Microsoft announced over the summer that it was cutting global head count by 2.1%. That’s 4,800 former Microsoft employees who are navigating the emotional ups and downs of losing their job. These individuals are being supported “to take their next steps” according to the all-employee communication from Amy Coleman, executive VP and Chief People Officer; part of a promise that “we will do this thoughtfully.”
More than a quarter of a million Microsoft employees remain with the company, many of whom will have been shaken by this announcement and will be wondering whether their role is secure. Coleman was explicit that there will be further restructures. “We are still early on this journey, and there will be more changes ahead; other parts of our business will need to make similar changes,” she said. Microsoft employees face an uncertain future.
Uncertainty diminishes productivity. Energy is expended on worry and what-if conversations rather than on driving projects. Instead of forward momentum, there’s doubt, hesitation, and second-guessing. The challenge for Microsoft leaders now is to rebuild the confidence of their teams.
Given the prevalence of layoffs, it’s a challenge that will be shared by leaders in many other organizations. If you’re one of those leaders, rebuilding confidence begins with you.
Manage yourself first
“The great cosmic joke of leadership is that while you’re managing markets, budgets and strategies, the hardest part is managing yourself,” Manfred Kets de Vries, a professor of leadership emeritus at INSEAD, the global business school, wrote in a Medium post. Leaders are employees too; you face the same uncertainty as your team, the same possibility that your role will be changed or cut in the “similar changes” to come. How you respond to the uncertainty has an impact that extends to your team.
If leaders panic, that panic can spread in an emotional chain reaction that throws the whole team off their stride. On the other hand, if leaders are able to hold steady, then it becomes easier for team members to hold steady too. Holding steady doesn’t mean suppressing emotion or pretending that everything is fine; it’s about being self-aware and being intentional about what you transmit to the team.
It’s understandable to be shaken by a layoff announcement and to be worried about what more is to come. Allow yourself to feel the difficult feelings and give yourself space to work through them. You might do this by writing down what’s running through your mind, however irrational or raw. Or perhaps there’s a peer you could confide in. The way that leaders work through their feelings will vary, but what’s important is that you do work through them, so that you transmit to the team only what you want to transmit. If you can be curious about your own emotions, name them and explore them, you can support your team members to do that too. That’s needed if you want to resettle the team and enable them to refocus on performance.
Make the uncertainty safe
The leadership task after layoffs would be easier if you could say: “That’s it, restructure complete, we’re the go-forward team.” In the case of Microsoft, that’s not credible—further restructures have been flagged. And in any organization, a “that’s it” reassurance, however well intended, is risky. You can’t be certain about what the future will hold. You and your team must sit with the uncertainty.
Our brains prefer certainty and your team might push you to provide it. You can’t do that, but you can help team members get more comfortable without a clear path ahead. Uncertain and unsafe is frightening: I can’t see the path and I’m scared. Uncertain and safe is much more empowering: I can’t see the path, but I’m open to what comes next. Whereas unsafe uncertainty feeds doubt, safe uncertainty fuels confidence.
In practical terms, creating safe uncertainty means ensuring space for real conversations where worries can be shared, the uncertainty can be acknowledged, and possibilities can be considered.
Generate momentum
There are practical reasons why momentum stalls in the aftermath of a layoff. The process of rewiring the organization takes time, so there won’t be immediate clarity on what work gets done where, or on what work is no longer being done at all.
Diminished confidence also slows work down. All of a sudden, the stakes seem higher: What if our team is next to be cut? How can we keep our roles safe? The need for strong performance is even greater and—paradoxically—this hampers performance. The fear of getting things wrong when it matters so much leads people to shrink back and play it safe.
How to lower the stakes and generate momentum? You can prompt the team to reflect on their track record of success: If we did that, we can do (much) more. You can encourage small steps and celebrate progress. You can be unwavering in your own belief in the team, demonstrated not only by your words but by your actions; offering challenges for them to rise to, empowering them to figure things out, giving them opportunities to showcase their work. Your confidence in them is contagious.
Microsoft promised its employees that “we will do this thoughtfully.” The thoughtfulness that’s needed is not only in relation to the employees whose jobs are cut, but also in relation to those who stay. A thoughtful approach to rebuilding confidence will resettle employees and power performance.