Coach's Corner With Dr. K

I Used to Be Employed and Now I'm Not: Grieving Job Loss

In this podcast we touch on the many emotions often experienced in job loss. Losing a job is one of the most significant and stressful events in life, affecting our identity and self-esteem, our family and friends, and our sense of security and safety. In grieving a job loss, we are suddenly thrust into an uncomfortable period of transition and uncertainty to something that is both “no longer” (my former job) and “not yet” (my new job). Some job losses are harder to grieve than others, especially if one is let go for performance reasons where the pain can be particularly acute. There can even be grief after one voluntarily leaves a job as you second-guess yourself and mourn the former colleagues you used to work with and the structure and routines of your old life. I share my own painful experience with job loss and set the framework for future episodes that will provide a more in depth discussion of the feelings and emotions that often come up during job loss as we navigate through each of the the six stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, and finding meaning.  I believe it is critical for anyone going through job loss to allow the space and time to fully explore deeply felt emotions about the nature of your loss, including feelings of shock, confusion, denial, anxiety, guilt, regret, anger, resentment, blame, and sadness as we work through the process of accepting our new reality. In many ways, grieving the deep emotions that come with job loss can feel like a long goodbye, but it can be a vital step in one’s transition and ultimately impact the search for a new position and our self-esteem. Fully grieving the job loss in real time can also shed light on the need to prioritize our self-care during the transition through the support of family, friends, former colleagues, and even the assistance of a therapist or coach to help us reassess our career and life goals with the best possible mindset to say hello to the new job opportunities that await us.  #careercoaching #executivecoaching #lifecoaching #griefcoaching

Letting Go of the Bike

Letting go of the bike is a process that repeats itself throughout our lives whether it’s a personal relationship that didn’t work out, a job we may have lost, a story or script about ourselves that we are trying to leave behind, or personal habits and behaviors that we are hoping we can change. Letting go of the bike as a metaphor can also apply to the many different and changing roles that we take on as we grow older. For many of us, that might include the transition to the empty nest stage of life when our children become adults living independently, retirement, becoming a grandparent, our adult children taking on caregiver responsibilities for their older parents, or learning how to live on our own again after the loss of a loved one. Anxiety and fear will often get in the way as we try to let go of these former roles but working with a coach or a therapist and getting involved in community groups that cater to these new life roles can really be a godsend. #executivecoaching [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=executivecoaching&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7003190359950282752] #leadershipdevelopment [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=leadershipdevelopment&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7003190359950282752] #careercoaching [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=careercoaching&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7003190359950282752] #griefsupport [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=griefsupport&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7003190359950282752] #lettinggo [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=lettinggo&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7003190359950282752]

Recession or Slowdown: The Growing Importance of Employee Trust and Human-Centered Leadership

As the debate rages on as to whether we are heading for recession or are already mired in one, some signs are clearly pointing to a cooling in the U.S. labor market as a number of companies have already announced a hiring freeze and/or modest headcount reductions. Against that challenging backdrop, employees increasingly place higher levels of trust in business by a considerable margin versus the trust they hold for any other major institutional entity. Irrespective of how soft or hard the economic landing may be from any recession, how employers implement future layoffs, reductions in force (RIFs), and/or restructuring activities will speak volumes about their commitment to human-centered principles and policies towards their employees and whether current levels of employee trust can be maintained. #executivecoaching [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=executivecoaching&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A6985364089317249024] #leadershipcoaching [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=leadershipcoaching&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A6985364089317249024] #careercoaching [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=careercoaching&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A6985364089317249024] #stakeholdermanagement [https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=stakeholdermanagement&highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A6985364089317249024]