How to Get Promoted when you were supposed to be Laid-off

This is John. When I started working with him, he was a AVP.

The problem he was faced with at that time is that his department head had asked him to find a way to serve increasing customer demand, while complying with the company directive of cutting down on costs.

If you’re in the service industry, you know what the main driver of cost is – people. So seriously, if you read between the lines, he was being asked by the company to reduce staff, or at the very least, be able to take on then increasing influx of customer demand without having to hire more resources for it.

To make matters worse, the company had a global directive to reduce the number of layers in management. Essentially, they were being asked to redundate the AVP position. All Managers are supposed to report to a Vice President.

With John being an AVP, it was like a double-edged sword. It’s like he was being asked to do something for the benefit company but at his expense.

He confided with me and told me that he was afraid of what would happen, but would just be optimistic about it. At least he would be getting a huge separation pay, and he was hoping he would still be marketable when he applies for a job elsewhere.

I agreed to be his project coach, and we went ahead with his Lean Six Sigma project.

By the time we were done, John’s process had been re-engineered from being a pure back-office team to a mix of call center and back office. By doing so, the team was able to resolve concerns at first point of contact for priority items, rather than wait for the SLA on back-office tickets.

With that, Lead time was reduced by 83%, and Customer Satisfaction increased by 69%, plus we achieved USD 700,000 worth of sustainable saves.

John had become a Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt.

Despite the brilliant results, John now had to face the inevitable – judgment day came, where John was supposed to be given the news about the future of his job.

Lo and behold, instead of John getting laid-off, he was promoted to Vice President!

One of they key action plans he did as part of his project was to redundate himself. The process was re-engineered in such a way that the role of an AVP is no longer required.

Hence, apart from the benefits of the project, John was seen as someone who can be a leader in the global company directive to reduce the number of layers in management.

He became a perfect example of how a great leader should think – to face the problem head-on and find the best solutions, rather what most people put in the same situation would do – get angry at the management team and blame others for their mishap.

Today, John is one of the top executives in his company. He now gets to enjoy traveling around the world to exotic places with his wife and kids, doing things that his former peers who got laid-off could barely afford to do.

John and I have since become good friends, as we both share a passion for family, watches, and 4×4 offroading.

If you want to be like John, then here’s how you can take action:

1. Get Lean Six Sigma Certified. Go to https://robbieagustin.com/courses for more information
2. If you haven’t yet, download a copy of my book for FREE (for a limited time only) – The Business Optimization Blueprint, and learn how you can improve your business process and take it to the next level.

Disclaimer: This is a true story, but for privacy reasons, John’s real name, photo, and company name have been withheld.