Leading Through Hard Choices (Through the Lens of Pillars & Walls)

About a month ago my Learning & Development team faced the unthinkable: a reduction-in-force (RIF). And as its director/leader, I carried that decision like a weight on my shoulders. It wasn’t just numbers on a budget; it was people’s livelihoods, families’ stability, and our shared mission hanging in the balance.

In my book Pillars & Walls, I talk about two critical concepts: Pillars—the core values that anchor us—and Walls—the guardrails we build to protect those Pillars. During our RIF, these ideas became my north star. Today, I want to share how anchoring to our Pillars and erecting protective Walls guided me through one of the hardest seasons of my career.

Uphold Your Pillars: Never Lose Sight of Core Values

When tough calls loom, it’s easy to let panic chip away at your values. But real resilience comes from identifying the unbreakable Pillars that define your culture—and refusing to compromise them. My personal leadership pillars are:

• Radical Candor: Honest, empathetic conversations, even when the truth stings.

• Learner’s Mindset: Staying curious about how to improve, not hiding behind “we’ve always done it this way.”

• Collective Ownership: Taking responsibility for both successes and failures together.

These Pillars steered every step of the RIF process: from how we communicated (honest, transparent emails) to how we supported departing colleagues (extended access to coaching and job-search resources). By naming and leaning into these Pillars, we ensured our actions—even painful ones—aligned with who we claim to be.

Erect Your Walls: Protect What Matters

Walls aren’t about shutting people out; they’re about building guardrails that keep your Pillars intact. In Pillars & Walls, I describe Walls as policies, processes, and boundaries that safeguard values when the pressure is on.

• Boundary Wall: We set firm timelines and communication protocols to respect everyone’s need for clarity.

• Support Wall: We reinforced our Employee Assistance Program and added dedicated “office hours” for team members to process the change.

• Learning Wall: We launched micro-learning sessions on resilience and change management—so the team could lean into growth, not just grief.

These Walls didn’t make our RIF decision any less painful, but they ensured we made it in a way that honored our people and our mission.

Stewardship Over Shame: A Pillar & Wall Reframe

One of the hardest lessons was shifting my mindset from “Did I fail?” to “How am I stewarding our future?” In Pillars & Walls terms, I moved from tearing down my own Pillar of confidence to reinforcing it with a Wall of perspective.

Pillar: Ownership doesn’t mean carrying every outcome alone. Wall: Establish checkpoints—trusted peers or advisors you can lean on to stay grounded.

By reframing stewardship as an act of care (rather than a mark of personal failure) I protected my core value of Collective Ownership and (hopefully) modeled it for others.

Balancing Mission, People, and Financial Health—With Pillars & Walls

Nonprofit sustainability is a three-legged stool: mission, people, and budget. Tip any one leg, and the whole thing falters. I recently took a couple of certification courses to better understand nonprofit finance to better understand funding constraints and forced trade-offs.

In Pillars & Walls, I offer a framework for “value-aligned trade-offs”:

1. Identify the Pillar: What value is non-negotiable? (Like “Invest in People.”)

2. Assess the Threat: What financial reality endangers that Pillar?

3. Build the Wall: What guardrail or policy protects the Pillar without collapsing under pressure?

Moving Forward—With Tenderness, Tenacity, and Your Framework

There’s no perfect playbook for leading through a RIF, especially one that lands at the beginning of your fiscal cycle. But by interweaving the Pillars that anchor you and the Walls that protect you, you gain a roadmap when the ground feels shaky.

If you’re a leader carrying this burden, know you’re not alone. Name your values. Build your guardrails. And remember: stewardship (rooted in clear Pillars and Walls) is the greatest act of care you can offer your people and your mission.