What's Next? Career Development After a Downsizing
While the fears of the newly-unemployed are understandably large and overwhelming, let’s shift gears a bit to consider an often-ignored group: the employees left behind after the downsizing is over.Their fears aren’t negligible. Not only is there the fear and anticipation of one day being made redundant as well, there’s also the stress of:
- Losing their friends and colleagues
- Taking on a heavier workload to compensate
- Having to navigate a new organizational structure and new lines of communication
- Learning exactly where they fit into the still-shifting structure, and what their roles are
But the survivors of a downsizing also need a more solid organizational future to move toward for two reasons:
- The confusion of roles, communication channels, and purpose that often follows a downsizing can lead to a weakened organization.
- Those confusions and fears often cause those employees to start to disengage.
Dispelling Fear after a Downsizing with Career Development Opportunities
You might argue that there isn’t really an equivalent to outplacement services for these employees. I will argue that there is, and that it takes the form of career development offerings.Why? Career development can offer three invaluable things at this crossroads:
- The means for employees to grow in their careers, increasing their skill sets and their confidence in themselves as talented individuals
- The means for employees to move within the organization, given the resources to recognize the opportunities that still exist after the downsizing within the new structure
- The means for the organization itself to grow and develop by using its existing talent differently
Downsizing brings huge upheaval and cultural change, to be sure – but instilling career development attitudes into that new culture can create stability and promote growth.
Strengthen and Grow Your Organization
Career development after a downsizing has the potential to do more than just provide transparency and career development tools, however. Post-downsizing, organizations are structurally weak. Remaining employees always end up wearing several more hats than they’d previously had to, and may not be aware of their own or others’ new official roles and responsibilities, or what the new lines of communication are.Developmental efforts can strengthen the organization by targeting points in the structure that may now be weaker than they previously were. Depending on the size and scale of what areas need development and strengthening, you may want to use:
- Self-directed career development for promoting organizational mobility
- Mentoring for knowledge-sharing efforts, including building the succession pipeline, developing leaders, or strengthening cross-functional teams
- Coaching for high-potentials and leaders
Learn more about Insala's career development solutions.
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