Surviving the tough times: Communication makes the difference

By

Ms. Tanushree Baluni
Faculty (Management)
Institute of Information Technology and Management
Janakpuri Institutional Area, New Delhi
 

1) Introduction

Tough times indeed require tough and unpleasant decisions—but thriving, not just surviving, is an option for those who mix wisdom and boldness of leadership with transparency and maximized employee involvement and engagement. It is widely recognised that in high stress situations people find it difficult to make good decisions as their IQ is reduced by this distress. When a business is under pressure financially for whatever reason, emotional stress is experienced. It is then important to effectively manage this stress in order to have the emotional energy to address the problems at hand and solve them to bring the business back in line. To minimise these stresses it is also important to act early while there is still a level of control rather than being controlled by the situation. It is at this point that communication comes to the rescue.

2) Relevance of Strategic communication

Communication is undoubtedly the backbone of an organization and it's importance enhances during the tough times such as an economic slowdown, when it becomes the best strategy for gaining employee support. Communication during an economic downturn is both complex and intense. The employees want more information, yet the leadership wants to supply even less information worried that it will be interpreted as bad news or demoralizing. During these periods of uncertainty, organizational communication must strike the right balance between the two parameters of motivation and practicality. It should be focused on addressing employee concerns proactively. The management needs to communicate consistently and honestly. Without straightforward, ongoing communication about the company direction and next steps, employees will fill the information void with fear-based projections. The management should realise that every business has a grapevine of communication, and if they don't feed it, someone else will. Honesty will help to engender confidence with employees, which can increase loyalty and quell uncertainty.

Maintaining employee morale and focus during times of crisis isn't easy, but communication is essential to the effort.  And yet, many in leadership - in organizations big and small - are shying away from direct dialogue with their workers. A recent Economic Anxiety in the Workplace poll  conducted in the USA asked "What, if any, action(s) has your organization's leadership taken to respond to the economic anxiety in the workplace?" The results were as under:

* 21% said that there had been "briefings by leadership on the organization's economic health"
* 13% responded that there had been "briefings by leadership on the economic crisis"
* 13% said that managers had had "conversations with employees on economic anxiety"
* 7% responded that their organizations had held "workshops/briefings on dealing with the tough times"
but...
* 46% responded that organizational leadership had taken "no action as of today"

It's not hard to understand and appreciate the reluctance.  Leaders are anxious as well, and may hesitate to open a dialogue about a situation where nobody - including them, has the answers employees are seeking. This, however, is not the correct approach.

Experts all over the world agree that employee engagement is critical to cope up with difficult situations. As Ajay Mukherjee, Vice President and head, global human resources, Tata Consultancy services, puts it, "Employee engagement has even a more relevant role in a volatile business environment." The truth however remains that employee engagement is no child's play and demands continuous investment on the part of the organization. Another unanimous opinion appears to be that employee communication is the foundation on which engagement efforts rest. Anant Bijoy Bhagwati, Senior manager with HR consulting major Accenture says, 'whether it is downsizing or demanding high performance from the existing workforce: the key is ensuring clarity of communication. Sensitizing the organization's agenda/roadmap to employees becomes very critical in these times. The organization's energy should be channelized in the right directions using communication, rather than maintain an activity-vacuum, which would essentially breed idle gossip. Given the countless uncertainties that surround business today, it is important to communicate the organizational agenda effectively to all employees-on time, frequently and precisely.

The fact remains that communication acts as a key initiative during the kind of economic uncertainty that we are facing today. During such difficult times, employees are experiencing a spectrum of emotions. They are feeling shocked, angry, depressed, scared, confused and dazed. What the organization should not make them feel is uninformed. To varying degrees, people want information to help them sort through their thoughts, and that's where managers as communicators can help. Explain what is happening in the marketplace from the perspective of your company and industry. Information fosters understanding, and conversation leads to shared understanding. According to a Research conducted in USA, leaders haven't been doing much to handle employee fears and provide information. The survey results showed that a majority of people felt that their company's leadership should be communicating more about current economic problems and that they had not heard enough from their leadership about the possible impact of the economic crisis on their company. The management should realize that in the same way that an umbrella does nothing to protect against a tsunami, inadequate communication practices do not provide the kind of employee support your organization needs to weather a financial storm.

Experts suggest keeping communication a top priority during tough economic times. Some practices which are suggested to the managers for enhancing and improving communication are:

* Act as a crisis leader. Leaders don't have to have all the answers. Tell employees what you know and what you don't. Explain the steps the organization is taking to identify issues and resolve problems. Knowing senior executives are there to lead through uncertain economic times is crucial to your people. Employees want to trust their leaders, especially in troubling times, yet this is not the same as expecting leaders to have all the answers. Not even the wisest CEO knows exactly what will happen next, but he or she can give perspective and context.

* Show your strengths. Reinforce the core competencies and values that make your organization successful. Talk about how they will help the organization thrive in the future.

