Today you synergized* 600 people out of their livelihood. You will be known as the great savior for your division, at least for this review period. They will say “you made the hard choice.” In practice you made some slides with 2×2 decision matrix grids, efficiency measures, and key words like op-ex and cap-ex. People like all that. It helped that you socialized the plan with stakeholders to give the key decision makers an opportunity to insert their own roadkill into the grinder. There will be so much synergy here everyone wins. Everyone? Not really.

Among the synergized** are people you have known for years; worked weekends with, crafted proposals in hotel lounges around the world, and fine tuned presentations in parking lots. They have shared with you the pain of work travel and 24 x 7 demands of modern work, missed family, the poor health that comes with being on the road endlessly, and dissolved marriages. Friends? No. But you have lived around and shared space with these people for years. You feel that should mean something. Schedule 30 minutes for those feelings next week after your Thursday think time.

Looking at the individuals what is there to feel bad about? This is a growth opportunity for them. They should have kept their skills sharp and network current. How stimulating for a 50 something to get back out there and reset at a new company, new people, new culture. That new environment should make planning to take care of their aging parents and boomerang kids just another challenge for them. I bet they are actually happy to be synergized*** into some new form.

Upside is I have a follow up plan to hire back more people than we cut. I’ll save that win for next review period when I frame myself as the great organization builder. Cha-ching.

*outside of corporate communications… this is not a word
**still not a word
***just give up