Key Takeaways
- Lead with empathy and transparency to maintain trust and guide teams through change.
- Reprioritize around high-impact goals to keep energy and focus where it matters most.
- Redistribute work to match strengths and capacity, preventing burnout while building skills.
- Protect energy and sustain morale by setting clear expectations and celebrating progress.
Listen: How to keep your team motivated and productive during a RIF.
Layoffs are some of the toughest moments any leader will face. They don’t just disrupt operations—they shake people. Uncertainty. Anxiety. Grief. It’s all there. And if you’re a senior leader navigating this, your job isn’t just to handle logistics. It’s to hold the tension between productivity, morale, and the very real well-being of your people.
In most companies, layoffs show up as a formal RIF notice. On paper, it’s just a business decision. In reality, it’s one of the hardest messages to deliver—or receive. How leaders communicate in that moment matters. It requires clarity, honesty, and above all, humanity.
Even amid difficulty, there are opportunities to lead in a way that fosters trust, maintains motivation, and positions your team for future success. The following steps blend empathy with strategic action and provide actionable ways to support your team through this period.
Step 1: Lead with empathy and radical transparency
Acknowledging the emotional impact of a RIF isn't optional—it's necessary. Employee trust is fragile under these circumstances, and showing you understand their concerns can make all the difference.
Practice active listening and create safe spaces
Empathy begins with listening. Create dedicated time for team members to share how they're feeling, whether through group forums or one-on-one check-ins. Be conscious of survivor's guilt or anxiety lingering among those left behind. Many employees feel guilty about keeping their jobs while colleagues were let go, which can manifest as decreased motivation or increased stress.
Schedule regular check-ins where team members can express their concerns without judgment. Consider questions like:
- “How are you processing what happened?”
- “What support do you need right now?”
- “What's your biggest concern moving forward?”
Embrace radical transparency
Trust depends on transparency. That means being open even when it’s uncomfortable—or when you don’t have all the answers. Share updates regularly, even if the update is simply “nothing new yet.” Worried about saying too much? Don’t be. Silence creates fear. Honest communication, even in tough moments, builds stability and signals partnership.
Radical transparency looks like:
- Explaining the “why” behind decisions, not just the “what.”
- Admitting when you don't have all the answers.
- Sharing timelines for when more information will be available.
- Being up front about potential future changes.
- Discussing how the organization is positioning for future wins.
Show vulnerability in leadership
Vulnerability isn’t weakness in leadership; it’s a bridge. In hard moments, sharing your concerns appropriately shows your team that you’re human and that you care. It’s not about unloading your fears on them. It’s about creating connection, trust, and a sense that you’re navigating this together.
For example, you might say: “I know this is incredibly difficult. I'm feeling the weight of these changes too, and I want you to know that supporting you through this transition is my top priority.”
Step 2: Re-center purpose and clarify the mission
Once you’ve acknowledged emotions and built trust, the next move is to give clear direction. Your team needs to understand how their work drives real impact. When that connection is visible, motivation strengthens and people feel anchored, even in the middle of change. They have to see the path forward clearly.
Reassess and communicate the new mission
With fewer resources, priorities may have shifted. Take the time to clearly explain what matters now and how things have changed. This isn’t about disregarding past efforts but helping the team see the current landscape and understand their role within it.
Host a team meeting to discuss:
- The organization's refined strategic priorities.
- How the current team structure supports these goals.
- What success looks like in this new context.
- How individual roles contribute to the bigger picture.
Connect individual work to larger impact
Help each team member see how their specific responsibilities drive meaningful outcomes. Whether your team's purpose is aligned with customer impact, innovation, or long-term organizational growth, regularly reinforcing this connection helps sustain a sense of value and direction.
Create “impact stories” that show how your team's work makes a difference. For instance, if you're in marketing, share how a recent campaign helped a customer solve a problem or how your efforts supported a successful product launch during challenging times.
Establish clear, achievable goals
With a leaner team, it's crucial to set goals that are both ambitious and realistic. Work with your team to establish priorities that align with the organization's new direction while being mindful of capacity constraints.
Break larger objectives into smaller milestones that can be celebrated along the way. This creates momentum and helps maintain morale during what might be a longer journey to stability.
