How to inspire trust after major layoffs?

[Lois Kelly]

A CEO friend has layed off more than half the employees in his company over four different RIFs over 6 months. Now he wonders what is the best way to re-engage his management team and inspire trust? He's a great communicator -- transparent, genuine, clear. What would you do if you were in his shoes? Thanks!

[Ben Simonton]

Listen to employees. Find out what they need to do a better job and give it to them. Listen to their complaints suggestions, and questions and respond to them very respectfully. Get rid of telling employees what to do and help them to be the superstars of their dreams.

I managed people for over 30 years, made all the errors one can make but have learned how to unleash the full potential of every employee. The paybacks in terms of productivity were huge, as high as 300% per person.

If your friend wants help, I will do so at cost.

Best regards, Ben
http://www.bensimonton.com/articles.html

[Lois Kelly]

Thanks Ben.

[Delphine Bondran]

Hi Lois,

To inspire trust after layoffs, I think I would be very honest about what I expect for the company's future (do we have visibility for business? more layoffs?). It is important to say what you know and what you don't know to build references through uncertainty and show the path.
I suppose I would aslo try to show respect about emotional upset linked to past layoffs (empathy).

Finally, I think it is important to work on company's identity with managers after critcial challenges. People need to know who the company is, what have changed, which core values will not change, etc. Besides, it is a good way to re-build management team and cohesion.

[Lois Kelly]

Delphine,
Wise advice. Thanks so much!

[Terrence Seamon]

Hi Lois,
Some very good replies so far from Ben and Delphine about listening, honest communication and engagement. I will salute them and offer the following.

Invite your CEO friend to go out for a coffee or a drink. Since he is your friend, summon up your "tough love" muscle and ask him Why he fired half of the workforce. Was it fear?

He is probably financially very well set, unlike his ex-employees, who are now wrestling with COBRA and wondering how to pay their bills.

Here's an idea: Once he has recovered from that question, ask him if he would be willing to help the employees he fired. I mean really help them. Financially.

Imagine the impact that would have . . .

- on those who were laid off and their families,

- and on the survivor employees that are still employed by the company.

Just thinking outside the box,

Terry

[Lois Kelly]

Thanks, Terry. Love out of the box! My friend is in a business category that has sunk in this recession and is unlikely to bounce back for at least another two years. Hence, he had let people go or go out of business .I think he's been amazingly generous in helping people financially, with career help and just listening.

The tough issue is how to lead the now company, making it healthy based on market realities. Healthy so he can keep folks employed. That's one tough engagement challenge.

Lois

[David Zinger]

Lois,

I appreciate the range of responses we have had so far to your forum. I have featured it for tomorrow's newsletter so I look forward to even more responses.

This is a tough role to slip on the shoes and "walk the talk."

I would certainly want to listen, be honest, be clear about where the organization is headed, and do all I could for those who were laid off. To be viable we must keep our employees valuable even if they are no longer working for us or with us.

I would expect disengagement. We talk about discretionary effort often in employee engagement and I would show much discretion in my communication and expectation. I would not want people engaging out of fear as this will not sustain itself and it will be detrimental to the people.

I would not try to get the team re-engaged I would let them re-engage as they see the importance of this for themselves, the organization/community, each other, customers, those who were laid off, etc.

I would work more on engagement not attached to role of employee or manager. When we fully engage we and the organization benefit. I want engagement for all, including those who are no longer employed.

I would ensure that I care for myself. If he is genuine, transparent, and clear he may be hurting. I would find an outlet for my own emotions. Our biggest source of motion is emotions and this is no time to rely on only rational thinking or logic.

This is my own bias but I would ensure that this company became a community because I know strong communities can move through very difficult times and make a difference for the community and the individuals within the community and those other served by the community. We stretch pyramids into authentic circles, we connect, we care, we voice, we hear, we support, we challenge, we pitch in, we grieve, we laugh, we rally, and we love.

If there is a silver lining to all these layoffs I think it will accelerate the movement to having authentic communities (and a company or organization can certainly be a community) trump hierarchical and antiquated organizations.

