A reduction-in-force can hit an agency's employees hard. Those who are left when the downsizing dust settles often feel like survivors of a natural disaster.
Those employees suffer from "survivor sickness," a husband-wife consulting team told participants at the Federal Quality Conference in Washington on Thursday. They often think: "It could have been me." "It could happen again." "What will they want next?" "What if I'm next?"
Survivors of downsizing need to get out of the victim mentality and adopt a proactive stance for the future, said Merianne Liteman, senior partner in the consulting firm of Liteman-Rosse, and Jeffrey Liteman, director of organization and professional development at the U.S. Information Agency's Bureau of Information.
The Litemans offered conference participants a method to develop a personal vision to steel them against feeling like victims. They also urged participants to develop peer coaching relationships to create a support structure to help them weather the insecure times surrounding a layoff, and to help them focus on their personal vision.
The rush and routine of daily life make people lose that vision, the Litemans said. People caught up in shifting priorities and rapid deadlines get so busy they don't feel they have time to think about big-picture concerns.
The Litemans gave a demonstration of how to start peer coaching relationships. Each participant was asked to choose a partner. Then, each person described one of the ideals they strived for, and discussed with their peer coach partner how to attain that ideal. In their roles as peer coaches, the participants were told not to give advice, only to be good listeners and help their partners choose their own way to meet their goals.
After 15 minutes, the participants did not want to stop talking. Mrs. Liteman said it shows that peer coaching can help people who think "I'm the only one who feels this way."
The Litemans' presentation was a condensed version of the two-day workshop they run in federal agencies, "Personal Vision/Personal Power."
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