If you work in a medium to large sized company that has been around awhile, it’s fair to assume you are in the middle of, have recently gone through, or will shortly go through a turnaround situation. Managers and leaders are sometimes asked to “retire” in order to save the organization money, change strategic direction, circumvent personality conflicts or communication issues, or to catalyze necessary change.
So, what can you do to ensure long-term job security? You can’t! Now that we’ve settled that myth, I’ll share the 4 go-tos I give leaders to stack their job-security deck.
- Always speak, act, and make decisions from a set of work values and principles. Know and write down your top values and principles before making tough decisions.
- Build, maintain, and consistently strengthen work relationships, not just with the obvious key stakeholders, but up, down, and across the organization.
- Always advocate for what’s in the best interest of the organization, regardless of what it means for you or any other individual such as a peer or manager.
- Consistently add value to the organization and to those around you, including finding novel ways to solve problems.
Practicing the above won’t guarantee your job forever, but you’ll make it harder for your superiors to let you go, you’ll be able to speak about the termination with integrity to a prospective future employer, and you’ll probably sleep better at night.