7 Ways The Best Leaders Help Others Adjust To Big, Life-Altering Change At Work

It takes skill to navigate life-altering change and uncertainty at work. When life-altering change lands in your workplace, all eyes are on you, the leader. It’s up to you to provide direction even before the dust begins to settle.  

Stress Created by Job Layoffs

If the first eight weeks of 2023 teach us anything, certainly on the job front, it’s to expect and brace for more change. The tech industry’s already massive layoffs in late 2022 are likely to accelerate in 2023. 

This is especially stressful for those recently laid off as they face a job hunt in a downsizing market. Unsurprisingly, such sudden and enormous change has a ripple effect. Survivors reporting to work next to empty desks where their colleagues once sat experience shock, sadness and guilt. 

Working from Home Has its Own Stress

For those spared the layoffs and still working from home, not being present with colleagues can be unsettling for them. It makes it more difficult to express their emotions, compounding the stress.

Leaders who remain after layoffs have their own emotions to work through, while also tasked with picking up the pieces and helping team members process theirs.

Decline of World Happiness

As if these personal, life-altering events are not enough, conditions worldwide also contribute to a general increase in negative emotions. According to Gallup’s global research on subjective wellbeing, anger, stress, sadness, physical pain and worry has never been higher.

Your staff feels it and you’re experiencing it yourself. It makes for a tough environment to lead, but metaphorical battlefields such as these create the conditions where great leaders are made. 

If you want to emerge a strong, compassionate and supportive leader to your team, you’ll need to tap into your greatest strengths.

Here are 7 Ways The Best Leaders Help Others Adjust To Big, Life-Altering Change At Work

1. Adaptability:

   The capacity to quickly and effectively respond to change, uncertainty, and ambiguity. In acute situations like big layoffs, the best leaders set aside everything else and adapt to the situation. It is the ability to recognize that this is ‘Day One’ of a different world. After your initial assessment, work through your emotions intelligently.

2. Emotional intelligence:

   The ability to understand, manage, and express your own emotions, as well as the emotions of those around you. Expect tears, anger, frustration and fear. The best leaders experience these emotions but are adept at keeping them hidden or expressing them in a way that does not foster more negative emotion from the team. Be sure to work through your own emotions before you make any decisions. That being said, this is a situation for you to be authentic and lead with empathy. 

3. Decision-making:

   The ability to analyze information, weigh options, and make sound decisions based on a set of criteria. Indecision and analysis-paralysis are unhealthy traits in the best of times. They can be lethal during life-altering change at work. Take the information you have and decide. Next, you’ll need to reach out to your team.

4. Communication skills:

   The ability to clearly and effectively communicate with others, both verbally and in writing. The best leaders don’t wait for all the details and approvals to communicate a perfectly crafted message. It is imperative to share the knowledge you have and to do it quickly.
   If you wait too long, rumors abound as people fill in the gaps with their own often negative best guesses. Even if you know very little, be honest with your team and share with them what you do know. Tell them of the decisions you or those above you will be making and that you will be thinking strategically about the long term direction of your team.

5. Strategic thinking:

   The ability to think creatively, critically, and systematically about the long-term direction and success of an organization. After the initial emotional processing, decision making and communicating what you know, the best leaders begin thinking strategically about possible long term plans for the future. Additionally, strategic thinking is a key aspect of executive presence.
   Top leadership in the C-suite may already be working on this. Nevertheless, you will need to interpret and modify it so you can apply it to the team you lead. This is a good time to partner with your colleagues or senior leaders to ensure everyone is on the same page.

6. Collaboration:

   The ability to work effectively with others to achieve common goals. Remember, you don’t eed to navigate and lead through life-altering change alone. Work your networks to gather as much information as you can to keep yourself and your colleagues and team informed.

7. Resilience:

   The capacity to bounce back from adversity, manage stress, and maintain a positive outlook. There is a right time to move on from a life-altering change at work. The best leaders instinctively know when that is. Too soon, and people feel you didn’t take the time to fully validate their feelings. In the same fashion. belaboring the grief in the aftermath of change is not leadership either. 

An Opportunity to Lead through Life-Altering Change

Most of us prefer not to deal with transition, but as a leader, adapting to and embracing life-altering change is your opportunity to help others through this uncertain and emotional battlefield.

Keep in mind, people are already stressed and anxious. Life-altering changes like job layoffs multiply stress and anxiety. The best leaders understand the value of helping others to adjust, overcome and ultimately thrive again.

By adopting a positive outlook and leading a new future for yourself and your team, you’re building a lasting legacy of leadership.

Brent Roy, PCC, CPLC, CMC, is a certified executive, career and personal development coach. I work with men and women who want to increase their confidence and boost their executive presence to prepare them for promotion or a new career. For more ways I can help, please reach out! 

(I wrote this original article for YourTango. It was published there on Mar. 12, 2023 as “7 Ways Great Leaders Help Others Adjust To Big, Life-Altering Change.“