| 1. |
Let employees express their
feelings about the difficulties and changes
that are going on. If you try to curtail
this and tell them they need to “move
on” (i.e. get over it), these feelings
will only fester and turn into anger and
resentment, or result in employees becoming
disengaged. |
| |
| 2. |
Don't focus all of your efforts on getting
buy-in to the changes you seek. Remember "Seek
First to Understand". People need
to know you understand their perspective
and their feelings before they will listen
to your exhortations. |
| |
| 3. |
Support constructive criticism. Make
it safe for employees to express dissent
or criticism without being labeled as not
being a "team player." If you
don't, you will miss out on important information
and will create a workforce that learns
not to care. |
| |
| 4. |
Give employees as much opportunity as
possible to solve problems and take constructive
action. Taking constructive action is perhaps
the strongest antidote to fear and the
feeling of helplessness. Thus, engaging
employees in constructive action plays
a central role in keeping morale up in
times of uncertainty and difficulty. |
| |
| 5. |
To facilitate employees taking constructive
action and feeling like winners during
difficult times, establish and communicate
clear short-term goals and objectives.
Not only does it build confidence and a
sense of purpose, it also channels employees'
attention in a useful direction, rather
than on feeling sorry for themselves and
scared. |
| |
| 6. |
Amp up your communication. Make sure
employees know what is going on each step
of the way. When people are feeling vulnerable,
their tolerance for ambiguity decreases
dramatically. To feel safe and secure,
they need to know as much as possible about
what is going on. To increase the efficacy
of your communication, get employee input
about what information and what forms of
communication would be most useful. |
| |
| 7. |
When you talk about the your vision and
the challenges you are facing, use as many
stories and analogies as possible, rather
than PowerPoint slides filled with statistics
and facts. Great leaders are masters at
inspiring people through compelling stories
and analogies. |
| |
| 8. |
Make sure you are "wired into the
voice of your internal customers" through
Employee Advisory Groups, president's breakfasts,
team meetings, focus groups, etc. During
times of uncertainty, this is of paramount
importance. By having a vehicle for ongoing
conversations with employees, you get valuable "customer
feedback" that allows you to come
up with the most effective strategies for
executing and communicating changes. Getting
employee feedback also helps you avoid
making huge morale damaging blunders. Soliciting
input and engaging employees in ongoing
conversation, also communicates respect
- a significant factor in employee morale,
and keeps employees engaged. Keeping employees
engaged not only increases buy-in, as everyone
knows, it also enables employees to take
constructive action, and thus prevent them
from feeling helpless and then demoralized. |
| |
| 9. |
When asking for employee input and ideas,
clearly define the parameters of employee
input and involvement. If you don't, employees
will feel "set up" if their input
is not used. Also, make sure you keep employees
apprised of the status of their ideas and
requests, as well as the final outcome. |
| |
| 10. |
Celebrate victories and
examples of excellence both formally and
informally. During times of difficulty,
it is especially important for employees
to feel like winners. |
