10 Steps to Kill Recession (Part 2)

6. Identify Influencers to Solve Problems (For Mid Level Managers & Senior Managers)

Find the key employees who hold sway in their departments and get them to embrace and spread the change effort. These are the people who know how things really work (not just the way they’re supposed to work) and have a way of bringing together the right people to get things done.

Create groups around the influencers and motivate (rather than mandate) employees to identify what is slowing down business. Set a basic time-frame to achieve the targets, but let each group work at its own pace. Create opportunities for the influencers to schedule informal talks with the employees. Get insights from the influencers about roadblocks.

7. Unleash your TOP PERFORMERS (For Senior Managers & Management)

The upside of a downturn is that recruiting qualified employees becomes easier. With more candidates in the job market, it is the best time to find new talent. But managers shouldn’t forget about the top performers already on staff.

It is easy to think that employees are grateful to have jobs at all. But layoffs and budget cuts may cause good workers to look for better opportunities. Give them a reason to stay by making room for them to keep advancing their careers. Try to keep critical talent moving. If not necessarily up, but growing in experience, responsibility, money, or other tangible and intangible ways.

8. Recognize achievement, even if resources are scarce (For Mid Level Managers, Senior Managers & Management)

Employee bonuses and raises are among some of the first expenses that management cuts during a downturn. But even if extra compensation isn’t in the budget, that doesn’t excuse managements from rewarding employees. Lack of recognition, both financially and verbally, is one of the things that does the most damage.

Instead of quietly giving bonuses to overachievers, company needs to regularly single out the top 15 to 20 individuals and teams and reward them. The recognition not only motivates the performers, but it also helps the rest of the company understand what made these employees outstanding.

9. Feedback (For Mid Level Managers, Senior Managers & Management)

Usually management doesn’t know what employees complained about. Employees have no clue if their seniors thought that they were actually doing a good job, because seniors never spoke to them about it. Have constant feedback sessions. Exchange ideas and give feedback to employees about how to do a job in an effective manner.

10. No Fire and Forget Attitude (For Management)

Keep in mind that most of the downturn programs fail because management implements the initiative only halfway or let inefficiencies creep back after meeting short-term goals, which won’t sit well with employees. Adopt the changes wholesale or not at all.

10 Steps to Kill Recession (Part 1)

TCS has shown the door to 500 employees (2-3 years of work experience), citing performance issues. IBM lay off 700 employees. And the most recent one that Microsoft plans to layoff 9000 to 15000 employees.

With companies looking at trimming themselves and using cost-cutting measures, which are threatening projects, you end up with employees with ZERO morale/motivation. For managers (who still have their job), getting the most out of employees in this kind of environment can seem like an impossible task.

In fact rather than pressing the panic button, I feel it’s a perfect opportunity to re-engineer processes and fix what’s broken. Here hard decisions can not only keep your team motivated but pull your company out of its slump.

1.Get the right Message (For Mid Level Managers)

Calling the economy and customers as a reason for companies suffering implies that the situation is totally out of company’s hands and let in large part to fate. This attitude can hit the morale at office and disrupt the employees from focusing on problem at hand.

In a situation when everyone in the company from management to employee is confused about how to proceed ahead, mid level managers need to be positive interpreters. They need to speak to employees in small groups and be as candid as possible about where the company stands. This is a perfect way to keep out of negative rumors.

2.Open the Books (For Management)

Giving employees the numbers behind company performance clarifies where the business needs to change and how their jobs connect to the bigger picture. If you’re going to be transparent, take the necessary time to teach employees about how the business works. Managers should start with what employees probably already understand, like operational numbers, and then connect the dots with how those numbers increase gross margin and generate cash flow.

3.Focus on the future (For Management)

Pulling the company through the downturn isn’t going to be easy, but emphasizing the challenge can have its benefits. Convey to your employees that it is a great time for them to realize that they can play a role in discovering opportunities for the company.

4.The You in Team (For Senior Managers)

The employees’ collective commitment and collaboration is critical in this environment. Senior managers should make an effort to be more visible and available to employees. This can spark productivity and bring the team together. Start attending smaller meetings that you usually skip. Go to them first, and ask how their work is going. This is about knowing firsthand what employees need.

5.Emotions to fix what’s broken (For Management & Senior Managers)

Usually in companies, the management decides the strategy and let it trickle down. The problem with this style is that it rarely makes the employees emotionally attached to the strategy. The fact is that, it is all about problem-solving and discipline, and this is where employees come in. Management should be using employees in the effort to identify where the problem is and how to fix the problem. For example, if the management ask employees to identify how to cut costs and how to implement it. By doing this the management not only will be utilizing worker’s expertise to make them more invested in the company’s success, but it also gives management a more honest look at what’s not working.