Eight North

Many of the world’s corporations today suffer from low employee morale and productivity, which lead to poor quality of products, excess waste and higher costs.  In part it has to do with the job or the organization itself, in part it has to do with the general poor economic situation.

People are constantly reminded of how bad things are - high fuel prices, higher prices for food and consumer goods, and the numerous crisis financial institutions face.  It is hard to stay focused and motivated when the walls seem to be crashing down around us.

With all the negatives surrounding every person in the workplace, how can we expect our employees to give more, do more and expect less?  A difficult challenge for the leadership in many organizations.  And yet, if American Organizations want to stay in business and help to rebuild a stable economy, they need to invest time, energy and money in developing a strong commitment from their employees.  Employee development is not a cost - if people are the organizations biggest asset, does it not make sense to nurture and grow this asset?

An organization can elect to “limp along” in the hopes it could weather the economic storm, or it can elect to set itself apart from its competitors and be proactive.  There is not one organization today, big or small, that does not feel the “pinch”.  It makes sense to investigate areas for improvement and cost-cutting.  Unfortunately, companies often cut costs on things they should invest in, and invest where they should cut costs.  In an economic downturn, it is not uncommon for organizations to curb spending on training and development or advertising, when these are the areas that they should invest in. 

Getting employees to understand how they are part of the success or failure of the organization, how their contribution makes a difference, and how the quality of their own work helps the company (and therefore themselves) succeed, is a far better strategy than laying off people to cut costs.  Ofcourse it is vital for organizations to run lean, and to analyse the viability of  previously created positions.   It would be easier, though, to eliminate those redundant positions in a climate where employees understand how their jobs fit in, and understand the contribution they make. 

Organizations that are serious about staying in business, and serious about ending up in the black, should consider investing in a training “event” that will create the right atmosphere for the changes the organization is making or about to make.  Change, without perspective or employee buy-in will almost always be seen as negative and demoralizing.  Only 5% of company employees understand the company’s goals, therefore it is critical to get commitment, understanding and buy-in before making significant changes in the organization.  It is not necessary to have an “event” every time changes are planned, and some programs have long-lasting benefits.

*Check out the program TOGETHER FOR PROSPERITY.  There is not a more powerful program available.

Anything that needs doing is worth doing right.  Avoid decisions made while in panic mode and always consider the long-term consequences of the decision.  It is one thing to try to survive in a poor economy, but quite another to make decisions that will pay off in the long run when the economic situation improves.

It’s 8:00 Monday morning and  we’re in the boardroom of Superior Widget, Inc.  The atmosphere is tense as the Leadership Team take their seats for the meeting.

Mr Drake, the CEO, peers at the attendees over his glasses and demands: “I want to know what is going on here.  Our profits are down and we seem to be fighting a losing battle in every aspect of the business.  All I hear about are problems.”

Joe Brown, VP of Manufacturing, clears his throat and says: “Well sir, we have had a lot of employees leave in the last few months.  Just this morning two more people quit.  And when we get new ones, they don’t seem to want to work at all.”

“Wait a minute!” interjects Marge Smith, VP of Human Resources.  “Do you know how difficult it is to find qualified employees?  With unemployment as low as it is, we have to scrape the barrel just to find warm bodies to man the machines.  We are doing the best we can with the applicants we’re getting.”

“I know that, Marge, I’m not accusing you of anything”. Joe continues. “It’s not just the employees who leave who cause problems.  The ones who are staying can’t seem to understand how important it is to run qualitu checks during manufacture.  Yesterday we had to rework a whole run of widgets because the operator did not notice there was a problem with the setting on the machine.  Then there was a mis-shipment we had to take care of because someone in orders did not read instructions, not to mention the overtime we had to work just to catch up.”

“What about the new finishing machine we bought two months ago?” asks Larry Little, CFO.  “For a cost of $3million, it does not seem to give us the projected increase in numbers on the line.”

“We have trained people to operate the new machine, but they don’t seem to last long.  Either they quit, or they just don’t seem to care.”  Joe says.

Is this scenario familiar?  In a shaky economy, it is easy to lose sight of what needs to be done, and simply do what we can to stay afloat till the economy picks up again (if we can last that long).

High performing companies and companies with visionary leadership look at times like these for investing in developing their people.  The norm for lesser organizations is to cut out any “fluff”, and they often see investing time and money into people development as such, while when boom time comes, they claim to be too busy to train and develop their workforce.  So, either way, they never get around to doing any real development.

If this is your company philosophy, you will always feed from the hind nipple, so to speak.

High performance organizations develop their workforce on a continuous basis, but more so when things are not so great.  Why?  They realize the value of having an educated, committed workforce who will carry the organization through bad times, and who will be there to celebrate their company’s victory in the long run.