Some Advice in the Current Uncertainty

First one about advising people how to stay sane during corporate reorgs

I have never known a time like this in Shell. I have been through many reorganisations and some cutbacks. I've had to reapply for my own job, and been involved as perpetrator and as victim of radical redesigns. But this feels a bit different.

The main reason is that this is so all-encompassing. No-one (except the lucky 80 or so at EC or EC-1) can feel totally safe. Also, the process is very much being worked on as it is implemented, so communication is necessarily patchy. Indeed, the main driver here seems to be speed. For those of us bought up in the Shell culture of study, engagement, and academic purity of approach this feels alien. But I believe the approach has been chosen for precisiely that reason: because those of us brought up in the Shell culture have messed it up! Yes, the customer feels absent, there seems little strategic thought about purpose or differentiation or KPI's, it almost feels like a land-grab exercise. But this will be fast, radical, and lead to top-down change with more change at the top than the bottom, and that is clearly the intent. Maybe a good intent, with a good approach. It is internally consistent and brave and I wish it well and hope that it doesn't lose momentum as us Shell bureaucrats try to use our influence to derail it (subcousciously, of course).

So we are all a bit disorientated. Apart from the advice I gave in the last blog, to keep working and doing deals and focusing on the customer, we do have to look after our careers and next jobs. And stay sane. What is the best way to achieve these goals? Here are some tips.

First, know very well what you want and what you don't want, and communicate it. At this stage, unless you are very senior or very lucky, there is a vacuum of information about what may be available and even who to ask to find out what may become available. So use this time to focus on yourself. What would a perfect next job look like? What conditions could you simply not accept? What characteristics rank high, middle, low? Why should anyone want to give you a particular job? In my experience, most of us don't really have clear answers to many of these questions. They go in the "too difficult" box. So answer them now. If you have family constraints or dilemmas, discuss them now at home. Then make sure that the headlines get written down (mid year review?) and are clear to the hierarchy, at least to your own boss.

Why? Mainly, because once the fog clears, we will be asked to make quick decisions, and it is as well to be ready. OR and MOR cycles will be rapid, opportunities will come up in an order we would rather not, and some of us may get mysterious phone calls on Friday afternoons with little time to deliberate. The winners will be ready to pounce. The reason for having things written down is to give others a chance to go shopping for us. And also to avoid others putting pressure on us to buy goods (jobs) we do not want. Just imagine, someone goes to great trouble to get you lined up for a job, fights hard against tough competition to get you in pole position... and you don't want it! If you say no without good reason, you will not be popular, and they won't try hard for you again. If you (actually, ideally your boss) can demonstrate that you had made clear this would not fit in advance, you would be better placed (and maybe they would have known before and not wasted their effort in the first place).

Don't narrow your requirements down too tightly. Write down the characteristics generally, to encompass many job types if possible. But anything which is a no go area, write down clearly. Recognising of course that some of us may face choices between a no go area and going nowhere at all.

The next advice is about asking questions. Don't ask questions that people cannot answer. You will waste your energy, and also add stress to the one you ask. The ubiquitous "HR" are supposed to know everything. In reality, they often know nothing. Your poor boss is probably even more in the dark than you are, and has far more pressing concerns than little you. By all means make yourself visible, don't be a silent loser, but don't give them unnecessary stress either. Ask them things that they can answer. If you don't know whether they can answer, ask it very gently and be ready to back off immediately if the reply is "don't know". We are all a bit stressed and that might make us a bit strident and pushy. Don't fall into that trap.

Finally, don't look for conspiracies. They probably don't exist. More likely, there are people doing their best to make sense out of a rapidly involving situation and devising some coping strategies and making some mistakes. People who see conspiracies usually become victims in their own minds, and victims become high maintenance and bitter and ineffective. This is especially relevant advice for those based virtually. I remember once dialling in from Stockholm to a reorganisation telecon where most of the participants were in London. They clearly knew more than me, and they seemed to be bantering away and doing deals. This was my paranoia at work. They had just had a bit of a gossip ten minutes before the meeting, and were displaying some bravado and stress.

So then, three pieces of advice. Focus on yourself to be prepared to act quickly. Careful with questions that don't have available answers. And don't become a victim of imaginary conspiracies. Good luck, you might win and you might lose anyway, even if you follow this advice. In any case, it will be quick. And please, don't forget your day job and the poor customer!