How to Lead When Morale is Down, Part One
The current economic crisis has led to a pervading sense of anxiety and uncertainty in many work places, which can cause employee morale to plummet and make a manager's job exceedingly difficult.
"No one in business has experienced this in their lifetime," says Dr. Michael Jarrett (pictured), an associate professor of organizational behavior at the London Business School, to whom I spoke recently. "The last depression was 80 years ago. So in many ways, these are unprecedented times."
Despite the fear of economic freefall, there are techniques managers can use to keep employees from losing their hope and sense of purpose.
Handle layoffs the right way
"No one likes layoffs -- managers or staff -- but how you do it makes a difference," Jarrett says. He points to two companies that handled layoffs in very different ways: BMW and ABN AMRO. BMW received their share of bad press last year when they rounded up over 800 contract workers and told them they no longer had jobs, effective the next day.
On the other hand, ABN AMRO, one of the largest banks in Europe, had to let staff go when it was acquired by the Royal Bank of Scotland. According to Jarrett, the company took "large amounts of care" with these employees, providing them with outplacement services and transferable skills, making sure they left the company with a sense of dignity.
Even when layoffs are handled well, employees who are left might experience Survivor's Syndrome, which is a sense of guilt over still having a job. "Many will ask, 'Why wasn't it me?' after a layoff," says Jarrett, and managers will have to find ways to boost these employees' morale.
Job enrichment
One of Jarrett's recommendations is to ensure that employees have meaningful, interesting tasks to perform. He says that people want to make a difference in their company, especially in the face of hard times, so give them jobs to help them fulfill this desire.
Spend face-to-face time with employees
Managers need to spend time "literally walking the floor and addressing employee concerns head on and as truthfully as possible," according to Jarrett. The more managers are involved with their staff, the less chance low morale has of taking a strong hold throughout the organization.
Create long-term visions and goals
Jarrett advises senior leaders in a company to emphasize long-term, big picture outcomes to employees in order to help them see past the current crisis. He names Pricewaterhouse Coopers as an organization that has been able to effectively convey that, despite making cuts, the company will rebound quickly. Getting employees on board with long-term goals will help strengthen their morale.
Looking to the future carries an additional benefit: companies will be ready for the economic recovery.
"In the 1980s, we had the process of de-layering, which was what we called layoffs then. We weren't ready in the 1990s when things picked back up, and we saw a lot of organizational anorexia," explains Jarrett. "Organizations need to focus on the big picture in order to be ready."
Next week, I'll share more insights from Jarrett on the characteristics of employees who deal well with a crisis situation - and tips for managing those who don't.