Redundant, But Never Redundant
Over the course of my career, I've been made redundant three times.
Oddly enough, each one became the beginning of something better.
Not because redundancy is enjoyable.
It isn't.
It's unsettling.
It's emotional.
It can shake your confidence and make you question everything you've spent years building.
But every one of those moments taught me something I couldn't have learnt any other way.
One redundancy, in particular, changed the way I viewed my career forever.
When Security Became Uncertainty
I'd spent almost ten years with the same organisation.
To be honest, I thought I'd probably retire there.
It had been a wonderful place to work for many years.
But organisations change.
Strategies change.
Leaders change.
And eventually, circumstances change.
What once felt like job security slowly became job uncertainty.
The organisation announced a major restructure involving around 5,000 roles after several years of rolling organisational change.
Like many others, I was presented with what was described as an "opportunity."
I could accept a role with significantly increased responsibility for the same remuneration.
Or I could enter a redeployment process and compete for a shrinking number of positions.
Neither option felt right.
After a great deal of thought, I accepted that redundancy was the most likely outcome.
Six weeks later—just two days after reaching my ten-year anniversary—it became reality.
The Choice That Changed Everything
Like most people facing redundancy, my mind immediately went to the practical questions.
Update the résumé.
Search Seek.
Apply for roles.
Attend interviews.
Find another job.
Repeat.
I could have walked straight into another contact centre leadership role.
There would have been nothing wrong with that.
But something inside me asked a different question.
What if this wasn't simply the end of a job?
What if it was an opportunity to become someone different?
Instead of rushing into another role, I made two decisions.
First, I invested in myself.
I chose to learn.
To develop.
To strengthen the skills I knew would prepare me for greater leadership opportunities.
Second, I decided to stop applying for the jobs I thought I could get and start applying for the roles I believed I could grow into.
Looking back, that decision changed everything.
Confidence Looks Different After Growth
As I interviewed for more senior leadership positions, I noticed something had changed.
Not my experience.
Not my résumé.
Me.
For the first time in my career, I wasn't interviewing from a place of fear.
I wasn't desperate to secure the next pay cheque.
The redundancy had provided me with something unexpected.
Time.
Space.
Perspective.
That changed how I approached every conversation.
During one interview, I was asked whether I'd be prepared to do the role for a lower salary.
Years earlier, I probably would have said yes without hesitation.
This time, I responded differently.
I explained that if they were simply looking for someone to fill a seat, there were plenty of capable people available at that price.
But if they genuinely wanted the organisational change they described, then they needed someone with the experience, leadership and capability to deliver it.
It wasn't about believing I was better than anyone else.
It was about understanding the value I could bring.
Later, I was asked whether I'd consider taking the role as a temporary appointment.
Again, I respectfully declined.
Not because temporary work was beneath me.
But because the transformation they wanted wasn't temporary.
Real cultural change.
Real leadership.
Real organisational improvement.
Those things take time.
And they deserve commitment.
Your Position Is Not Your Value
One of the greatest lies redundancy whispers is this:
"If your position disappeared, perhaps your value did too."
Nothing could be further from the truth.
A role can become redundant.
A title can disappear.
An organisational chart can change overnight.
But your experience...
Your character...
Your leadership...
The lessons you've learnt...
The way you've impacted people...
None of those become redundant.
They're portable.
You take them with you wherever you go.
Sometimes God Closes a Door You Never Would Have
As a Christian, I've learnt that some of God's greatest blessings arrive wrapped in circumstances I never would have chosen.
Redundancy was certainly one of them.
At the time, it felt like a door closing.
Looking back, it was God creating space for a door I would never have had the courage to walk through on my own.
Romans 8:28 reminds us that "in all things God works for the good of those who love Him."
Notice it doesn't say all things are good.
Redundancy isn't good.
Uncertainty isn't enjoyable.
But God has a remarkable ability to redeem seasons we would never choose ourselves.
Sometimes He removes our security so we'll discover where our true identity has always been.
A Question Worth Asking
If your current role disappeared tomorrow...
What would remain?
Your title?
Or your character?
Your position?
Or your purpose?
Your employer?
Or the unique value you bring to the people around you?
Those are the questions worth investing in long before you ever need the answers.
Redundant, But Never Redundant
Looking back now, I'm genuinely grateful for every redundancy I've experienced.
Not because I enjoyed them.
But because each one stretched me.
Each one humbled me.
Each one reminded me that my identity was never found in a business card.
It was found in the person I was becoming.
If you're walking through redundancy right now, I know it probably doesn't feel like a gift.
But don't let a change in your employment convince you that your value has diminished.
It hasn't.
A position can become redundant.
You never do.
Because your greatest asset has never been the role you hold.
It's the character you carry, the experience you've earned, and the difference you're able to make wherever God calls you next.
And sometimes, what feels like the end of one chapter is simply the beginning of a far better story than you could have written yourself.