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The struggling economy is just one factor affecting employee morale -- and as a
result, productivity. Where do you begin to help your employees and your
organization recover?
Bursting dot-com bubbles, energy crises, market corrections, mass layoffs,
reduced revenues, tightened budgets, terrorist attacks, market-recovery delays,
ethical scandals, and more mass layoffs -- even among companies long known for
their "no layoff" policies. And all of that in the past two years. Ahhhh, life
in a market-driven global economy.
Unfortunately, all of that volatility has left its mark on nearly everyone,
including your employees, and that can chip away at the productivity you'll be
relying upon tomorrow.
On the positive side, there are many indications that an economic recovery is
underway and will continue to stabilize and build, however modestly. So what do
managers and leaders need to be thinking about now? Let's take the briefest
look back, and then start looking forward.
In the past year, the focus for many corporations has been on sharply reducing
costs and making due with tighter budgets, fewer staff members, and less
assistance from outside contractors and consultants. Employees in many
companies, while no doubt happy to have remained employed, are finding
themselves feeling more stressed, cynical and fatigued.
Starting now, however, managers and leaders need these same employees to begin
rallying to a call for heightened morale and productivity, as their companies
look to ramp up again to regain solid footing and a strong showing in the
marketplace. And this is one of the key challenges that leaders will face in
the coming weeks and months.
Just speaking about an economic recovery is too shallow, since organizational
productivity, strength and growth will require a recovery in other areas as
well. Productivity in your organization -- in terms of the bottom line, which
is usually how productivity is defined in the traditional business world --
will be contingent upon a recovery in alignment, trust, morale, meaning and
motivation. Though productivity is often defined in numbers, it relies very
heavily upon people and their attitudes.
Where do you begin? Here are a few areas:
Acknowledge that there is a wake of destruction. There is enough data at this
point from the last two decades that confirms that, even under normal
circumstances, waves of layoffs have a negative effect on trust, loyalty,
momentum, morale, concentration and productivity. And that has real costs. Add
to that the more unusual events of last year -- contrived energy crisis,
ethical scandals, terrorist attacks -- and you've got people who are just not
thinking the way they were a year or two ago. That means your "same old"
leadership and communication assumptions and strategies need to adjust to take
new realities into account. The changes in your approach may be subtle, but
they're important if you want to re-engage your workforce and gain a sense of
forward-momentum.
Understand that a reorientation needs to be a priority. The reality for the
past year -- and for some people, the past two years -- has been one of fear,
uncertainty and stasis. Fear of getting laid off, uncertainty about the future,
and holding off of any new or innovative efforts or activities. In order to
shift into forward-momentum and ramped up productivity, leaders will need to
realign and refocus employees on something more positive and forward-looking
than the events of the past and current uncertainty.
Revisit, solidify and communicate a forward-looking vision. In case you've not
been reading beyond the day's main headlines, the activities of the past year
have caused a surge in the search for more meaningful, relevant work and a
heightened sense of community. And that's a surge from what was already a
pretty good trend making itself known in the 1990s. The same old dull and vapid
vision and the same old restrictive, turf-heavy work environment are not going
to cut it if you want to re-engage employees and rebuild trust and some sense
of loyalty and rewarding community.
Unify and align your group around forward-looking shared goals. Even if your
vision can be made only so exciting (and let's face it, how exciting can "we
want to build world-class widgets" be?), then your focus needs to be on
fostering well-defined shared values and goals that can be linked to individual
values and priorities. A good communication program, and ensuring that your
leaders and managers are clear and skillful communicators themselves, is key to
creating this sense of alignment around goals that are correctly understood
(rather than assumed).
Equip leaders and managers to connect individual employees with the
organizational vision and shared goals. While it's always good to have
communication vehicles geared toward and accessible to all employees, it's also
vital to ensure that leaders and managers have helped to connect broader
organizational vision and goals with departmental and individual goals. Seem
too complicated and costly? Sorry, but if you're a leader or manager, that's a
primary aspect of your job. Besides, it's an opportunity to be a servant-leader
when such service and inspired leadership is desperately needed.
Have solid leadership and communication plans, and follow them with commitment
and consistency. Some organizations have little formal communication,
preferring instead to wing it. Others have massive communication programs that
may be so focused on the tactical that they're strategically ineffective. The
best bet is to ensure that you've got a purposeful (and that means
intelligently planned) communication program that is (1) based on reality and
(2) is specifically suited to your group and organizational culture and goals.
Anything else is a waste of time and money; to not have one at all is also a
waste of time and money. There are too many surveys showing the direct link
between good organizational and leadership communication and bottom line
benefits to skimp on it now, and it's more needed now than ever.
Be honest, authentic and ethical. This has never been something to assume, but
after the Enron ethical debacle, it's more important than ever to get it right.
If you wonder why so many people -- perhaps including your own employees -- are
disenchanted and cynical, you can assume that actual or seemingly dishonest
communications have played a role in creating those attitudes. Do an honesty
and authenticity audit for your leadership and organizational communications,
and find ways to bridge the gaps sooner rather than later. As soon as the
economy picks up, employees will be shopping for those meaningful, honest,
authentic organizations. Try to make sure your organization is a good
candidate.