* Be visible to your people. Credibility, conviction and passion are important messages that only actual presence can convey. Employees can benefit from seeing engaged and informed senior leaders.

* Use your team. Make sure the management team knows how and what to communicate, and that no one is a bystander.

* Be coordinated. Coordinate your internal and external messages. Employees should hear company news from the company first.

* Share responsibility. Be clear about what you want your managers and your workforce to do. People want to help-tell them how. It's never a bad time to reinforce customer focus.

* Listen to your People. Find ways to listen to what is on employees' minds. Provide opportunities for two way communication. Invite employees' questions, concerns and suggestions. Welcome all kinds of feedback including negative comments. Sometimes people simply need a place to vent frustrations before they emotionally move on. Acknowledge emotions and probe deeper to understand the real issues. Use face to face meetings for sensitive issues and allow plenty of time to hear responses and answer questions. Staff opinion polls allow the management to ask for information and gauge employee opinion on certain pertinent issues. Even though it is not face to face, they can be used effectively to keep information channels open. The management can push staff surveys and opinion polls directly to employee computer screens. Surveys can effectively be used to get staff to submit cost savings and efficiency ideas and express their concerns. The level of persistence for uncompleted surveys can be specified thereby ensuring maximum staff participation. Often the ideas and suggestions received can have a dramatic and positive impact on the business. Online staff forums and blogs can be used as a platform which allows discussions to be set up for targeted groups of employees. Discussion forums of this nature can be an excellent way to gather business improvement ideas and suggestions. Get key managers to blog about the current economic situation and related initiatives. Encourage staff to ask questions and seek clarification. Staff blogs will help staff realize that managers are human too and they are doing all they can to minimize the impact upon the organization.

* Manage Rumors. Manage rumors. Get information out early and explain that you will provide regular updates, rather than letting rumors proliferate whilst you wait. In the absence of alternative information, staff may accept available rumors as "the truth" (if the rumors weren't true they would have said so) causing you to lose your best people first. Some organizations set up an online discussion forum specifically as a 'rumor mill' where staff can anonymously post anything they have heard. Executives may not want to sanction a rumor mill. However, rumors exist regardless of the channel and a discussion forum provides an opportunity to correct them quickly.

* Focus on outcomes and drive performance. Don't overly focus on cost cutting and productivity messages. These messages are clearly important but it is also necessary to help staff stay positive by inspiring them, highlighting genuine good news stories and keeping focus on future opportunities rather than just the current pain. Show your strengths. Reinforce the core competencies and values that make your organization successful. Talk about how they will help the organization thrive in the future. Maintain a positive focus on achieving performance targets. Don't let negative views of the economy be an excuse for failure to meet targets.

* Have a deep understanding of the corporate culture
It's important for employees to know what will endure through this crisis. Yes, there will be change, and yes, it will be uncomfortable. Just as people turn to comfort food, employees want comforting messages for strength to move on. Communicate what is unchanging, such as corporate values, so that people can hold on to something that provides a sense of familiarity and security. Find balance between the bottom line and higher inspiration for your audience. It's tough to be the cheerleader all the time, though. Fear is big and ugly, and you are not immune, so acknowledge your own emotions.

* Be humane. Employees are going through an emotional tsunami. In most cases morale is suffering. The state of ambiguity, uncertainty, and complexity is enough to have a disengaging impact even on those of us who are very engaged. Fear can supplant focus and worry can substitute for work. While on the surface one would expect that employees who remain would be grateful that their jobs have been spared, evidence from this and other recessions suggests that they feel overworked, threatened, and vulnerable. Morale affects performance, and during a recession organizations are threatened with a double-edged sword. At the same time that their business is contracting, employee morale threatens to make matters even worse. Lower morale can translate into "recession fatigue." This is a situation where the company experiences a series of problems that include a decline in productivity, deteriorating customer service, increased sick days, falling sales, higher costs, and lower profits. The management should try to acknowledge the pain of the employees and deal with it strategically making use of emotional intelligence.

3) Conclusion

Thus, to conclude, it can be said that if it communicates in the right manner, the management of an organization can surely and strategically cope up with this 'economic tsunami' and emerge victorious. Every period of turmoil is frightening; it challenges the status quo and threatens our comfort zones. However, with their understanding and experience of stakeholders and grasp of complex issues, managers as effective communicators are well placed to face the challenges and opportunities of change and to help management lead the way by creating a positive work environment based on transparency and mutual trust.

References:

* Chaturvedi Mukesh, Chaturvedi P D. 'Business Communication.'  Pearson education
* Tripathi P C. 'Organizational effectiveness and change.' Sultan Chand and Sons
* Human Capital. 'Realizing business strategy through people'. February, 2009 issue.
* Websites: www.workforce.com, www. humancapitalonline.com,  www.suite101.com
 

Ms. Tanushree Baluni
Faculty (Management)
Institute of Information Technology and Management
Janakpuri Institutional Area, New Delhi
 

Source: E-mail June June 24, 2009

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