Many years ago, as a young cadet, in the merchant marine, I was thrown in with a group of ten other cadets to row a life boat, a mile to our ship. The exercise, in itself, was an unmitigated disaster, because not only was the Bay of Bengal choppy but we rookie sailors were inexperienced and afraid. After futile attempts to get the boat going in the intended direction, amidst growing panic, our instructor calmly took charge, spoke a few soothing words and got us to row together on count and after a few misses we settled down to getting home, in good time.
Today, the global economy is in shambles, a boat in distress in choppy seas and times are tough; there is panic in the air, with both employers and employees groping for a means to survive the downturn. Many organizations have employees blinded by bad economic news pulling in different directions causing greater turmoil. During hard times, it is best to help ensure everyone is engaged—and pulling in the same direction, to get your boat back to safety.
One way of weathering the storm and retaining talent so that you can bounce back at the end of the down turn is by actively engaging your employees and keeping them on board. When the economy improves you do not want to be left in a situation where your most important human resources have left or looking to do so.
How do you do this? The following strategy could do the job of actively engaging employees:
· Focus on internal communication:
At the end of the day, it’s about honest communication and being a good listener, allowing employees to vent and express their concerns. In turbulent times employees crave news and it is the fundamental duty of the top management to establish channels of communication wherein employees are kept informed, irrespective of the propensity of the news. Candidness and honesty are the order of the day and would go a long way in preventing rumor mongering. Look for improved ways of improving internal communication.
· Quality Circles & Task Forces:
Have frequent meetings at different levels and brainstorm continuously. This would not only engage employees but also allow them a stake in your survival strategy. After all it is the lowly shop floor worker who has his ear closest to the ground.
Meeting could be held over lunch fostering camaraderie and brainstorming sessions could throw up ideas that could well save your organization.
· Promote stability:
Promote stability and help calm employees’ nerves, and resist the temptation to play on their panic. Show them how they fit in with the vision of the company; and remind them they are invaluable members of the organization.
· Remember Peter Drucker.
It is a good time to remember the management guru and his Management by Objectives (MBO). Clear goals, in setting which the employee has participated would get them to stay focused and engaged. It would keep the recession blues at bay and the manager can discuss performance at regular intervals, showing that he clearly values the employee’s contribution.
· Career progression through Training & Development:
A great way of showing employees that you care about their future is through training. Get them to learn new skills, and chart out a career path and you will have actively engaged employees with a strong commitment. As employees up skill, they can be job rotated to more challenging assignments.
· Reward more, not less:
In times of recession, reward programs are jettisoned in the garb of cost cutting. This could have major detrimental effects. A great way to keep employees engaged is to reward them for outstanding performance allowing them to see that they are appreciated for their efforts.
· Get your managers to lead and not just manage!
Counsel your managers carefully. Leadership at this juncture is crucial and like all good leaders have shown your managers will have to take on the addition responsibility of shepherding young employees who have had no prior experience with economic downturns.
Employee engagement is critical to your organizations future well being and studies show that it costs an average of two and a half times an employee’s salary to replace them. It’s much more cost effective to keep the employees you’ve got and concentrate on good employee engagement practices.
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