Has the public spending review got you thinking about yourself and your future?

Todays Public Spending Review is on the minds of so many people, whether it effects their  clients, friends, family or business it seems we all know someone who todays announcement will have a major impact on.

It got me thinking to last year when someone very close to me was made redundant just before Christmas. With a young family to support it was a challenging time. Like many who are faced with the prospect of losing their job they were not sure what their next step would be.   Should they try and get a similar job? Use it as an opportunity to do something different? Re-train? Become self-employed?  In darker moments, Could they get another job?  It is an emotional and difficult time for those effected and their families, but it can also be a great opportunity to change things for the better.

The problem this person encountered was confusion. Not only of what they should do, but also of what they wanted to do. Most people don’t have their careers planned out in infinite detail. They turn up for work from one day to the next doing their best until an opportunity, such as promotion, presents itself and then they plan the next step. To suddenly have your career path removed from under your feet through something like redundancy can send people spinning out of career control. Worries about money, responsibility, social stigma, even self worth can lead people to make desperate or poor career decisions. The good news is that for my friend it didn’t end like this.

Fortunately they were offered an opportunity to go on a two day self coaching course called RIDFEAR. RIDFEAR helps people in situations of change to develop the necessary skills to assess where they are, what they want and how they can achieve it. On the course they were able to meet with people in a similar situation from different sectors, get focused on what was important to them and what they wanted to do. Most importantly it helped them to re-build their self-confidence to make it happen. With a new found direction and determination I’m happy to say that my friend had several interviews and job offers within the month.

What struck me about the process they went through was that the focus was on helping the person coach themselves through the change, giving them tools to work through it and ultimately building their resilience to cope with any more changes life throws at them.

I (and my friend) would whole heartedly recommend any one either at risk of redundancy or responsible for managing the process of redundancy for their organisation, to look at this as an effective way to help people deal with a difficult time.

 For further info go to http://ridfear.co.uk/2.html