Surviving a Downturn

Male Narrator: Work is difficult any way during an economic downturn things get exaggerated. All of the problems they are there to begin with, the conflict, territorial lesson, role confusion, these things just get magnified as the stress of worry gets added into the next.

Employees and managers alike in a difficult climate have all the stressors of normal work plus they are now worried about their own security.

Female Speaker1: Don't all these close door meetings worry you?

Male Speaker 1: Yeah, I have already started cutting costs just in case.

Male Narrator: They are thinking about their debts, their obligations, their families and they are saying to themselves, if I can't work here where will I go, what will I do if the economy is contracting? Managers have that stress plus the additional stress of their own basic employees. These employees are looking for them, for guidance, for answers what's gonna to me, what's gonna happen to my family, and so, they have this additional area of responsibility and so everyone really feels the weight of their responsibilities and their concern over what if this job goes away what will I do, it's very personal.

One model I like for managers is to sit down with one or more employees and say look there are things I know, things I don't know, and things that I know, but can't tell you. So as we talk I will let you know what category things fall into, I'll tell you as much as I can, I'll tell you what I don't know and if I can't tell you something I'll try and let you know when I might be able to tell you that.

Male Speaker 2: I just want to know if our vacation time is gonna get cut because I have that trip to Mexico planed and I have already been taking scuba diving lessons. Plus I heard all senior management is leaving.

Female Speaker 2: No, no. Our benefits are all safe. I can't tell you what senior management is planning to do, but I promise as soon as they let me know I will let you know.

Male Narrator: That sets the manager up as a human being, a person who knows things and who is real and who has their own issues too. They don't have all the answers and if a manager tries to act like he or she does have all the answers, the employees will see through it. But if a manager really sits down with the employees and say, look we're all in this together, I'm gonna help you by sharing with you what I know, that's the best possible thing they can do. Employees for their part should give their managers a break a little bit, you know they are not your parents and you are not five. They don't have all the answers for you. They can't possibly have all the answers. The difficult economy is confusing and a concern for everyone. And so, ask them questions and try to listen what they know at the same time being respectful that they are not experts in everything and they don't -- they have their own worries too.

We have something called the Marathon Model which you can think about the New York marathon there's all these runners and they start them at different times. Say you could have one runner way out ahead one of another not because here she is faster, here she just started earlier. That's what we see in organizational change things like economic conditions contracting. The senior management is out ahead of the low-level employees because they have been studying the trends, they been paying attention for a lot longer than the employees have.

Female Speaker 3: When do you expect the first wave of lay offs to go down like...

Male Narrator: Sometimes they'll turn back to the employees and say, "Okay, this is what we're gonna do," and the employees will say, "What are you talking about?" And the manager will say, "Why aren't you onboard?" Well, you know the employees haven't had the time to learn, to understand what's going on. So what management should do is take the time to explain the rationale. This is what we're seeing, this is what we've been seeing, this is what got us to this point of decision and here's how we think it will support our future. Employees for their parts should ask those questions. Hey, Mr. Manager, we haven't been thinking about this as long as you have, help us understand your rationale, help us understand what you're thinking, so that we can fully implement what you're trying to do really understanding what it is.

Managers have to understand that they are on stage all the time, everyday, all day. If you are a manager and you walk down the hall with skull on your face during a difficult economic climate, maybe you've got a speeding ticket that morning, but what your employees are seeing is, uh-oh, trouble is coming, you know she looks worried.

Female Speaker 4: Oh, I had to ask you...

Male Narrator: So what you have to do is really be aware of the fact that you're being watch closely and then all of your verbal and non-verbal communication is being used by employees or basically trying to read the leaves and guess what's gonna happen. Now, the second piece of that is because these employees are watching you so closely, they will remember what you've done. They'll remember how you treated their friends and their co-workers, if there's a reduction in force, how you treated the ex-coworkers and they will record that in their minds and use it to evaluate you later. So, it has an impact on loyalty and the people you wanna keep will evaluate you as to whether they should stay down the road based on what they see now. So the short answer is, as a manager you're always on stage, everything you do, everything you say, every action you take, do it like it's gonna be watched and remembered because it will be watched and remembered.

You can't get distracted by the downturn, it's too easy, but the things that make you a good manager -- make you a good manager whether it's a downturn or not.

Female Speaker 5: You know Alex you did a really good job helping out with this last project.

Male Narrator: Doing a good job of understanding your employees strengths, their talents, their tendencies, what they like mapping that to their work.

Female Speaker 6: And you're exceptionally good with talking to the clients, so I think maybe you should take the reigns for the next one.

Male Narrator: Doing a good job of clarifying the goals for a project, putting together a good plan with your employees, executing well and then adjusting and following up as needed...

Male Speaker 3: I'm not really sure how to handle all of that paperwork.

Female Speaker 7: Megan assumed spelling, do you have time to help Alex assumed spellingif any questions come up?

Megan: Yeah, sure.

Female Speaker 7: Great.

Male Narrator: All of these things are the activities of a good management and they are the same whether you are in New York, or Peru. Whether you're economic downturn or a boom, these are the things that make you a strong manager. As an employee doing the work makes you a strong employee. Keep doing those things. It makes you a better employee, better manager, it's better for your career and it's better for the company. Don't get so distracted by worry that you stop doing the work.

It's absolutely important to keep a long-range perspective. You're not in this business for the week or the month, if you wanna cut cost to zero you can lock the doors, but that's not what you're trying to do. Your goal is out a year two years, five years. the things you do today are tactics toward that goal, keep that in mind. Remember to think long term. Also, remember that every economic downturn every difficult condition impacts some companies some industries more than others. Don't bring it home if you don't have to. Just because you see at the media doesn't mean it's going on in your own company. If you get all distracted by worries stop doing the work you may create a problem where there wasn't one. So, be careful to deal with reality, but not be swayed by perception.