Thursday, June 9, 2011

Fear of Redundancy

Redundancy: a word that may strike fear in the hearts of performing staff. When the company undergoes massive transformation, it may relinquish staff in order to re-engineer its value. It can be demoralizing and depressing to be asked to leave a company that you served for many years. It can be crippling and painful to be ripped from the corporate umbilical cord of the company you felt that you served loyally. Retrenchment is the corporation’s answer to excess baggage while it undergoes corporate restructuring, down-sizing, right-sizing and re-engineering.

Pacers at marathons and half-marathons may be made redundant if their pacing deviates too much. If they run too slowly, they may disappoint runners aiming for a personal best time. Runners appreciate them when they stick to their intended pace, and even encourage the first-timers through their toughest moments. Pacers are leaders, who decided to lead others to their goals instead of their own; in a way, they are sacrificial lambs, but in a positive way.

It may pay to underplay your ambitions. If you had a bad day or year, your perceived value may be lessened. Think long-term and strategic in your career. Go far. Go long. Enhance your personal effectiveness and value. Upgrade and update your potential through improving and enhancing your skills, knowledge, mindset, attitude, competencies, experiences, exposure, expertise, relationships, values, beliefs, thinking, and more. Make yourself contemporary (instead of just traditional) and relevant!

Leadership Lessons: How do you enhance the value of your team? How do you manage redundancy? How can you assist your staff keep their jobs? How do you shift from redundancy to relevancy?

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