Three Keys to Redefine and Reposition Oneself in seasons of Transition and Chaos!
Its mid week afternoon. in one of the corporate offices along Franklin street. Just been called to a meeting and we all dashed to our meeting room. An announcement was about to be made. the grapevine was it was going to be big. No one had the ‘’tea’’’as to what exactly, was it going to be about. Well we were about to find out, and find out we did. Cut a long story short, I was being made redundant as well as my peers.Pretty much the whole floor. This was my first time to be made redundant, and it wasnt the only time. Had worked in this company for a few years, starting off with pure customer service, and by the time of exit, I was mainly involved in admin work with a dose of customer service, which i thoroughly enjoyed and was part of a team that made it enjoyable to come to work everyday.
Good news though was that, we had a few months to prepare and decide whats next. There was support and our managers came to see us invididually, later on for a chat etc. By the time, we left the building on a friday afternoon and it was ‘’all over’, i was emotionally and psychologically to face the world.
The same can not be said for the millions of workers who had to be stood down in the last few weeks due to the Corona Virus. Many didnt have enough time to prepare, just a few hours and they were stood down. Workers who are not exactly fired, but wont be coming to work again for an unknown period of time. We have seen major brands from aviation to retail stand down thousands of workers in recent days. Its not fun, its a tough situation, both mentally and emotionally. Not only that, there were quite a few companies that recently did a full scale retrenchment exercise over the last few weeks as well. This is both in Australia and also across the United States as well as many other countries. Im fully aware that some redundancies never made it to the news rooms, but the reality on the ground is thats whats happening. Its turbulent times across many economies. The global economic landscape is shifting, some industries will vapourise, and others will emerge, others will pivot to more greener pastures etc.
Today I just wanted to share with you three keys that can help in moments of change.
Vision.
As much as moments of chaos, silence and nothingness are uncomfortable. they present us an opportunity. An opportunity to take a break from our normal routine. This can be some form of pattern interrupt. Maybe instead of starting your day at 9am at your desk at the office, you are now finding yourself at home in your bed, thinking whats next? From redundancies, stand downs, ,mandatory unpaid leave etc They all suddenly throw a person into new territory. The silver lining is, the chance to think about what can be in terms of possibilities. You now have a blank sheet of paper, to reimagine what can be. This can be a perfect time to return to your core. What do you want for your life? It gives one a chance to begin again. Maybe set a new vision.
Things like what have you always wanted? That opportunity to reimagine, is what many people may never get. Mainly because life gets busy and as one rises up the corporate ladder, its this thing then the next or the other etc. So now, you have a golden opportunity to think again, and reimagine what life can be and where exactly you want to be. Many people have made destiny defining decisions in this phase. What seemed like a set back suddenly becomes an opportunity to relaunch into destiny with more vigour and resolve. So if you are in that place, take a moment to reimagine, think about your big picture goals etc.
Passion.
This one thing that I have found to be powerful. Identifying those things that you are passionate about. Many times due to the busyness of life, many people dont find the time to commit into their passions. Often, you can actually find that some people have lucrative ideas, and passions, if only they could pour more time into them and be able to turn that into a business. Of course, not every passion ‘’thing’’ needs to be turned into a business. However, when we connect with our true passions, we come alive, we connect with the things that we really care about. Often we reconnnect with some of our values.
For some its giving to charity, for some its actually doing volunteer work in certain organisations. For others, their passion is tied to a side hustle. If its a passion that can be turned into profit, then it means with the right time investment, good business model, that passion project can be turned into profit, to the extend that one may no longer need a job. At times additional skills maybe required but not all the time. The starting point, is of course identifying the passion. It doesnt have to be a mystery, look at things you love talking about, things that you spend money on. What makes you come alive? If there is one thing, that you would do for the rest of your life, what would it be? Some people have started side hustles in moments of redundancies, and years later, those side hustles, became fully fledged businesses. Even if you dont turn that passion into a side hustle etc, the most important thing is you would have found it, and its one of the things that can anchor you and keeps you excited about life.
I also know some people you are multi passionate, and that is okay. You are passionate about many things, and you feel you dont want to be ‘’boxed’’ into one thing, I get it. Will address that in a separate post soon, as you can imagine that is a big topic with many layers.
Transferable Skills.
This is a huge topic in the world of Human Resources. These are skills that can be transfered to another industry, or another career. Basically you have a set of skills, that maybe useful in one career, maybe you have been there for years. In moments of redundancies, you can get a chance to try another industry or role that is different from your previous but still uses some of your core skills for the next role or a new industry altogether. Perfect example, at 19, I did television, and also during the same time, I did a bit of radio. Even today. you can see some people are on both radio and television. That is one perfect example of transferable skills.
The only difference is of course, radio doesnt need cameras. However, you are starting to see many radio stations, from time to time broadcasting whilst also appearing on Facebook live. Things like attention to detail, different roles that can use the same analytical skills etc. You can also look at the areas that you are passionate about and look at your core skills, and make the change to go into a new area altogether. True, sometimes you may need one or two additional skills, many organisations can be happy to train you so long as you have the core skills required for the role etc So by looking at your transferrable skills, you can actually pivot into greener pastures.
Just over a week ago, a decision was made for restaurants to start doing only take away in Australia. Im sure many countries have suffered the same fate. Some decided to shut shop for a number of reasons which include staff morale, subdued demand etc. Others, took it by the chin, and decided to pivot, and rolled their sleeves, and continued with service. This meant, less staff, a few changes to operational hours etc. Some decided to connect with platforms like Menu log, Uber eats etc. As well as serving the local area, by joining these new platforms, they made their businesses available to a wider audience that already subscribes to these platforms. By looking at transferable skills an invidual can open themselves to more opportunities than they thought possible. A chat with a HR expert, who can do an assessment can also help. This may not be neccessary though as many roles are quite clear in terms of what they are looking for. For some people, you are done being ‘’stuffed’’ around! You are done working for someone else, you just want to be your own boss, and i get it! Of course, there are many things to consider before getting into any new business venture. The key thing, is that that ‘’thing’’ or event that happened in recent weeks pushed you into that place, where you no longer see yourself working for someone else. So the next thing, will be of course for you to find the right business venture etc.
Seasons of change, can often be dreadful. However, they dont have to be. By shifting one’s attention to any or all of the above three things, what was a set back, can become a spring board, what looked like a curse, becomes a blessing!
Recommended Free Resource : Identity The Key to Purpose
Discover the magic and wonder of a personal brand called YOU by going here
Wisdom V Mupudzi,
is an Award Winning Author, Digital Publisher, Book Coach, who encourages people to discover their purpose and manifest the leader within.