Sidelined? Keys to getting out...
23 May 2011
Read by 1683 persons
Those who have never experienced being sidelined fear it. Those who have lived through it have bitter memories. Learn how to react if it happens to you.
Carole was no longer invited to meetings. Then she was moved from her office to another, at the back of the corridor, far from the rest of the team. At first, this communications director for an industrial group tried to put on a brave face, to understand the reasons for her isolation. But the rebuffs followed, without explanation: one day, she realized that she was no longer receiving the press review that she herself had created... then her computer disappeared. Finally, she decided to leave the company.
A fictional scenario? No, a typical example of what many employees experience. And neither the crisis nor the resulting budget restrictions have changed things. "Even if companies currently have no interest in underutilizing certain employees, this phenomenon of being sidelined remains current," confirms Dominique Lhuilier, a researcher at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers. For those who experience it, the experience is painful and damages self-confidence. Because being sidelined is much more often experienced as humiliation than as a "good hiding place." What strategy should be adopted in such a situation? Fight? Or leave? In any case, waiting is the worst response. Our advice for reacting in a timely and appropriate manner.
Knock resolutely on all doors
When you are sidelined, the first reaction is to feel incomprehension and above all shame. "Most victims don't dare to talk about it," observes Jean-Louis Muller, associate director at Cegos. "They remain silent when they should be expressing their emotions." Choosing isolation is taking the risk of being forgotten by everyone, of falling into demotivation and depression. "Talk about your situation with trustworthy colleagues," advises Sophie André, director of SOF Exception (organization strategy and training). "If only to make sure you're not imagining things..."
If these exchanges confirm that your feeling corresponds to reality, go see your boss. Explain that you want to know the reasons for your isolation. Don't act like a victim, show determination. If you don't get a satisfactory answer from them, request a meeting with HR. And if you don't get any more results, contact senior management. Your resolve may end up worrying the person responsible for your situation and push them to correct the situation. Also alert employee representatives so that they can address your case in the works council. It's about defending yourself but also regaining your self-confidence. To give a stinging denial to those who want to erase you from the scene by returning, whatever it takes, the image of a combative person.
Ask yourself the right questions before acting
Also use this forced break to question the reasons for your isolation. Sidelining is more often due to organizational logic than to personal reasons. As a production director in an advertising agency, Matthieu found himself redundant after a reorganization, with fewer and fewer tasks to perform. However, it sometimes happens that the cause is an incompatibility of temperament: a new boss who doesn't appreciate you, your usual boss who suddenly takes a dislike to you... This is what Loïc Scoarnec, founder of the association Moral Harassment Stop, experienced when he was a manager in a bank: "To punish me for having union activity, my boss gave me an office near the toilets and ostracized me."
It is also an opportunity to take stock of your skills: why did this happen to you rather than someone else? "This sidelining made me aware of my lack of diplomacy and my weaknesses on technological subjects," explains Pierre, a former employee of Cegetel. "So I decided to improve these points." Also question your desires. Are you satisfied with your job? Do you want to stay in the company or are you ready to change? To help you in your reflections, you can have a skills assessment.
Prove your motivation and fight
If you conclude that you want to pursue your career in the company, you will have to work hard to change your situation. The first step is to make yourself attractive again in the eyes of the person who sidelined you. There's no guarantee they won't change their mind about you. "Write articles, keep a blog, speak at conferences or schools," advises Jean-Louis Muller. "Echoes of your dynamism should soon reach their ears."
Is this strategy slow to bear fruit? Shift up a gear by making yourself visible at other levels. "Work on your internal network, including with HR," advises Ricardo Croati, coach at France Training. "You'll be aware of opportunities and people will think of you more easily if a position becomes available." As soon as possible, offer help to your colleagues, get involved in projects. The goal: to get noticed by other departments. And if, ultimately, you are offered a different position from yours, don't be closed to change. "After several months of being sidelined, another department asked me to manage the account of a major cosmetics brand," says Matthieu, our former redundant production director. "At first, I wasn't thrilled by this rather commercial position, quite far from my activity. But since I had nothing to lose, I accepted the challenge."
