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Articles
By Reva Nelson
I'm hearing a similar refrain in the corporate offices.
"Our morale is the worst it's been in years. People are booking off sick like never before. No one seems to be motivated, and even I'm having a hard time getting on top of things. Can I stay home from work today?" "But you're the President!"
The pattern that I see lately is that now, more than ever, the employees, the managers and the presidents want the opportunity to talk about what's been happening. Before, as speakers, we could do a lot of bookings for keynotes and workshops by phone. High trust from both sides, clarity, easy understanding. Now, clients really want to tell me in person about the low morale, the problems, the issues. And it's across the board in all fields, including education, high tech, associations, health, government, and manufacturing. When I summarize the last two or three years especially, I see that people are hurting and they want, most of all, to be listened to.
Nothing else has changed as much in my business. The work is there, the dates are set, but the pain in the organization has intensified and they want to talk about it in detail.
An organization is an organism unto itself. It lives, it breathes, it moves, it recoils, it regroups, it stagnates, it grows. Sometimes it dies.
The pain of the organisms/organizations that I'm hearing and feeling is tangible. I've been in business for twelve years; I've never had so many requests to come and just listen. Hear us, let us share the pain of our organism. "I need to talk to you. I'm hurting here. We're all hurting here."
Some of this sharing may be due to the new topic of Resilience that I've developed; yet, the idea for the topic came from my sense of the pain already there. People want to be listened to and they want some reassurance, some reason to hope that things will be better down the road.
It's very difficult for large organizations right now. The predictions are that they will go the way of the dinosaurs. Hence IBM's move to branch into smaller companies, such as Skill Dynamics for training, which had its problems, and Celestica for manufacturing, which is thriving beautifully. The innovative companies are waking up, reorganizing, realigning and generating tremendous excitement by their changes.
CIBC is facilitating programs for all of its branch managers across the country on empowerment and inverting the pyramid. Wherever people are feeling involved, helped, and valued there is hope for a strong future.
What's not working is deception, fear, rumours and suspicion.
People aren't stupid; they know new technology and restructuring means, at the least, changed jobs, and, at the most, lost jobs. Rumours do more to harm the morale than anything else. Squash them immediately with relevant, up-to-date information. Have frequent, small meetings if need be. Give people a chance to talk and let off steam.
Listen, listen, listen. Be human and humane.
With these changes of technology, business methods, structure and culture, comes a strong need for some sort of strength from within that can withstand the changes. Where does the corporate strength come from? From the inner strength of its people.
Aye, laddie, and here's the rub. Where do the people go to develop inner strength when some of the core values of our society have eroded, if the main form of communication is between the remote and the TV and if the church serves up very little to speak to the heart of the masses? And can inner strength, that is, resilience be developed at all?
I believe it can. Resilience can be nurtured in ourselves, and in our organizations, in a number of ways.
One vice-president I interviewed for my "soon-to-be-completed, sometime-this-year" book on Resilience spoke of the massive layoffs in his company and the low morale and rumors that were growing exponentially through the days. He found that what worked for them was to first of all, allow the anger. Let people be angry, don't cover it up or pretend it's somehow immature or unprofessional to be very angry. Why shouldn't they be? We're talking about a company that had "no layoffs" as policy since its existence. Next, he helped generate hope. There were a lot of possibilities, many of them creative, for people to try new skills in sales and marketing and customer service.
I spoke with a mining company president about his people and an industry that has huge layoffs, towns that will cease to exist, mortgages that won't get paid. Again, it was hope and charity that helped. Hope, because people with grade school education were going back to school to find new trades and possibilities. Charity because there was a big push on to help others less fortunate. So a lot of the men began to volunteer to fix up their kids' day care centres, or cook food for the homeless. Sounds hokey? It was working.
Some of the new leadership is old stuff, putting values in front of&Mac220;or at least in the picture with&Mac220;profit, people in front of dollars, helping others to feel better about themselves.
The skills of Resilience are:
1. Learn to handle the stress of change
2. Keep a sense of humour and perspective
3. Deal with the anger
4. Allow yourself to "go dead"; feel the pain, withdraw when you need to, take time for quiet and meditation
5. Visualize a better future
6. Be creative
7. Be resourceful
8. Maintain a positive self-esteem
9. Take some risks
10. Keep faith
We are all better at some of these skills than others. As leaders, it becomes important to recognize which areas you excel in, and which areas you can help others in. There's no question that we develop an inner strength from some of the hardships that come our way, if we take the time to stop, look and listen to what lessons may be there in our midst. For example, anyone who's had a heart attack seems to learn very quickly what was impossible to learn up to that point: slow down, smell the roses, eat less fat, eat less meat, walk often, quit smoking, take a holiday, renew meaningful connections. We sometimes get a second chance with our own life.
It's just as difficult for an organization to survive a "heart attack" and learn from it. The equivalent? Slow down, value the people, listen to the ideas, develop a wellness program, promote connections, build on strengths, get involved in meaningful work.
The coronary bypass for a business is to lose business to a competitor. There aren't many second chances. Listen to your people. Build trust.
Trim the fat. Honour each other. Resilience: Inner strength and outer strength. It's not only possible, it's necessary.