As a manager you need to get good at motivating others - but never more so than when your staff might be worrying about their jobs, about restructuring or other major changes to their work.
The present business climate is tough, and many businesses are affected by the current downturn. There are three common consequences in businesses when sales and growth slow down. As a manager, you may have experienced any or all three of these:
1. Some staff are made redundant, given reduced hours and bonus opportunities are often lost.
2. There is increased pressure on all staff to do more.
3. Tension, conflict, stress and apathy amongst staff increases, and motivation and engagement often decreases.
If you're a manager or supervisor, you'll feel the pressure too - possibly more - because your people's performance is seen by others as a reflection of your own ability to manage.
It's an irony that, at a time when you most need your staff to pull together, to be motivated, creative and productive, the environment often produces the exact opposite.
Some managers ride these storms better than others, managing to keep their staff on-side and positive, despite the circumstances. So how do you increase the engagement and morale of your people, reduce tension and conflict, and increase your chances of hitting targets? Here are three critical things you need to focus on if you are managing others through a period of intense change.
1. Understand that change causes emotional reactions and notice how your people are reacting.
All change, even changes we choose for ourselves, and which we think of as positive changes, take us through a roller-coaster of emotion. For example, even the presumably happy experience of getting a new job can take you through feelings excitement and celebration, to feeling really nervous about whether you will be successful, to "what on earth have I done, I can't do this job!" These are all normal, and very common reactions.
When we are faced with changes we haven't chosen, which outside forces dictate and over which we feel we have little control, such as team restructuring, possible redundancies or new working practices, those emotions can not only be very powerful, they are often very negative. We feel our security and "comfort zone" is threatened, and tension, stress and resistance can be the knee-jerk reaction.
The most successful managers seem to make a point of taking more notice of what's going on in their team, and how people seem to be reacting to news about change. They know that ignoring signs of discontent, tension or antipathy is likely to allow these negative reactions to become more widespread, and more difficult to deal with.
So, start noticing how your staff are reacting to any proposed or actual changes. Don't ignore any signs of discontent. Build opportunities for staff to feedback or highlight any issues or concerns they may be having. Once you have a better understanding of how people feel about the changes, you can start to build a strategy for managing the change which will support and encourage staff, and minimise unrest and unease.
2. Increase opportunities for communication
In times of unsettling change you need to keep the channels of communication not only more open, but more regular. At this time, more than others, the risk of gossip, assumptions, and misunderstandings is even greater than normal, and can de-rail any hopes you might have of trying to maintain motivation, focus and performance.
Consider how you can increase opportunities to either meet as a team, or one to one, and allow time to discuss changes, and for people to express their opinions and feelings. It may seem counter-intuitive to allow people to express negative emotions or reactions to change, but actually, research shows time and again, people hate not being listened to far more than change. In many cases, your staff probably realise deep down change is inevitable and actually necessary, but ignoring their views only serves to make them feel de-valued. So provide opportunities to allow your staff to have their say, but within a framework which helps to focus on solutions and positive actions.
And think about how you increase this communication too. Wherever possible, face to face always beats any other form of communication when there's tricky stuff going on. No matter how uncomfortable it might be, wherever possible provide more face to face contact. And a word of caution - be very sparing with the use of e-mail, particularly if you need to communicate something you know might provoke strong reaction. I know you're busy - and e-mail is a fast and simple way of communicating, but it's the most easily misconstrued form of communication, and the fallout from a poorly communicated e-mail message will probably end up taking far more of your time and focus than setting up a face to face meeting might have done.
3. Plan a strategy for change
People react to change in different ways. The better you know your staff, the more observant you are about how they are reacting in times of massive change, the more able you are to plan how you are going to handle the situation.
So, for example, you will have the cynics, and the negative activists; you will have those who recognise there may be opportunities or who even champion the changes, and you will have the "fence-sitters" - those who could be swayed either way.
Your prime job is to know where each of your staff sits on the spectrum of emotional reaction - and to consider how you can move as many of them as possible over to feeling more positive than negative and more hopeful than helpless.
For example; how could you utlise your staff who you know are champions of the changes, or who have had positive experiences, to support or influence the cynics or the "fence-sitters"? Which of your team might you need to spend a little more time with? Taking just a little time out to consider how you might plan your approach, can save you time, money and hassle, further down the road, and maintain better employee engagement..
Successful change management is less about managing the physical changes, and far more about managing the very normal, human emotional reactions to change in a way which helps people focus on the positives, and remain engaged, confident and solution focused.
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Shona Garner is an experienced Executive and Business Coach, specialising in helping managers build top performing teams, and increase their own standing in the organisation. For a straight talking, practical guide to the top four secrets of every outstanding manager, visit www.increasingmanagerialsuccess.com/freereport.php
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