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Leadership in a Time of Downturn

December 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Fortune magazine recently had an article on Leadership in a down turned economy.  The article was by “Geoff Colvin” in case you want to look it up.  The three headings in this article are:  My Leader Won’t Lead, Our Culture Won’t Let Me Adapt and We Can’t Get Rid of C-Players.  As a Leadership Coach I could relate to this article because what I read is what I have heard from clients.

When a company is going through tough times employees want to see their “fearless” leaders.  Yet, for the most part they are not available and are hidden behind closed doors.  I know that their job is to protect the company and staff and there are big decisions that need to be made.  However, an effective Leader will take the time to walk the floors and be seen.  I don’t suggest simply walking the floor, but stopping and talking to the people who are doing the day-to-day work.  The Leader that feels that standing up in front of the masses once a month to give an update is missing the point.  Where this meeting is important it is seen as a directive from the Ivory Tower.  Employees want to feel included in the decisions in terms of knowing that their concerns are being addressed, their ideas are being listened to and they are working towards a solution together.  Leaders that don’t allow themselves this insight could be causing more harm than good.

Facing a culture that won’t adapt is like hoping people will turn off their cell phones in a meeting.  This won’t happen!  Sure they may turn them to vibrate of mute, but they won’t turn them off.   Have you heard the saying that everything changes in time?  Then why would a company try to maintain the same culture in a down time as when times were good?  Adaptability is what will help the company move quicker to  stable ground.  Sure things won’t be the same as the “good old days”, but the future can still be bright and really, is anything the same as the “good old days?

Finally, getting rid of the lower performers.  As the article stated, when performance reviews were analyzed 74% of managers had been given the highest ratings and only 3% had received the lowest.  Wow, with ratings like these the company should be doing stellar with their stellar employees.  However, feedback is a tough pill to swallow so many evaluations are not an accurate picture of the work that is actually being done by the employee.  Leaders need to be honest with people.  It is their job to foster and grow talent.  It is their responsibility to make sure that they have staffed to the highest degree possible.  With the number of great workers left without jobs due to layoffs employers have a perfect opportunity to bring on the talent that is needed to weather the storm.

The key… courage!

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Do You Really Get More With Less?

March 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Many employers believe that they will get more out of their remaining employees because those that remain fear being the next to receive the “pink slip” and head toward the unemployment line. They believe they are motivated by fear to work harder.  This is not necessarily the case.  

If ever there was a time for leadership it is now, when fear is so dominant.  Key Executives (CEO, CFO, etc.) are seeing what is happening to their competition or comparable industries and they are fearful that the same could happen to them. Their focus is on keeping profits at least level so they can remain in business.  For most the last thought on their mind is the morale of the employees that are remaining to make sure those profits happen.  Top Executives are there to vision the company forward.  Management is there to make sure that those visions are carried out. Therefore, this is where middle management comes in.  As a Manager/Supervisor what are you doing to assure that the past is left behind and your employees are focusing on the future?  (Remember, therapy is interesting in what happened in the past, coaching is all about moving into action and moving forward!)

We all know we can’t do anything about that past, the future hasn’t arrived yet so we can only live in the here and now.  Employees need to see that the fear has left the building.  If doors remain closed and long faces prevail whenever they see a “suit” walk by, then chances are they are going to feel the fear as well.  When an employee is in a state of fear, you are not getting more for less.  You are dealing with employees that are keeping their heads down out of fear of being noticed and spotted for the next round of laid offs!

As a manager/supervisor you need to get back to leading.  Call a meeting and let employees talk about their fears, address what you can and then provide the guidance to lead them back to a productive state.  Now is the time when asking what ideas and strategies your employees have for picking up morale and moving forward are the most beneficial.  Get them involved in the solution and they won’t feel like part of the problem!

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Value Driven Leadership

November 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I have been hearing more and more people tell me that their companies will not be handing out bonuses this year.  Some have even said that there will be no annual increases.  The economy is definately suffering, all you have to do is pick up any newspaper or magazine and read the headlines.

People are worried about job security.  Forget about the bonuses and raises, they just want to keep a job with cash coming in.  So, without the monetary incentive and with people feeling insecure about their future with the company, how are managers coping?  Perhaps they are dusting off their copies of Beverly Kaye’s book “Love em or Lose em” or Adrian Gostick’s “The Carrot Principle”.  Maybe “Who Moved My Cheese” or “Our Iceberg is Melting” would be good reads now since change is definately here!  Either way, managers have the responsibility to keep their employees on task and foster a culture of change.  Above all, mangers should not be telling their employees “its business as usual”.

Manager’s need to be open and honest.  What are the values of the company?  How are those values lived out in the work that is done.  In Badaracco and Ellsworth’s book Leadership and The Quest for Integrity, they state:  ”Leadership means shaping an organization so that its values, norms and ideals appeal strongly to its individual members while at the same time making the company a stronger competitor.”  Value driven leadership aligns the employee with the company.  Alignment of values between company and employee provides for a creative work force.  People value work that allows them to contribute, to be creative and to help problem solve.  When the company is seen as a community, everyone can benefit.  Go back to your brainstorming days when everyone was allowed to throw out ideas on ways to solve a problem.  Although some pretty far fetched solutions were offered, there were definately some valid ones as well.  Everyone felt that they had a say and a stake in the outcome.  They were made to feel part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Going back to what I said earlier, employees are worried about losing their jobs.  Perhaps they see themselves as one of the problems of the company.  Not they themselves, but their salary, benefit package, bonus, annual increase all equate to dollars, perhaps dollars that a struggling company does have.  If we can use our greatest assest and engage them in the solution, we may all be saved!

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