Launch yourself into a new project
Another option: your reflection has made you aware of your desire for change. You must therefore use the situation to bounce back better. You have been removed from most of your files and you don't know how to fill your days? Never mind, use your DIF to acquire new skills! "In this type of situation, human resources tend to grant training more easily," notes Ricardo Croati. "It's a way to get rid of the employee for a while. If your service record is good, you can even try to get an MBA funded."
Your situation has at least one advantage: you have free time to focus on a new objective. Another position, for example. Activate your network, go to trade shows, no one will dare to reproach you for your absence. Have you been wanting to create a company for a long time? Now is the time to check the feasibility of your project, to look for a partner or investors. Nadège, a former employee of an aeronautics group, used her sidelining to devote more time to her passion, jewelry making. To keep busy, at first, until the day a jewelry store agreed to sell her models. Since then, she has left her job and launched herself: "This experience was ultimately an opportunity. I was able to develop my project while being paid!"
Even if it's only temporary, being sidelined can also allow you to take a breather. "The first few weeks, I took advantage of it to leave early and see my family more," says Matthieu. Others will take the time to play sports or get involved in associations... "Having other activities helps you to live the situation better," notes Dominique Lhuilier. "Even if you are rejected within your company, you remain useful to others."
Agree to leave, but not at any price
You can't find new perspectives and see no way out of the situation? The best solution may then be to leave. But not at any price. Since June 2008, the amicable separation allows both parties to separate by mutual agreement. If your company accepts it, you will receive redundancy pay (perhaps more by negotiating cleverly) and will be entitled to unemployment benefits. "Companies are increasingly used to it," notes Lucien Flament, lawyer at BRL Associés.
Since the implementation of this system, more than 500,000 amicable separations have been concluded, at a rate of approximately 20,000 per month." Once your request is submitted to human resources, you will have an interview and sign a "termination agreement". You will then have a fifteen-day withdrawal period before it is sent to the labor inspectorate. The advantage of this approach over a dismissal with settlement is that it does not require a reason for separation. "There is therefore no fault," adds Mr. Flament. This avoids suffering double punishment: after being sidelined, that of having a blemish on your professional record.
Published May 3, 2011
Online May 23, 2011
Capital.fr
Carole was no longer invited to meetings. Then she was moved from her office to another, at the back of the corridor, far from the rest of the team. At first, this communications director for an industrial group tried to put on a brave face, to understand the reasons for her isolation. But the rebuffs followed, without explanation: one day, she realized that she was no longer receiving the press review that she herself had created... then her computer disappeared. Finally, she decided to leave the company.
A fictional scenario? No, a typical example of what many employees experience. And neither the crisis nor the resulting budget restrictions have changed things. "Even if companies currently have no interest in underutilizing certain employees, this phenomenon of being sidelined remains current," confirms Dominique Lhuilier, a researcher at the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers. For those who experience it, the experience is painful and damages self-confidence. Because being sidelined is much more often experienced as humiliation than as a "good hiding place." What strategy should be adopted in such a situation? Fight? Or leave? In any case, waiting is the worst response. Our advice for reacting in a timely and appropriate manner.
Knock resolutely on all doors
When you are sidelined, the first reaction is to feel incomprehension and above all shame. "Most victims don't dare to talk about it," observes Jean-Louis Muller, associate director at Cegos. "They remain silent when they should be expressing their emotions." Choosing isolation is taking the risk of being forgotten by everyone, of falling into demotivation and depression. "Talk about your situation with trustworthy colleagues," advises Sophie André, director of SOF Exception (organization strategy and training). "If only to make sure you're not imagining things..."
If these exchanges confirm that your feeling corresponds to reality, go see your boss. Explain that you want to know the reasons for your isolation. Don't act like a victim, show determination. If you don't get a satisfactory answer from them, request a meeting with HR. And if you don't get any more results, contact senior management. Your resolve may end up worrying the person responsible for your situation and push them to correct the situation. Also alert employee representatives so that they can address your case in the works council. It's about defending yourself but also regaining your self-confidence. To give a stinging denial to those who want to erase you from the scene by returning, whatever it takes, the image of a combative person.
