When the going gets tough...

The economic situation is not good; the govt is at its weakest, gold prices are dropping, sensex tanked after RBI announced the much awaited steps to revive the economy. In general, it does not paint a pretty picture.

The signs are pretty clear, our Country along with the rest of the world is going through a phase where Companies will struggle to attract new clients and post high levels of profits.

In these times it’s extremely critical that organisations do a few things right.

eNgage:

This isn’t the time to stop engaging; in fact it’s important to do it much more than before. Some companies prefer to keep the bad news within as they are not sure how employees will react. It’s important that the organisations actually share with the employees where the company is heading and what the employees need to do, to make the situation better, No organisation can hope of better performance by not involving the employees. Engagement Surveys, Open Houses, Skip level meetings, Focus group sessions, Floor walks by Sr. managers have to be done with rigour and enthusiasm.

Take care of the ME’s

There is always a lot of attention given to the Bottom Performers, either to help them perform or to warn them of dire consequences if they continue to underperform. Similarly top performers get a lot of rewards, appreciation and several pats on the back. It’s the ME’s (Meet expectation) who go unnoticed. They come in to work diligently, do what’s expected of them and quietly leave without too much pomp and show. They are the ones who organisations need to pay attention to.  If the ME’s can outperform it translates to a significant impact on the overall performance as they form a big chunk of the total split.

Review Performance

This is a perfect time to review the performance of each of the team members, understand how each one is performing and see what support can be provided. Get into the habit of conducting performance appraisals on an ongoing basis, and not only at the end of the year to force fit them into a bell curve.  Training needs have to be identified and employees should be given specific Coaching. Make best use of the time. The last thing that Companies should do is to slash the training budget, this will be suicidal!

Get Creative

“When the going gets tough the tough get going” This is not the time for Managers to be sitting around and strategizing without any concrete action. They should get out of their seats, walk out of their cubicles and take ownership. Listen to employees, get to know the pulse of the team members and deploy solutions. Sometimes the most creative ideas can come by listening to colleagues, team members and friends.

To bring about a change you have to do things differently. Nothing is going to happen by itself  !!