I was standing in the checkout line at the grocery store the other day when I overheard two women behind me reconnect. They had worked together years ago but had gone different ways when their former employer laid them both off. After the Day of the Pink Slips, “Sue,” had apparently taken classes and searched for new opportunities to put her old and new skills to use. She’s now working and seemed fairly upbeat. On the other hand, “Caren” found work in the same industry only to be laid off again. I heard Caren at least three times say to her former colleague, “Now it’s just a matter of sitting and waiting until things turn around.”

Sadly, Caren is employing Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.” Now I’m absolutely not suggesting that losing one’s job is something to just get over or that you are insane if you’re upset because you lost your job. Being laid off is difficult—very difficult. It is life changing. It certainly can impact entire families negatively. And when the layoffs are extensive, entire communities experience the repercussion. However, as we all know too well, it happens. People are terminated, laid off, fired, redundant. How you respond to losing your job (or losing business during tough times) determines how it impacts you today and tomorrow. Will you be a “Sue” or a “Caren”?

Refocusing and starting over is harder than doing more of the same.

First there is the scrupulous look inside. We are talking about lots of in-depth soul searching. When undertaken with honesty, this personal inventory forces us to look objectively at our skills, our attitudes, our behaviors, and ourselves. It’s very possible that we‘ll discover we’re not as skilled, focused, determined, or action-oriented as we think we are and claim to be.

Next is the scrupulous look outside—the job search. Let me be clear: Talking about looking for a job is NOT looking for a job. (Just as talking about changing business strategy isn’t the same as actually changing our business’ strategy.) Change actually requires doing something and, more often than not, doing something different. Sure “change” is hard for most people (that’s why there are so many training programs that deal with nothing but minimizing resistance to change), but for those who truly want to be different, better, and more productive going forward—Don’t Do More of the Same!

With all of the changes in the economy, your industry, your customers’ industries, technology, and the workforce, what are you doing to change and be better going forward? As David Weinbaum said,” A window of opportunity won’t open itself.” So what are you doing to open a few windows for yourself and for your organization?

Copyright MMIX – Liz Weber, CMC, CSP – Weber Business Services, LLC – www.WBSLLC.com +1.717.597.8890

Liz supports clients with strategic and succession planning, as well as leadership training and executive coaching. Learn more about Liz on LinkedIn!