Ending? Beginning? Or Both?
April 2, 2009
ADP released statistics that we all intuitively expected this week: job loss data shows that layoffs are continuing at a very high pace in the US economy. Most organizations have experienced lay-offs and it’s very likely more will be coming.
What we may never see in the statistics is the loss of productivity surrounding these moves. We can quantify cost savings, but how do you put a number on the hours spent by leaders making difficult staffing decisions or the anxious days spent by employees thinking about, whispering about, and txting about the chances they may be let go. The whole exercise, while often necessary, can paralyze the organization.
I was talking with a leader recently whose company was in the middle of this process. They had identified the people who would leave and the date it would happen. Now everyone was just nervously waiting for the event itself. In a moment of honesty, this leader finally said something like, “I’m just looking forward to it being over.”
It’s understandable. We want to believe as leaders that once we get past the necessary, but unpleasant task of lay-offs, we can get back to normal – like somehow “real work” has simply been put on hold and we’ll go back to how things were before with just a few less people.
Unfortunately, that’s not the way I think it works. Yes, there’s a momentary sigh of relief once the layoff event has passed. Leaders can stop feeling awkward around their direct reports. Employees can stop looking over their shoulders (for now). But then reality hits. All of that anticipation often leads to a loss of momentum. The remaining crew is on the boat, but the wind has died down significantly.
Like the situation with our global economy, leaders can make this situation better or worse by their actions. A few things they must do to get the ship moving again:
- Tell the truth – People want to hear good news and we should give all that we can. But one core question the remaining staff is asking is “Do these leaders have credibility? Do I trust them?” Balanced, truthful information (with as much disclosure as is appropriate) goes a long way to re-building trust that may have been bruised during the past few months.
- Re-Focus – A client of mine jokes that he’s been told to “do more with less” so many times that he would like to meet Les. Yes, there was probably some fat in the organization before. But asking people to run the same business with a fraction of the resources eventually destroys a leader’s credibility. Better to be realistic, acknowledge that the organization will simply have to stop doing some things, and focus people on what is vital for the future. This may require getting your leadership team together and making tough strategic decisions. The alternative isn’t pretty.
- Turn up the feedback – John Grau, my first boss, liked to say, “In the absence of data, people make up their own.” This may be even more true in tough times. So go on an intentional hunt to find progress and recognize it. Help people see both the signs of progress and any causes for concern. But by all means don’t retreat to your office. Yes, leaders get tired too – but this is a time where their energy matters more than ever.
Lay-off’s (and other cost measures) are an ending – but in significant ways they also signal a beginning. What other high-gain actions do you think leaders should take in times like these?
Leader’s Job 1: Define the Win
March 11, 2009
Hmmm… How do we get to this exit?
Most of the business community is playing defense right now. With seismic shifts in the financial markets, stunning changes in consumer behavior, and layoffs all around, it’s easy to see why. No wonder so many people are looking over their shoulders.
With that trend comes a tendency toward confusion and drift in our organizations. For instance, I was speaking recently with a senior executive who had recently taken on responsibility for a critical strategic function in his company. As he spoke with team members, he realized that they were pretty demoralized but he couldn’t immediately see why. Then it hit him – they had been working hard for over a year on high-profile projects, but they had never really understood what success looked like. As a group of high achievers, they found this extremely frustrating. They didn’t know if or when to celebrate, so the job had just turned into a long slow slog.
As I work with senior leaders and their teams, I’ve come to believe that this is one of the most important (and surprisingly, neglected) roles of a leader – to define the “win.” People desperately want to know what success looks like. Yes, they want to know so that they can see if/when they may receive a bonus or promotion (or in today’s world, keep their position). But even more, the people you really want on your team – the ones who have a self-motivating engine – just get off on achieving success. And most of those high-achievers are very self-critical. If you don’t help them identify and celebrate the achievement of a tangible goal, they will usually feel like they could/should have done more.
In times like these, it’s hard for leaders to step aside long enough to define the win – beyond “survive!!” But it may just be more important now than it ever has been.
Plane reading – New Episode of “Minefields, Allies, and Hidden Agendas”
November 5, 2007
Do you know someone who is stepping into a significant leadership role? Ever wonder what makes some people fly faster in those roles while others fail to launch? Our team did some research on that some months back (click here to view the results) and found that – in the opinion of other leaders across many industries – building constructive relationships with colleagues and team members ranked highest.
I’ve just posted Minefields, Allies, and Hidden Agendas: Episode II, the second in a series of articles that deal with this very topic. They track the progress of Ben Scott, a (fictitious) up and coming executive who just started as Chief Marketing Officer at a professional services firm. He’s trying to figure out how to build relationships, navigate politics, and make his mark in this role.
To read the first episode, click here. Each episode should take about 10 minutes to read – precisely the amount of time most planes take taxiing and taking off before you can crank up the laptop again. And each one gives you practical approaches to apply, share, and practice.
And yes, I have a nice gift waiting for the first person to read, apply/share, and offer feedback on the article.
More popular advice you shouldn’t take
September 5, 2007
I have a friend who finds himself between jobs. He’s marvelously talented, has a solid track record, and is in the prime of his career.
He also has three months of severance, a couple of young kids who like to eat, and a mortgage.
In my work with senior leaders, I often run into people in this guy’s unfortunate circumstances. Whether caught in corporate re-shuffle or blind-sided by a blind spot, they’re good people who can and will contribute again in significant ways.
After listening to the details of their departure, I usually ask the same question. “How long do you have until you have to have another job?” With executives at this level, the length of severance is not usually the limiting factor. These are people, extraordinary circumstances aside, who have resources beyond a paycheck. Often, they haven’t even thought about the answer to this question.
That’s because they’ve heard the old lettuce analogy: the longer you’re on the shelf (i.e. out of a job), the worse you look. The people who advocate this thinking also advise getting a job as quickly as possible. Otherwise, you might look weak, damaged, and less valuable.
While this thinking has a kind of logic to it, I generally despise it. It feeds desperation in a time when most leaders feel the most vulnerable anyway – after being asked to leave the place where their title, status, and paycheck tells them they’re capable and important. And desperation leads to hasty decisions. All too often, hasty decisions lead us to look back with regret.
How much better to see these interruptions in the career path as gifts where we can re-think what our careers are all about, what talents we have to contribute, and where we can most productively employ those talents? That might take time and reflection that will leave us on “the lettuce shelf” a little longer.
But maybe we’re on the wrong shelf in the first place.