How to Prepare for a Redundancy Consultation Meeting: Supporting Line Managers to Lead with Compassion

I want to share some words from Brené Brown’s book “Dare to Lead” about always giving people a way out with dignity. She talks about remembering the human and paying attention to feelings. While you are doing what you need to do, always hold the human in mind. Keep that person who will be impacted squarely in front of you. This person has a career, a family and a life that will be affected. Be kind, be clear, be respectful and be generous.

Why These Conversations Matter

There’s no getting away from it – these are tough conversations. The employee will no doubt be feeling shocked, traumatised, even angry, confused, upset. For the manager, it can also be emotional. I’ve heard from individuals who’ve said that their line manager was crying when they had to deliver the news.

It can also be unpredictable. I’ve worked with line managers who I thought would be fine in those meetings and we’d done our preparation. But when it came down to it, it was very difficult for them so I had to take over. You never really know what’s going on for an individual in their life.

Line managers might be wondering, “What if I get emotional? What happens if the individual starts to cry? What if I say the wrong thing?” They could just be feeling awkward and thinking, “I just want to get on with it, read the words and get out of the room.” I’ve certainly been in those meetings where that’s the approach taken, unfortunately.

But these meetings are a moment that will be remembered. They stay with people. People remember how they felt and there’s certainly an impact on self-esteem and confidence. How these meetings are handled really affects the individual’s ability to pick themselves back up again.

How to Prepare for a Redundancy Meeting: The Human Connection

It’s highly likely that when the individual hears “your role is at risk of redundancy,” they won’t hear much else after that. But what they will remember is whether their line manager was present, whether they were treated like a person rather than something to tick off a to-do list.

Understanding how to prepare for a redundancy consultation isn’t just about preparing for another meeting. Essentially, the line manager is helping to lead someone through a deeply vulnerable time in their lives. Showing up as a human in these situations is really important.

Ask your line managers to pause and consider: “What would it feel like if this was me? What would I want my line manager to be doing for me? How would I want them to show up? What would I need from them in that moment?”

Think about: “How do I want this person to feel in this meeting? What does it look like to lead with dignity and compassion in this situation?”

Understanding What’s Really at Stake

When someone hears “your role is at risk of redundancy,” it’s not just their job that’s at stake, it’s not just their income. That’s why reactions can be unpredictable and sometimes extreme.

Someone’s self-esteem is at risk because our jobs and self-esteem are often intertwined. Our jobs give us a sense of our place in society, contribute to financial stability, give us relationships we rely on for support. They’re very much connected to our identity, giving us purpose and meaning.

For many people, jobs represent hope – an opportunity to progress and develop. For some people who have difficult personal lives, jobs can be a sense of sanctuary or a place of escape. All of that is what’s at risk, which makes these meetings both difficult and important conversations.

Practical Preparation Tips

When thinking about how to prepare for a redundancy meeting, remember the process matters. These conversations are part of a legal framework. I would always recommend that line managers have somebody from the HR team in the room with them to help guide the conversation.

The meeting is a consultation meeting, not a final decision. It’s an opportunity to explain the proposal, hear feedback, listen to what the employee has to say and give them space to ask questions. It’s about sharing information, not decision making.

Make it somewhere quiet, confidential and turn all distractions off. For that time, the person in front of you is the most important person in your world. That clear focus and attention is hugely valuable.

The language used matters. The script is important – I encourage line managers to prepare and rehearse to make it sound like them but not go off script because that can lead to difficulties later.

Active listening is hugely important. This isn’t about listening through your own filter or passing judgement but focused listening, maintaining eye contact and listening with the intention to understand, not to respond.

It might be that the individual asks questions the line manager doesn’t know the answer to and that’s absolutely fine. It’s much better to listen, take notes and say you’ll get back to them rather than feel you should have all the answers.

The Line Manager shouldn’t be making promises or bringing in personal opinions. I have had line managers completely go off script and start talking about how they didn’t agree with the restructure. Just be prepared for that and make the point ahead of the meeting that this isn’t a place for personal opinions.

The Right Mindset

One of the most important things is to emphasise your intention for how you want to show up in the meeting. Give line managers space to think about that. How do you want to be when you’re in that room? What does that look like?

Think about that mindset: rather than “this is something I have to do,” think “I get to lead this person through a really difficult time in their career and it’s my role as a leader to do that well.” That perspective of this being a time to step up as a leader is crucially important.

There’s a lot of emotion that goes with these conversations for line managers too. They will be carrying the load of having to let good people go. So make sure line managers know they can come to you to talk about how the meetings have gone and how they’re feeling.

Redundancy meetings will never be easy. They should never be easy. I used to still get butterfly feelings in my stomach when I would go into consultation meetings, even though I’d done lots of them. But it’s about ensuring the meetings are held with that compassionate approach and giving people a way out with dignity.

As Maya Angelou says, “People will forget what you said, they’ll forget what you did but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”