Motivate Your Employees If You Need To Make Redundancies
Making people redundant to secure the future of a business is particularly hard for the SME Business Owner. However the act of letting go some people is not the end of the issue. The remaining employees need to be looked after, re-motivated and re-focused on the business strategy.
These employees are likely to go through stages of transition similar to those who have experienced death and are grieving. It's normal for there to be a dip in competence and productivity as people react to the difficult changes. This is part and parcel of the change process.
There are five steps which help achieve a motivated and engaged workforce:
Understanding - It's important to listen to employees and understand how they view their unique circumstances. Most employees, particularly those in SMEs, are realistic and know the challenges which a company faces. Looking at how they perceive their role in the company going forward enables people to move on and re-focus more rapidly.
Set a clear strategic direction - Company goals may have changed. If so, it's important to tell employees this. Be clear about priorities and make sure you let employees know they are doing meaningful work and contributing to the company.
Communicate effectively - However small the organisation, and however obvious it may seem to the owner, key messages are worth continually emphasising. For example it is possible that employees may have been grieving for former colleagues and not able to take in messages at one time. Therefore continual re-emphasis of business goals in a variety of ways is important.
Valuing employee input - If all staff have been interviewed as part of the process of deciding who has the skills for the future, a wealth of ideas may have emerged. Make the most of these and ensure that there is genuine and specific praise for employees providing valuable contribution.
Not having 'frivolous' team building activities - Although well intentioned, this is not the time to go on fun team activities such as 'paintballing'. Employees may think if these activities can be paid for there was no need for colleagues to go. The activities may cause resentment rather than a bringing together. Therefore any team building activities must have a proper business imperative.
Now is the time for the Business Owner to give top class leadership and successful strategic direction, while respecting employees as unique individuals. This will help employees know that they are doing meaningful work which is contributing to the success of the company, thereby producing a motivated, committed and productive workforce.
Catherine Wilson
+44 (0)7590 694004
Posted: February 3, 2010, 9:28 am.
Join The FD Group
As demand for our part-time Finance Director service grows, we are actively recruiting new Finance Directors to join our successful team as Business Partners.
