Leaders of organizations sometimes make space by removing employees. They remove the person from a job through a layoff, intending to remove the job function. It is not until the person is gone that sometimes it is recognized that the social fabric is also damaged, that the interdependent relationships and organizational knowledge the person had in addition to their job function was also lost. The various roles on different project teams or committees, the discretionary effort given to fundraising, even the gym or coffee buddy is also lost as well as the unique history of work in the position.
There are many more holes created when one person leaves than leaders realize as noone really knows the whole impact until the loss occurs. So, often leaders are making more space than they realize when they lay people off. The space is soon taken up with desk reshuffling, new reporting structures, extra work for other people or something no longer being done and a new fabric is built. All of a suddent there is no empty space and it all seems to have healed over.
As I contemplate this I visualize bandaids all linked together and sometimes wonder if the core business underneath really exists at all anymore. It is just a little observation, perhaps not important. The little gem I see is that the space created allows new form to be born and that we naturally draw together to fill up the space, or what we think is the space. Perhaps there is more space on the outside.
