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Hallo.

I'd like to ask you for advice how to manage team after they got dismissal nottices because of full outsourcing of my department.

 

The situation is:

I'm a manager of a 12 IT experts.

We are working with a Country branch of a global corporation.

Our corporate decided to outsource all local (country) IT jobs.

My people know now that they are going to be dismissed in several (5-6) months. They even got official dismissal notices with those dates. I'm the only person to stay in my job to watch external service providers.

At this moment my team is supposed to support usual business operations, do projects and contribute into transfer of their knowledge to future service provider.

 

Question:

How should I change my behaviour?

How to approach O3s, Staff Meetings, Feedback, Delegation, Coaching, Annual Performance Reviews, Annual Goal Reviews and Assignments and so on?

What's your experience? What are your tips?

Probably I'm still not fully aware of what more challenges I face in the near future. Perhaps you can predict and advise what should I be prepared for and what actions should I take.

 

Greetings,

Arkadiusz

mattpalmer's picture

You've got my commiserations.  I've never been in this situation, and I can only imagine it has already been, and will continue to be, a real challenge.

Thinking what I might do if confronted with this situation, I keep coming back to your phrase "business as usual".  As much as possible, just keep doing what you've been doing.  While a certain amount of discussion is inevitable, you're well within your rights to give feedback when the discussion becomes disruptive to team morale.  Keep delegating and coaching, and relationships will be extra-vital during this period, so make sure the O3s are regular and effective.  Assignments, goals, and projects need to be planned with the knowledge that there will be a big change as of a certain date, but apart from that these things should still run as close to normal as possible.

There is one thing I would change.  People know they need to find another job.  That involves taking time off to interview, and I'd make it clear in a staff meeting that you'll be as flexible as possible to help people find another role.  If your company is offering any support for helping people to move on (like access to recruiters, career counsellors, whatever) encourage your people to use them, and make sure they're available and effective.  Also make plans for handling the departure of each of your people, and revise them regularly as circumstances change.

Best of luck.  Keep telling yourself that if you can manage through this, you'll be able to handle practically anything.