I want to focus on the importance of managing mindsets, emotional experience and psychosocial risk at work – which, I believe, is one of the great tools of leadership. It’s hard to manage anything if you can’t manage your own emotional state, isn’t it? It starts with self-leadership (leading your own thoughts and experience). You can then develop the skills to lead others’ emotional experience and mindset.
As an outplacement consultant I work with organisations that are planning to make positions redundant. I work with leaders making the decisions – and employees who have been offered re-deployment or retrenchment. Sometimes I work with businesses who go into receivership.
This is what I know about mindsets and emotional states at times of redundancy and business failure
- Everyone is impacted – those who stay, those who have to leave, those giving the news and making the decisions. Emotional states are fluctuating and stress is often high. Leaders feel anxious and often guilty; those not being asked to leave feel sad and often feel guilty that they “survived the cut”; those who are asked to consider re-deployment or redundancy are often shocked, angry – and fearful.
- Great leaders manage their own mindset and emotions and lead the mindset and emotional experience of others. Helping people to keep on an even keel and to see what upside there could be is a great skill.
- Leaders sometimes “fail”. Businesses go into administration. It can feel like chaos and there can be a lot of guilt. At times like this – everyone, especially leaders, need our support.
Psychosocial safety is a critical workplace health and safety obligation during redundancy processes, with regulators now having the power to intervene if a process is managed in a way that creates a risk of psychological harm. Employers must proactively manage the risks of psychological injury for all employees—both those being made redundant and those who remain.
What makes redundancy a psychosocial risk?
Redundancy can create several psychosocial hazards and cause psychological harm. These risks can affect the mental well-being of all employees involved.
For employees, the hazards include:
- Job insecurity and uncertainty and anxiety about “who is next?”
- Guilt that they were “one of the lucky ones” who missed the cut.
- Poor or rushed communication and shock about the news
- A lack of support (obviously this will be mediated by the outplacement consultant that you choose to work with your people – but don’t neglect managers and those staying who may feel shock, guilt and feel angry that the organisation “abandoned” their colleagues)
- Stress of choosing re-deployment or not (often in a short time frame)
- Increased workload: Are some of the responsibilities from the redundant positions going to be taken on by remaining staff, leading to job overload and burnout?
- Poor communication and support: Leaders can feel stressed about talking about what’s happened and the realities of what may be to come and, as a result, employees may feel stressed, worried they have to “compete” with their colleagues to stay – resulting in fractured workplace relationships and low morale.
What can employers do to manage psychosocial safety during redundancy?
To protect workers and manage legal and reputational risks, employers should integrate psychosocial safety measures into all operations. To integrate psychosocial safety into your redundancy process it helps if you start well before redundancies are thought about with your ongoing daily practices.
Here are some ideas.
Before the redundancy process
- Build a culture of safety: Prioritise psychological safety by creating an environment of open communication and trust.
- Train leaders: Equip leaders with the skills to: understand and manage their own emotional state and mindset; understand how people react during times of change and transition; and have difficult conversations and manage sensitive situations with empathy and respect.
Ask your outplacement consultant to help you with such training.
During the redundancy process
Focus on clear communication, two-way communication and discussion, providing clarity and choices, compass and continuously checking how people are going.
- Strategic planning:
- Identify and assess psychosocial risks specific to the impending redundancy.
- Plan for extended consultation timelines to allow for meaningful input and adjustment. You especially will need to give people time to consider re-deployment options which you must offer if there are any available.
- Proactive consultation:
- Inform employees of the organisation’s position and the reasons for the change to reduce uncertainty.
- Provide forums for affected employees to ask questions and receive clear, timely feedback.
- Compassion:
- Deliver news with empathy, respect, and clear information about next steps.
- Provide support services, such as Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) and Outplacement Services.
- Post-process support:
- Provide outplacement services which support individuals psychologically and with their career transition. Provide written references and any specific additional information you may have about government support for your ex-employees.
- Share information as transparently as you can with remaining employees about the reasons for the restructure and if there will be no further redundancies, to quell anxiety. Provide confidential psychological support such as EAP counselling where necessary.
- Assess and manage the workloads of remaining employees to prevent burnout.
- Create and maintain detailed records of the steps taken to assess and address psychosocial risks.
The legal implications of ignoring psychosocial safety
Work health and safety (WHS) laws across Australia now treat psychological health risks with the same gravity as physical risks. Ignoring these obligations can result in serious consequences for employers including stop work orders, claims for workers compensation and reputational damage if a poorly managed redundancy results in bad press and others leaving.
So, as a leader – what kind of leader are you? Do you lead people, projects, budgets, organisations, a community, a State, a Country? Do you lead your own mind and emotions? Do you impact the mindset of your employees? Do you lead the emotional experience of others around you?
When I was very young, I used to think “anyone would have reacted that way if that happened to them” – it wasn’t until I got much older that I realised that some people had access to tools and ways of thinking that enabled them to choose their emotional experience, manage their own thoughts and emotions – and even lead the emotional state of others. When I knew there were tools to help me manage my emotional experience in this world – I went in search of them.
Do you have the tools to manage your own mindset when things are tough? Do you manage your emotional experience? Can you influence the emotional experience of others around you?
The essence of leadership is thought leadership and state management
Some leaders are masters of emotional experience. I’m talking about people who manage their mindset (especially in challenging times) and who manage the emotional state of others around them. A master of managing emotional states is Tony Robbins – not only can he choose his own emotional experience but he can also direct the emotional experience of a room of 10,000 people. I’ve seen it, I’ve experienced it. Maybe you can think of a co-worker who does this in your workplace; or a child educator who can manage their own emotional state and that of many children at the same time? This kind of leadership is very powerful.
Leaders sometimes experience “failure” and often experience challenge.
I work with leaders who have to plan for unwanted change, including downsizing, redundancies and even entering into receivership. What makes a true leader at a time like this? It’s how they manage their mindset – and the mindsets of those around them who are directly impacted. Leadership starts with mindset and state – managing your own emotional state in difficult times is difficult, great leaders also lead the emotional state and mindset of those around them. When leaders around you seem to “fail” – that’s the time to be supportive, to help them to manage their emotional experience and thoughts.
How do you manage your own emotional state?
Look up “Tony Robbins Triad” to discover the three parts of your life, under your control, that you can change to impact on your emotional experience of life, or see Tony’s Triad Model, mapped against wellbeing tools, on my website. Click here and scroll down: https://www.developmentatwork.com.au/wellness/
Conclusions
1 To be a powerful leader you need to be able to manage your mindset and emotional state.
2 To have influence, leaders will influence others’ emotional states and mindsets
3 The law reminds leaders that they must take care to prevent psychosocial risks at work – including at times of redundancy
4 Leaders who “fail” need our support.
For more on stop work orders related to redundancy and psychological risk see:
For information about outplacement services, psychological and wellbeing support for leaders, retrenched employees and those who stay – call Bridget Hogg for information and prices on 0477 016966 or email bridget@developmentatwork.com.au. See www.outplacementadelaide.com.au for testimonials and further information about outplacement services.