and also remember your brand.
John Cooke
John Cooke is chief executive of a trade association in the telecoms sector. His background is in public affairs and policy, and his career has included senior roles at HBOS, in financial services, and GlaxoSmithKline, in pharmaceuticals. A former Chair of the Scottish Government’s Financial Services Implementation Group(FiSIG) John remains passionate about creating a more successful Scotland, where sustainable growth provides opportunities for all her people to flourish. He is a regular commentator, in a personal capacity, on a range of Scottish policy and economic issues, and on other business matters. One of the Diaspora who has returned, he now lives in Edinburgh.
