When the "Family" Lets You Go: Finding Your Way After Redundancy
We’ve all heard it during meetings or during the annual reviews: “We’re not just a team; we’re a family.”
When you’ve spent years pouring your heart, soul, and late night caffeine into a company, you start to believe it. You share the highs, weather the lows, and build deep bonds with the people at the next desk (or teams screen).
But then, the meeting invite appears to attend a meeting. The script is read. The "family" has made a "business decision." And suddenly, you’re standing on the outside looking in, wondering how a place that felt like home could suddenly feel like a cold transaction.
If you’re reeling from redundancy right now, I want you to know two things: Your feelings of betrayal are valid, and this might be the most important wake up call of your career.
The "Work as Family" Myth
The metaphor of a company as family is powerful because it encourages loyalty, sacrifice, and belonging. But it’s a lopsided deal. Families are (ideally) unconditional; businesses are inherently conditional.
When redundancy happens, the "family" mask slips. It’s painful, yes, but it’s also liberating. It breaks the spell of "this is the only place I belong" and allows you to see the professional world for what it actually is: a marketplace of opportunities where you are the most valuable asset.
Shifting Your Perspective: From Loss to Leverage
As a coach, I see this transition often. The first few weeks are about grieving the routine and the relationships. But the real magic happens when we shift the focus from what was taken away to what has been set free.
Reclaiming Your Identity: You are not your job title. You are a collection of skills, values, and experiences that exist independently of any payroll.
The "Stay" Inertia: Many of us stay in roles long after we’ve stopped growing because the "family" makes us feel safe. Redundancy removes that inertia for you.
Auditing Your Desires: When was the last time you asked yourself, "What do I actually want?" without filtering it through the needs of your current employer?
How to Start Navigating the "Next"
If you’re ready to stop looking in the rearview mirror, here are three coaching-led steps to begin your next chapter:
Audit Your Values: Write down the five things that matter most to you now (e.g., flexibility, creativity, autonomy). Does your old "family" actually align with these, or were you compromising to fit in?
Inventory Your Portable Skills: Strip away the company specific jargon. What do you do better than anyone else? These are your tools, and they belong to you, not the company.
Explore the "What Ifs": Give yourself permission to dream about the industries or roles you dismissed because you were "settled." The door is open; where does the light look brightest?
The Horizon is Wider Than You Think
Redundancy feels like a full stop, but in the grand narrative of your career, it’s usually a comma. It’s the moment you realize that while you loved the people, the structure was holding you back from a version of yourself you haven’t met yet.
You aren't just looking for a new job; you're reclaiming your agency. And that is a very exciting place to be.
Are you struggling to see the possibilities through the fog of redundancy?
lets have a chat be it in person or online !
