When you lead through a layoff, the hard work isn’t over when the last severance conversation is complete. For days, weeks, or even months afterwards, you and your team may feel ongoing discomfort.
If you participated in the cuts as a member of management, the sense of guilt can feel terrible. But your surviving team members are probably feeling their own sense of guilt, and theirs is different from yours.
They may express their survivor’s guilt in different ways. Some may withdraw; others may overcompensate by overworking. Still others may hesitate on every decision, either out of fear that they’ll do something to target themselves for the next round, or out of fear that their decision may somehow dishonor one or more of those who were let go.
As a leader, you’ll want to empathize with your team and normalize the survivor’s guilt they’re facing, but not by equating it to the same emotions you’re feeling. You can call out “survivor’s guilt” by name as a normal response, acknowledging the loss that they feel, but without dramatizing it. Invite people to express their concerns, but don’t force the topic. If you have an Employee Assistance Program available, remind those who may be having a particularly difficult time with the adjustment.
Layoffs are always painful. And healing can be slow and inconsistent. As a manager, it can be easy to feel like you’re getting it wrong in your response to the aftermath.
If you’d like to explore your specific situation in more detail, let’s talk. Visit stevedwire.com/talk to start the conversation.
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