Lifescripts, 3rd Edition

64Reducing the Size of a Direct Report's Staff

STRATEGY

Downsizing. Streamlining. Doing more with less. Call it what you will, it's one of the most difficult tasks a manager must perform: laying off staff. Managers often must be the conduit to our subordinates for difficult decisions made by those “upstairs.” The goal of this script is to show you how to effectively inform a subordinate she must reduce her staff. The necessity of maintaining the bottom line, and the realization that, like it or not, this is one of her responsibilities, are the twin pillars that will support your dialogue.

TACTICS

• Attitude: You must embody confidence and objectivity. Acknowledge the difficulty of the task at hand, but don't be drawn into dwelling on it. Be businesslike. Focus all efforts on accomplishing a difficult task. Your approach will serve as a model for your direct report to emulate when they deal with their staff.
• Preparation: The most important preparation is making sure all your information is accurate. There can be no question about what must be done, who must do it, when it must be done, and why it must be done. Review the personnel in each of your direct report's sections, since the ultimate recommendation to supervisors will be yours. If cuts are being made in specific sections, have the necessary back‐up to support their selection.

  

• Timing: Schedule the meeting as soon as possible. ...