As of last month, I have been working for my current employer for 20 years. I started working for my organization one month after my 16th birthday (yes, this reveals my age.) We, like many others, are facing an unprecedented economic crisis. Our budget has dropped some 30% over the last several years, forcing our executive management to make some tough decisions.
The middle of this week was “d-day” as the action steps, designed to save jobs and preserve services to our customers, were announced. In an odd twist fate, I was unable to attend the meeting when staff, for the first time, would learn what was to become of them. I was dreading returning to work later that day, as I was sure “doom and gloom” would be the prevailing emotion.
To my astonishment, people were genuinely grateful, and dare I say some were even joyful at the announcements. Despite pay cuts and reduction in service hours, there would be no layoffs. It was simply amazing to see so many people, faced with such adversity, come together and proclaim they were thankful for working in an organization that placed such a high value on people. I have never been so proud to work with a group of people who were willing to give of themselves, to save the organization and their peer’s jobs.
A couple of things I have learned about people from this experience:
- Don’t under estimate the desire of people to willingly give of themselves for the greater good.
- Always plan for the worse case scenario and work backwards from there. Many times, the end result isn’t as bad as the perceived absolute worse thing that could happen.
- React to what you know to be true. If you react to speculation, then you are making assumptions which more times than not, don’t pan out.
- Ignorance can be bliss. There are times when you just can’t be “in the know,” and that’s ok by me.
