Surrounded by Redundancy
By David Martin Performance Coach1st Nov 2008
In the current Global Economy, many people regardless of rank or role or title, are finding themselves thrown into the deep end of turbulent change.
As many Managers face the grim decisions that surround words like "Consolidating" "Downsizing" & "Restructuring." So to are the people, to whom those words will be applied.
The cold hard fact of the matter, is that most Business's won't or don't have a chose. If they want to still exit as an Organization & still be actively in the market place in 12 months time, they will have to reorganize how their business is run.
The two obvious battle cry's will be "Cut Back cost's," which translates into redundancies, shortened work weeks, heavier work loads and reduced pay cheques. And, "Up the Sales" which can leave the people that are left, feeling squeezed at both ends.
Just sacking people may not be the answer
Depending on what your business is & what it provides for customers, just sacking people may not be the answer. Cutting fat is useful, cutting muscle tendons and bone, may not be. The trick of course, is being able to tell the difference.
Who do I Keep & who do I let go
For Managers, this could create a double bind, especially if the people you need to let go, mean more to you than just being employees or colleagues.
If you have to do it, I would suggest taking into consideration the following thoughts:
- Who on your team, always supports you and your vision?
- Who have you got that goes that extra mile?
- Who have you got that is the "connective tissue" between you and the Team.
- Who is the person that just quietly gets on with it. No fuss, no bother, just reliable.
- Who has the core or key skills, and
- Who has the relationship with key customers
Hearts & Minds
Having determined who stays and who goes, be honest with them.
Talk to them about your struggle to make the hard calls. Tell them why; avoid any "spin doctoring" and give the people you are making redundant something they can hold their heads up with, when they go home & tell their families.
Be open, listen and you may be surprised at how much useful feedback and loyalty, you'll get back in return.
Now I can already hear some of you going "Yeah Right!" And I guess you could ignore my advice. However in the hundreds of Business's that I have helped during times like these, the ones who didn't place much importance on that, were the one's who lost talent and Intellectual Property that cost them dearly later.
My experience has taught me that if you do this right, and if the cause is right, the people will fight for you, sometimes even at their own expense. So long as they believe in you and what you are doing.
And if you preserve the right people, these are the ones that the rest of the team will look to for guidance and strength as you go thought the gauntlet of change.
Monsters in the dark
Having said that, if you use what I am suggesting, all won't just mystically become rosy. This will be a process not a single event.
The next challenge is to think about the detail of how your people might respond to any imposed changes.
I'm not talking about the ones being made redundant; I'm talking about the ones you want to stay, because even if they are committed to you,
It will still be natural for them to rock backwards and forwards though a predictable range of emotions that I call, "Monsters in the Dark." In other words, the things that people worry about when they're lying in their beds steering at the ceiling at 1 in the morning. So knowing that, and anticipating that, can help you to stay resourceful if sometimes, they are not.
A daily exercise I suggest to Managers during times of change from "Existing Norm" to " New Norm" is to get a piece of paper and segment it into 5 equal parts.
From the left, moving to the right. Write "Denial" in the first box. "Resistance" in the next box, "Reluctant Acceptance" in the next, then "Acceptance" followed by "Compliance" in the last two.
Then write in the names of where you think your people will be today or that day.
Managers have told me that when they have done that consistently, they have been able to get insights & head off issues and control situations far better than if they hadn't done it. And it's given them a barometer reading on overall progress out of the mire into the Sun.
I believe that Leaders who act clearly, are firm, fair and friendly; and gentle or tough when they need to be, are the ones who will successfully lead their Teams into a Dominate Future.
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