Step 3: Redistribute responsibilities intentionally
Once trust and purpose are established, focus on the practical step of redistributing work fairly and transparently. This process, when done thoughtfully, can become an opportunity to invest in your team's growth and development.
Assess team members' strengths and capacity
Before shifting tasks, have candid conversations with each team member about what they’re handling now, where they excel, and where they want to grow. Consider not just their skills, but also their emotional bandwidth during this challenging period. Build a straightforward way to evaluate workload, strengths, interest in new skills, capacity for extra responsibilities, and any personal circumstances that might affect availability.
Engage your team in the process
Transparency and collaboration are key to successful work redistribution. Rather than making unilateral decisions, involve your team in discussions about who might be best suited for various responsibilities.
Hold a team meeting to:
- Review all tasks and responsibilities that need to be covered.
- Discuss how current workloads might shift.
- Ask for volunteers for specific projects or areas.
- Address concerns about increased workload.
- Set expectations for the transition period.
Invest in growth through upskilling
Position new responsibilities as growth opportunities. When asking someone to take on more, pair it with the support they need—training, mentorship, or resources that help them succeed and expand their skills. This can include cross-training so team members learn each other’s roles, mentorship pairings, external courses or certifications, “lunch and learn” sessions, or access to online learning and industry resources.
Maintain open communication about adjustments
As your team settles into new roles and responsibilities, remain open to feedback and adjustments. What seems manageable on paper might prove challenging in practice, and being flexible shows that you're committed to their success and well-being.
Schedule regular check-ins to assess how the new structure is working and make adjustments as needed. This ongoing dialogue reinforces trust and shows that you value their input and experience.
Step 4: Prevent burnout by supporting wellness
Preventing burnout is critical to sustaining morale and productivity after a RIF. With increased responsibilities and emotional stress, your team is particularly vulnerable to exhaustion and disengagement.
Actively encourage mental wellness
Burnout becomes more likely when employees skip breaks or overwork themselves to “make up” for the reduced team size. Take a proactive stance on well-being by implementing specific wellness initiatives.
Wellness strategies include:
- Mandating vacation time and ensuring people actually disconnect.
- Implementing “no meeting” time blocks for focused work.
- Encouraging regular breaks throughout the day.
- Offering flexible work arrangements when possible.
- Providing access to employee assistance programs or mental health resources.
- Leading by example with your own wellness practices.
Celebrate small wins and progress
Small moments of positivity matter more than ever in tough times. Acknowledge and celebrate wins, no matter how minor. Recognition lifts morale and reminds your team that their work is seen and valued. Make celebration a habit—start meetings by highlighting accomplishments, encourage peers to recognize each other, mark milestones with simple rewards, and share positive feedback from customers or other teams.
Step 5: Foster a culture of learning and resilience
The final step is about tying it all together with a focus on long-term growth and team cohesion. Transitions often reveal gaps in skills or processes, but they also open the door to collective learning and deeper, stronger team connections.
Leverage challenges as learning opportunities
When your team encounters obstacles or discovers process gaps, frame these moments as chances to improve and innovate. This mindset shift helps transform potential frustrations into growth experiences.
Establish regular “lessons learned” discussions where the team can reflect on what's working, what isn't, and how to improve. These conversations should be blame-free and focused on continuous improvement.
Leadership is amplified in adversity
Reductions in force are never easy, but they reveal what authentic leadership truly looks like. Navigating a RIF isn’t just about workloads or shifting goals—it’s an opportunity to lead with empathy, build trust, and help your team see a clear path forward.
When you balance practical decisions with genuine care, you strengthen your team’s potential and set the stage for a culture rooted in resilience, purpose, and sustained performance. The attention and thought you put in now will build commitment and trust that lasts long after this period has passed.
Your team is watching. Leading with care, clarity, and courage shows them that even in difficult times, you can move forward—stronger and more united.
About the author
Den Mondejar is a marketing professional and change leader passionate about diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I). For over 15 years, he has worked on developing teams, improving experiences, and increasing employer brand value. At Aquent, he leads our Diversity+ recruiting solution, helping small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and Fortune 100 companies achieve their workforce diversity goals in a meaningful way. Den also sits on Aquent's Diversity Council, is the BIPOC Employee Resource Group Co-Chair, and has completed Cornell University's Diversity and Inclusion certification program.
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