Whilst many private companies have barely been affected by the economic climate of the last three years, many have found their market sector a real challenge. For some, it’s been a three year battle just to hang on and maintain their businesses in some form or other. Working on the back foot and dealing with challenge after challenge over such a long period of time is having an impact on the management teams of these, mainly private companies. The strain is showing.
One of the many examples I am aware of is an estate agent established over 20 years ago. The owner had seen his business shrink by 60% and the workforce of 19 loyal workers reduced to just 7. In the last twelve months, two branches have closed and the managing director has just moved the existing branch into smaller premises to minimise costs.
I am sure there are economic lessons we could learn from this example, however, as a learning and development specialist I am more concerned with the impact this has on the people.
Let’s firstly start by the thinking about the impact of this on the managing director. I know he feels personally responsible for having to make so many people redundant and this weighs heavy. He is trying to lead the company in a very challenging market, which requires double the effort, as well as covering some of the day to day tasks which previously would have been done by a member of the team.
We also have to consider the motivation at work of those employees who are left. Many will be dealing with additional tasks, longer working hours and in fear that they too may lose their jobs. Organisations that are fighting to survive tend to take their eye off the ‘staff’ motivation ball and instead focus extra effort on looking outside the office walls to pay closer attention to the market. Gone are the frills and ‘nice to haves’ such as Christmas party, away days, team building activity. For some companies even team meetings have reduced. All this is understandable, however, is it the right thing to do? The short answer is no.
If companies such as the one described are to survive, they need to be strong as a team, focused and driven to succeed. This will only be achieved by motivating people to contribute that little bit extra. Here are some things which may help motivation at work:
- Increase the number of team discussions, make each meeting short and precise but more frequent, at least once a week
- Keep everyone informed of what is happening – this is not a time for secrets
- Gain team input into problem solving
- Encourage the team to think outside the box and be creative – find new ways of doing things
- Keep up with reviews and appraisals
- And most important, celebrate successes no matter how small
By Kasmin Cooney OBE | Righttrack’s Managing Director
Excellent post Kasmin. I totally agree with what you’re saying in terms of needing to maintain a sense of team, encourage creativity and maintaining good working practices.
The reality in any struggling organization is, however, that events such as parties and away days will need to be cut – it’s often just a matter of economics. One of the problems I’ve experienced at previous organizations is that these are often not replaced with less expensive activities that can be just as rewarding from an employee motivation standpoint.
It’s up to the CEOs and other chief execs to ensure these team and creative activities still take place if they’re committed to their organization coming out the other side of the dip stronger than ever. If this doesn’t happen, at least mid-level managers can address this at the individual team level to help ensure that the team members they’re responsible for continue to be as happy and productive at work as they’re able to.