Ask yourself the right questions before acting
Also use this forced break to question the reasons for your isolation. Sidelining is more often due to organizational logic than to personal reasons. As a production director in an advertising agency, Matthieu found himself redundant after a reorganization, with fewer and fewer tasks to perform. However, it sometimes happens that the cause is an incompatibility of temperament: a new boss who doesn't appreciate you, your usual boss who suddenly takes a dislike to you... This is what Loïc Scoarnec, founder of the association Moral Harassment Stop, experienced when he was a manager in a bank: "To punish me for having union activity, my boss gave me an office near the toilets and ostracized me."
It is also an opportunity to take stock of your skills: why did this happen to you rather than someone else? "This sidelining made me aware of my lack of diplomacy and my weaknesses on technological subjects," explains Pierre, a former employee of Cegetel. "So I decided to improve these points." Also question your desires. Are you satisfied with your job? Do you want to stay in the company or are you ready to change? To help you in your reflections, you can have a skills assessment.
Prove your motivation and fight
If you conclude that you want to pursue your career in the company, you will have to work hard to change your situation. The first step is to make yourself attractive again in the eyes of the person who sidelined you. There's no guarantee they won't change their mind about you. "Write articles, keep a blog, speak at conferences or schools," advises Jean-Louis Muller. "Echoes of your dynamism should soon reach their ears."
Is this strategy slow to bear fruit? Shift up a gear by making yourself visible at other levels. "Work on your internal network, including with HR," advises Ricardo Croati, coach at France Training. "You'll be aware of opportunities and people will think of you more easily if a position becomes available." As soon as possible, offer help to your colleagues, get involved in projects. The goal: to get noticed by other departments. And if, ultimately, you are offered a different position from yours, don't be closed to change. "After several months of being sidelined, another department asked me to manage the account of a major cosmetics brand," says Matthieu, our former redundant production director. "At first, I wasn't thrilled by this rather commercial position, quite far from my activity. But since I had nothing to lose, I accepted the challenge."
Launch yourself into a new project
Another option: your reflection has made you aware of your desire for change. You must therefore use the situation to bounce back better. You have been removed from most of your files and you don't know how to fill your days? Never mind, use your DIF to acquire new skills! "In this type of situation, human resources tend to grant training more easily," notes Ricardo Croati. "It's a way to get rid of the employee for a while. If your service record is good, you can even try to get an MBA funded."
Your situation has at least one advantage: you have free time to focus on a new objective. Another position, for example. Activate your network, go to trade shows, no one will dare to reproach you for your absence. Have you been wanting to create a company for a long time? Now is the time to check the feasibility of your project, to look for a partner or investors. Nadège, a former employee of an aeronautics group, used her sidelining to devote more time to her passion, jewelry making. To keep busy, at first, until the day a jewelry store agreed to sell her models. Since then, she has left her job and launched herself: "This experience was ultimately an opportunity. I was able to develop my project while being paid!"
Even if it's only temporary, being sidelined can also allow you to take a breather. "The first few weeks, I took advantage of it to leave early and see my family more," says Matthieu. Others will take the time to play sports or get involved in associations... "Having other activities helps you to live the situation better," notes Dominique Lhuilier. "Even if you are rejected within your company, you remain useful to others."
Agree to leave, but not at any price
You can't find new perspectives and see no way out of the situation? The best solution may then be to leave. But not at any price. Since June 2008, the amicable separation allows both parties to separate by mutual agreement. If your company accepts it, you will receive redundancy pay (perhaps more by negotiating cleverly) and will be entitled to unemployment benefits. "Companies are increasingly used to it," notes Lucien Flament, lawyer at BRL Associés.
Since the implementation of this system, more than 500,000 amicable separations have been concluded, at a rate of approximately 20,000 per month." Once your request is submitted to human resources, you will have an interview and sign a "termination agreement". You will then have a fifteen-day withdrawal period before it is sent to the labor inspectorate. The advantage of this approach over a dismissal with settlement is that it does not require a reason for separation. "There is therefore no fault," adds Mr. Flament. This avoids suffering double punishment: after being sidelined, that of having a blemish on your professional record.
Published May 3, 2011
Online May 23, 2011
Capital.fr
