Are You Certain About Your Leaders?
"The only things certain in life are death and taxes."
---Benjamin Franklin
Death, Taxes and the Need to Manage Employees
There is another saying that the only thing that is constant is change. Well-known writer Seth Grodin wrote in a March blog, "When industry norms start to die, people panic. It's difficult to change when you think that you must change everything in order to succeed. Changing everything is too difficult."
Indeed, organizations are looking at what they are doing during these tough times, and employees may be suffering from pressures resulting from change, both and home and at work. It is easy to see how overwhelming this might be, even for the best workers. Issues of morale during times of change affect performance.
Barry Shore, Ph.D., wrote that during recession, organizations face a double-edged sword because business may be suffering at the same time that performance is challenged and slipping. This ischaracterized by a decline in productivity, eroded customer service, slow sales growth and ultimately a damaged bottom line.
What is also certain --- besides death, taxes and change --- is that you need to manage your greatest asset: your employees. They are valuable and need care. You can accomplish this by training employees about the essentials of managing change: communication and management skills training.
A recent Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM) research paper stated that "successful change is dependent on effective organizational communication." Communication must be clear, continual and consistent. This is even more important because of all the current economic uncertainty. Communication determines how well change initiatives are received and supported.
Harvard Business Review research indicates that as little as 15 percent of the workforce embraces change initiatives immediately. Furthermore, 60 percent of employees remain uncertain and 25 percent a wholly resistant to change, while another 25 percent can become saboteurs to change.
The best way to weather the storm may be to focus more on workforce basics of training and development to ensure that you retain and engage your employees in order to maintain employee engagement and productivity. Managers and supervisors who are not trained on the essentials of communication or management will be unable to sustain what may become a workforce ailing by a changing business world. Are you certain about your leaders?
Communication Strategy offers several programs to address organizational communication needs, including Essential Skills of Communicating, Essential Skills of Leadership and Supporting Change. Ask us to assess your needs and assist in putting your organization on track.
Communication Strategy is a New York City based Learning and Organizational Development consulting firm which assists its clients in such areas as Leadership , Team Building, Performance Management, Employee Engagement, and Customer Service Excellence Development.
We can be reached via e mail at : info@communicationstrat.com and via telephone at : 212 362 5215
Contact: David Hellman (info@communicationstrat.com)
|
|
