Be Proactive not Reactive.
Covid-19 is ravaging the global economy and presenting with unprecedented challenges. To do something almost unheard of in today's business environment is must to sustain.
Ask employees what to do.
· Spend time with your employees talking with them about the present situation and ask for ideas.
· Could help in emotional connect in how to run a business in the face of difficult challenges.
· Call for a company wide meeting to let employees know the state of the business and solicit creative strategies for navigating the next few months.
· Schedule Quality meetings with small groups of employees to check in and gather ideas.
· Put all your cards on the table and Listen.
· Meetings could reveal some key insights.
· Give a form that allows them to privately express or share thoughts.
The lesson could be simple, yet remarkable:
Please Spend time talking with your employees inform them the current situation and create a culture of Trust that you are here to support and not to push them.
Your approach to dealing with company's financial woes will show evidence of brilliant emotional connect--the ability to identify, understand, and manage emotions.
Here's what you can learn from it:
Be open and honest.
By openly sharing details about company's finances. This will help employees to understand how dire the situation is. Once this is clear, they would be more willing to sacrifice to keep the business going.
If you're in a bad situation, hiding it won't help.
Instead of underestimating your people trust them. The more information you can provide, the better they'll understand the situation and be willing to help.
Listen.
By listening openly to people, you will know key insights about how they feel about the situation and what they'd be willing to do. TRY multiple meetings, this allows employees to fully process the situation and come back with thoughtful responses.
After you've presented the situation to your people, try to hold structured meetings with them, in small groups if possible. Then listen carefully without interrupting.
These meetings will reveal key insights about what your people are going through--and can inform decisions on how your company can realistically move forward.
Work together.
By allowing employees to help brainstorm the solution, you can eliminate some of the natural resistance that comes to big, unwanted adjustments.
In other words, by tapping employees to find a solution to a difficult problem, You simultaneously achieve buy-in for that solution.
Instead of trying to solve your company's problems yourself, give your people a chance o participate. This makes them feel less like the victim who is subject to the demands of their clueless employer, and more like a partner who's invested in making the solution work.
So, if you're an HR or business leader faced with difficult challenges right now, focus on doing these three things:
· Be open and honest.
· Listen.
· Work together.
Doing so will help you build a culture of trust in your workplace. That's emotional connect making emotions work for you, instead of against you.
Be Proactive not Reactive. Happy working.
