Photo Source: Dhyanji
Lately, have you felt like the economy was that elephant?
All four of my postings this week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) give resources, tips and suggestions to help you keep your employee engagement working in your business.
The first four tips were Don't's. Not to imitate the Ten Commandments, but now seems a good time for some Do's.
Do get smart. The more information you can actively acquire about
- economic conditions,
- their effect on your industry,
- your market,
- your company,
- your company's credit,
- and your employees
the better.
You can sit and wait for the information to come to you, or you can pro-actively begin to gather the info. You may even invite your people to help gather the information. (That's engagement, right? And that action can help alleviate some of the anxiousness.)
Do get comfortable (at least as much as you can). Your stress level is loud and clear to your employees. You don't want to feign cool (or kewl!), but you do not want to appear controlled by everyone's panic. Getting smart (see above) will help. Consciously breathing, exercising, meditating, being creative…are all very good stress relief practices. You surely know what truly allows you to relax. ("Truly" is the key word; don't opt for phony, artificial stress relief!). Take advantage of those practices.
Do accept that what's happening is happening. As I don't want you to settle for fake stress relievers, you don't want to fool yourself and view what's going on through rose-colored glasses. We currently have an elephant by the tail; no two ways about it. Admit and accept that these are unsettled times. Don't waste your energy with the I've-got-to-convince-myself-things-are-better-than-I-actually-believe-they-are efforts. You and your people stand a better chance of surviving crisis by facing what's going on than by sugar-coating it or hoping it just goes away. Your people will more willingly engage in what it takes to get through these times if your leadership is based on candid acceptance of what's going on.
Do be authentic…even if that means vulnerable. So, you know lots of the facts. You comfortably manage the stress the facts cause in you. You don't fool yourself about what is really happening. Now what? Be yourself. Don't try to be a hero if you're not usually. Don't crumble under the pressure if you don't typically. Call on your authentic strengths. Accentuate them so your people know you and your leadership ability have not disappeared. Call on your true feelings, which may mean admitting you are uneasy too. Vulnerability and authenticity are true siblings.
Come back tomorrow when we explore 4 + 1 suggestions to keep engagement levels higher than you would expect these days.
Keep engaging…
Tags: Employee Engagement, Management, recession, tough times
