St.Louis Business Journal
Kindness is a great way to cope with difficult times

By Anna Navarro

December 2008  

Examples in this column are fictionalized to protect privacy and told with permission.



One of the wisest coping strategies in tough times is to be as helpful as you can to others. Engendering a spirit of mutual support can come back to you in many different ways as you deal with challenges in your own life.

Maxine found herself in the painful position of having to lay off three of her subordinates because the company’s revenue had dropped and they had to cut expenses. All three were excellent performers and she hated to let them go, but she had no choice.

She decided that one thing she could do was help them with job hunting. She went way beyond providing a good reference. She knocked herself out to pave the way for them to find good positions.

She called people she knew in her industry and professional associations and asked if they would meet with the people she had to lay off. She also coached her subordinates in the art of doing a good networking interview, and made a point of emphasizing the importance of asking for information and advice during the interviews, rather than putting anyone on the spot for a job.

She relieved the people who were being let go of major responsibilities during the last weeks of their employment so they had time during the workday to write resumes and do networking interviews. She reviewed their resumes and made suggestions about improvements.

She coached them on how to talk about their background and how to answer the typical questions they were likely to encounter in hiring interviews. She gave them pep talks when they were discouraged. And she continued helping them after they left the company.

The result was that every one of the people she had to let go found a good job within a few months. One of her former employees even got a job that amounted to a promotion, which she couldn’t have offered him in her relatively small department.

Within a few months, Maxine herself lost her job. As the company continued to struggle, they eliminated the department and transferred its most essential functions to another group.

Among the people who Maxine called on for help with her own job hunt were the three people whom she’d helped find jobs. One of them told her he’d heard through the rumor mill that a supervisor two levels above him was expected to leave because her husband was being transferred. Maxine pursued the lead and got an interview before the job was posted. A few weeks later she was hired.

Bosses’ aren’t the only ones who can help those who are laid off. Peter was one of the survivors of a general layoff in his company. Despite the fact that his workload increased significantly as a result, he did everything he could to help the people who were being let go. He shared his contacts and his information about the industry. He offered to help them practice their networking interviews and gave them feedback on their resumes.

Several years later, Peter decided to leave the company and start his own business. Among his first clients were two of the people he had gone out of his way to help when they had been let go.

Being supportive of others can also take the form of being a good teammate who does more than her share of the work at times when others are going through hard times.

Beth worked in a small non-profit agency that provided services to autistic children. She had a teammate who was going through a difficult divorce. While this person was normally a good co-worker who was very productive, she had a number of days during this challenging time when she just couldn’t function well. Beth covered for her on several occasions, and took on an extra load so her co-worker didn’t fall behind on her responsibilities.

Later on, when Beth took maternity leave, her teammate reciprocated the favor. She made the going easier for Beth when she returned to work and was finding it hard to function at top capacity because her infant son had kept her up all night and she was sleep deprived.

We all need people to be there for us when the going gets rough, whether it’s because of a downturn in the economy or because of the personal adversities we all encounter at one time or another. One great way to prepare in advance for these inevitable situations is to acquire chits by banking kindness in advance.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that works with clients on an individual basis to help them find more satisfaction and fulfillment in their work-lives. She can be reached by phone at (314) 367-0008 and her e-mail address is email@worktransitions.com. For more information visit the worktransitions.com website.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.