Radio Corner

Dan and Kelly Rossman talk to Mac Hendricks of Taste Pizza Bar

Dan discusses a range of topics to help you “make work work” on his weekly radio show on the Michigan Talk Network, Saturdays 7-9 AM (aired in Detroit on Saturday evenings at 9 PM)
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Listen to the archives!

The past few months of the Everyday Leadership show are available.  Listen to an episode or subscribe to the show here at PodBean.

This week: Community College – gateway to the knowledge economy.

Community colleges are coming on!  They seem to be nimble, as they respond to both their student-clients and their employer-customers.  We’ll hear how top notch community colleges are helping students who are going back to school, businesses that are looking for new kinds of skilled employees, and non-traditional students without high school diplomas.  They are also offering a huge financial advantage relative to 4-year colleges.  Is there a battle brewing?  Join us on Saturday to hear about the new world of community college.

The Power of Thanks

Professor Kim Cameron of the Ross Business School at the University of Michigan joined me and in a three-minute segment shares some of the astounding research about the power of keeping a Thanks Journal.  Kim has long been an advocate of  this simple nightly ritual: before you go to sleep, write down three things for which you are grateful.  (I have found that even on bad days it’s easy to come up with three, and on better days it’s hard to stop at 5 or 10.)

Professor Kim Cameron

This Week’s Broadcast – Unemployed but Unbowed

The week we talk about being unemployed. What’s it like. How do you manage the external challenges and the internal challenges.

Ruth Luban, a psychologist who has great expertise and experience in change generally, but espeically in layoffs and managing unemployment offers this WONDERFUL approach to creating what she calls an “interim structure.” Ruth was generous enough to offer this guide as a complement to my interview with her. Thanks, Ruth for leading with your best self!!!

How to Set Up an “Interim Structure” for the time between Jobs

Based on the book Are You a Corporate Refugee?
By Ruth Luban

Introduction:

I define “corporate refugees” as the brokenhearted outcasts from their home country/company, the work place to which they gave their hard work and loyalty, only to be cast out into a wilderness between jobs, made worse by our shrinking and changing economy. It’s tough not to personalize this state of affairs or not to feel isolated and alone, even if others received their walking papers simultaneously. My work focuses on the emotional recovery from job loss, a process that goes through stages from loss to transformation, if managed proactively.

Recovery goes through stages:

Here are the 5 psychological stages of the refugee journey as I see them:

•On the Brink
The period when you are still on the job but sense that something is amiss and refugee status is imminent.

•Letting Go
The phase during which you leave the workplace, experience losses of morale, continuity, structure, community and purpose…not to mention financial losses.

•In the Wilderness
The period of time during which the refugee is wandering, desperate for a new occupational home.

•Seeing the Beacon
A time of great ideas, false starts, and gradual enlightenment, when the wanderer finally encounters the light that suggests a new world ahead.

•In the New Land
The period of renewal when the refugee has found firm footing in a new reality, one that begins a brand new cycle…but with newfound awareness.

Replace Uncertainty with Structure:

Among the losses one experiences when a job is taken away is the loss of structure that was provided by the requirements of the job: you had to be at work at a given time, take lunch and breaks at given times, return home to activities that were booked in around the structure of the work day. It’s what got you up and out each morning, what organized your day. The loss of that structure causes disorientation and exacerbates feelings of panic, rejection, and vulnerability. A powerful step toward taking control of the wilderness between jobs is the creation of an interim structure….a schedule of rituals and behaviors you do day after day during the interim between jobs.

Ideally, an interim structure should be composed of three parts: daily rituals for maintaining your basic health; essential actions to move you through each recovery stage; and optional after-hours strategies to deepen your healing and expedite your recovery. My book details many rituals and actions you can take specific to each stage, but for the purpose of this short article, I’ll share with you the bones of a typical interim structure and refer you to my book or blog for further details.

Design your Interim Structure:

•Write down and maintain a schedule, beginning with the time you wake up each morning. Make it as close to your previous (or ideal) work day format as possible.

•Schedule time for a healthy breakfast, and a reasonable lunch hour for healthy fare. Watching your diet during this wilderness time is very important.

•Schedule time for fitness. Most of us collect stress in our bodies, whether or not we are aware of it. Feelings of shock, denial, and free-floating anxiety multiply after job loss and compromise the immune system. Commit to regular exercise to rid your body of stress and help you sleep. Ritualize your exercise routine so it occurs at the same time every day.

•Spend 4-5 hours on your job search. This includes updating and posting or sending out your resume; researching the state of your industry; exploring part-time opportunities to tide you through this time; talking with career counselors; networking with others in your field or trade groups; getting organized financially; researching alternative vocational directions; etc. Make this the “job” section of your day.

•After the job search portion of your day, it’s critical that you give yourself a couple of hours of “wandering time.” This could include working on an art project, a hobby, a passion that you’ve postponed during your working years; or it could be going fishing, or hiking, or skiing, or taking your camera to some place in nature and enjoying some creative time. This may sound like a waste of time, but it’s actually very important for your healing. It allows the job search—and you!– to breathe. It also allows your imagination to run free and potentially suggest new options you wouldn’t otherwise discover.

Ritualize Your Interim Structure

For your interim structure to succeed, you must adhere to it daily. That means being accountable to the schedule you’ve designed and doing the same activities at the same time each day. Breakfast at 8. Fitness, whatever that may include from day to day, from 8-9. Job search from 9-2 or 3:00, with a lunch break at noon. Creative activities from 3-5:00. Ritualizing your behavior this way organizes your mind, manages your time optimally, and, believe it or not, provides deep emotional healing.

Ruth Luban, M.A, is a counselor and consultant in private practice in Santa Monica, CA. Since 1988, she has specialized in occupational and behavioral health, developing Choicepoints, a counseling program for people in career, relationship and life transition. For further information, see www.ruthluban.com.

Learn About This Week’s Guest – Details Coming Soon
A Harvard-trained Executive Talks About Being Laid Off

Next Week: Traci Fenton co-hosts on “workplace democracy”

Details coming soon

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