Member-only story
Leadership | Psychology | Change @ Work
In Less Than 60 Days
The runup to a merger and a reduction in force.
In less than 60 days, the ground beneath us will shift.
The air is thick with unspoken words, our usual camaraderie giving way to an uneasy quiet. I walk into meetings where smiles are half-formed and agendas are peppered with distractions. As a woman-manager, I feel the weight of every glance and every question I can’t yet answer. My team is looking to me, and I’m looking at the clock, counting the moments until the next announcement.
I’m nervous. For them. For me.
For the projects we’ve poured ourselves into, wondering if they will still matter in the new iteration of this organization.
Sadness creeps in as I think about the talents and friendships that might scatter, like seeds in the wind, to places unknown. But it is not just sadness that fills me. There is also a peculiar defiance — a spark that insists this is not the end of our story.
The corporate walls are closing in.
I catch Kaylin’s eye, in the singular way Zoom meetings allow— my senior change analyst — and see the same mixture of apprehension…
