There Is Pain In this Change

The State of Illinois is one of many that is struggling with budgets (and political agendas), with some very serious results. In June, several of my colleagues were laid off from our office, directly as a result of the actions and in-actions of the legislators. After two months now, we are beginning to see some return of budgets, as well as a couple of our colleagues. However, I have been impressed with the amount of pain that has been created, and which shows no real tendency to ease. While this immediate instance is tied to political game-playing, the larger issue is tied to a great cultural change that impacts us all. To fully address the pain, we need to face the larger changes.

First of all, the pain. I visited with one of my colleagues this week who has not yet returned to work...but "may", or "may" not...she isn't getting any real answer. Along with the stress of living for two months in the "unknown", my friend also suffers from a long-term, debilitating disease...one for which she now is unable to afford her daily medication. While I could switch over to a rant on "Health Care", that would be missing the point as well...because that entire debate is tangled in the same larger cultural change issues.

While those still off-work are hurting, there is a unique pain being felt by those of us who are left at work. There is the troubling mix of guilt and relief of being a job "survivor". We can't really celebrate, and can't really grieve. Plus, the workloads have dramatically changed due to the shortage of 'hands', so the pressure is felt there.

More interestingly, as we see our colleagues returning from their layoffs, they are returning to a VERY different workplace...one that is truly not the same as the one they left. They return expecting to pick-up where they left off, but the entire chemistry has changed. We all feel the tension.

Plus, in all of our minds a major thought is, "What about next July?" Are we all facing the same political dance again in the next budget cycle? A previously existing feeling of relative security is gone. Security in believing that our job would survive...security in believing we know what going to work "is like" when we go there...and security in believing that we will be able to care for our families and ourselves.

But I think what humbles me the most is the number of people I am meeting...in every corner of the world...who are facing exactly the same pain...for exactly the same reasons.

Today I have a list of 24 friends, each of them describe themselves as being "in transition". This simply means that the job they "had", many very successfully for a very long time...is now gone. They haven't necessarily been replaced by someone younger, as we saw in the "old days", but their job is actually "gone". Even more difficult, that job is "gone" from the other companies that used to hire for it...so simply finding another "job" isn't an option. My friends are each figuring out how to re-learn, re-train, re-think...to become something they have not been before...whatever that might be.

I have long seen that the culture is changing. Not just the "Midwestern" culture, or the "American" culture, or the "You Name It" culture...but the overall, entire "culture". Tom Friedman pointed at it in The World Is Flat, but now my friends are living it...as are millions of others.

I am fascinated at how some are responding so well, almost eagerly, while others are collapsing under the pressure. I am fascinated at how some are seeing this as 'opportunity', while others are seeing it as "tragedy". I'm going to ramble on about this over the next few posts...but if you care to add your thoughts...please do.

We are facing "global" changes in ways perhaps rarely faced, and we are in the very early days of understanding how this works, and what role we play. We are in a time in which there is no one voice with the solution...no vocal radio entertainer (pseudo expert), and no party-loyal political professional. The culture has changed right underneath our feet. It cannot be talked or threatened into reverting back to what it was, no matter how loudly, intellectually or sarcastically we make our pronouncements.

It is a time to stop acting like we are learned...and realize that we must all become a learner.