Change & Tough Times
01 January 09 - 03:12
Welcome to 2009.I recently had the honour of presenting my team on stage in front of several thousand other staff from the company I work for, as the guys had just won the company's half yearly team recognition award. This was a great reward for a team that is truly a team. The guys know each other well and work hard to compliment each others strengths and support each others weaknesses. They are not afraid to show a bit of joy and make a bit of noise at work, always staying as relaxed as possible. They are a great group of people and it has truly been a privilege to lead them through the last two years.
So, what next?
Everyone knows that things are tough right now, especially in financial services where I am employed. Things will get tougher and I am truly grateful to have a strong reputation (backed by the award above) to highlight mine and my teams value to the company.
Is such a strong reputation enough to help each of us make it through the times ahead? Almost definitely not.
So then, what can we do as leaders to help tool our teams up for the times ahead?
1. Be open and frank. Change is inevitable and will most likely be continual as companies seek to produce more for much less. Everyone needs to understand and be ready, willing and able.
2. You don't have to try and make the pain of tough times less. You should be communicating with your teams and giving them the skills, tools and courage to face great change and uncertainty.
3. Help your team understand where their priorities really should be. I myself have put away expectations of earning promotions, bonuses or pay rises this year. My priority is to still have a job in twelve months time. This is doubly important for people to understand in an industry where bonuses and pay rise have come to be an expected regular thing, even if the dollars were not overly large.
4. Lead your team towards a place where they have enough flexibility to allow their employer to make best use of their individual skills. In my own case I am going on annual leave in a few days for a month. I am almost certain that when I return to work I will be returning to a different role. While I am a skilled team leader/manager, I am also aware that the company is bringing a large book of new corporate business on board and will require all the existing technical skills they have internally before going to the expense (in the current environment) of hiring externally.
5. Keep lifting the bar. It is pretty much a given that this years performance is not going to be enough next year, and the guys need to understand that even if this is a disturbing thought it is a reality of working for a large business in a very competitive market place. Particularly now.
6. Encourage creativity. A moment or two of thought when experiencing an issue may provide a revolutionary change that goes beyond the incremental and truly allows your team to take the next evolutionary step in the services that they provide.
Having these discussions has not been easy. It has even been painful at times. I believe however, that as leaders and managers we have a responsibility to those that we serve every day to ensure that they approach tomorrow prepared, skilled, and with their eyes open.
If you can get your team members approaching times of crisis and change in the right frame of mind, they should even manage to enjoy the challenges and come out the other end with new skills, a measure of success, and they may have even identified new career paths that they had not previously considered.
I hope these thoughts make sense, but they are thoughts and conversations that are evolving as I work through them. I may pop back into the post and tidy up as the ideas progress.
Feel free to add thoughts of your own.
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