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A Few Things Your Company/Organization Needs to Consider
I think and feel that companies need to do a few things right now in order to adjust to the market (not listed hierarchically):
1) Manage fear and anxiety. Most people today are walking around with a lot of internal discomfort and confusion. This does not make people effective, productive or creative, and all of these things are important right now. Invest in the interior of your employees - you're really making an investment in the exterior of your organization, the product, service and output. At the same time, develop capacities and perspectives that add value, leadership and responsibility.
2) Let go of excess, trim the fat. I am all for management reduction - some middle management needs to go. Performance based reviews and termination at all levels of organizations. Reduce executive salaries.
3) Build a culture of honesty, accountability and transparency. Support your employees and they will support you - both at work and in conversation. Your employees do as much to establish your brand as your advertising.
4) LEAN out your system and organization. Remove all that does not add value. I like Holacracy, LEAN 2.0, as it considers many layers and positions of value.
5) Build your social network and social media - it's damn cheap and damn effective.
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Along the lines of the first one, keeping employees informed as to the actual state of the company will help a lot in this realm. Ignorance and uncertainty are what create anxiety. Seeking recommendations about how to help trim costs from the people who are in the trenches and know where there is waste also helps. You would be amazed at what your employees know about the company and where there's massive waste. Make sure your employees feel invested in the company -- we've gotten away from loyalty on both ends, and that adds to anxiety, and negatively effects the bottom line. There's a lot of waste in companies, especially in talent. How many companies reward people with a promotion to a job they are worse at doing rather than giving a raise or a symbolic promotion (from Programmer Level I to Programmer Level II, for example). What kind of sense does it make to turn your best programmer into a manager? The best programmer may not (and probably won't) be a good manager. By promoting such a person in this fashion, you lose a good programmer, gain a bad manager, and create a worse business situation, a less happy employee, and more anxiety overall. By giving a symbolic promotion with a raise, you keep your good programmer, have a happy employee who is doing what he want for a job, and you have rewarded good work; not to mention, you haven't created an inefficiency in your company in your desire to reward your good programmer. Hire good managers to manage.
ReplyDeleteGreat comment, Troy. I totally agree. Thanks for the wisdom.
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