Those are a few of my thoughts (biases) and I look forward to other responses from our network/community.

David

[Lois Kelly]

David,
Such wonderful perspectives. Resonating especially is your counter-intuitive perspective: "I would not try to get the team re-engaged I would let them re-engage as they see the importance of this for themselves, the organization/community, each other, customers, those who were laid off, etc.I would work more on engagement not attached to role of employee or manager.."

So many leaders want to rush to get people "back on track" moving the revenue and market share needles. Yet grieving is natural and needed when we experience loss, whether it's friends and family or those we work with. I can see how pushing too hard to get people to re-engage with the business goals could be counter-productive.

Thanks. I,too, look forward to additional ideas from this community. And if people don't mind I'd love to share these ideas with my CEO friend, who I realize from your note needs me as a friend so he can have an outlet for his feelings. One of the hardest things about being a CEO is that you're alone. A friend who coaches new CEOs of publicly-traded companies says this loneliness is the greatest challenge for CEOs. These times must be especially tough.

Lois

[Doug Shaw]

Great discussion, we're in the throes of more layoffs so this is particularly useful thanks. I posted the following note on a.n.other discussion on the network a while back. I'm not clever enough to link straight to it but it's only brief - here you go.

Visible leadership is extremely important, particularly in times of uncertainty. I sent this to my line of business CEO, I will let you know if it prompts some visibility (it hasn't yet, guess he's a tad busy/scared/reluctant....who knows?):

"Visible Leadership is Great! Can we have some please?

Survival and growth will come from positive mindful, awareness connecting people to each other and to the good things we can do together. Barack Obama conveys the idea of positive realism in a very tough environment.

It requires great leading to accept the problems we face, to stay positive and to keep engaging others. It demands sincere interest in what is happening to those around you and outside your circle. It means asking your colleagues good questions and listening respectfully to their answers and showing them you heard. It means that you must choose to notice the positive achievements and possibilities in every situation as well as the difficulties. It means that we must remember the real social value that the firms we work for bring to people and we must be grateful that we have the strength and capability to achieve greatness again.

Most of all it means repeated, positive action. It means you and me, and others who care, now, together. It would be fantastic to see you around.

Have a great day. Doug."

[Mathai Baker Fenn, Ph.D.]

This is going to sound stupid and lame.. but I would say the best thing is to be open, honest and to spend time with them in an unstructured way. Initially there is bound to be anger and anxiety, confusion, etc. But if the CEO can present WHY he had to do this and is open to criticism from people then he has a chance. Everyone understands these are difficult times, but that doesn't mean personal anxieties do not exist.

I wish the process of open dialogue had started BEFORE the lay off, so that the situation is presented candidly to everyone, and then say that there are tough decisions we all have to make. Then use a transparent method to decide who has to go. When we face hard times the most important thing I want to know is that it is not somehow "MY FAULT" and that should be the focus of the dialog.

One could think of the different stages of such a dialog

Stage 1: I know times are bad but its not a personal reality for me yet.

Stage 2: The Wolf's at the door and its time to make some hard decisions

Stage 3: Arriving at what needs to be done and what is the most fair method of doing it?

Stage 4: Parting of ways

Stage 5: Coming to terms with loss: ( i have read survivors of the nuclear holocast had to live with the guilt of why they survived)

Stage 6: Reorganization: How personal work and relationships can be reorganized to the new reality

Stage 7: Staying alive to the world (so that people dont build protective walls around themselves- as this would reduce their human touch)

However here is ONE situation that cannot be brought down into a formula. If there is a formula it is about courage. The courage to take tough decisions and the courage to stay open to people when they need you. Both those who have left and those who are left behind.

PS.

Apologies if I got a bit carried away, but so much CAN be done if only we can face up to it.

[Tom Rausch]

Lois,

We have developed a program specifically aimed at helping companies recover after a RIF. A recent study by Leadership IQ of 4,712 RIF survivors in 318 firms revealed that 74% of the survivors feel their productivity has deceased since the reduction. Other disturbing results include:

• 64% said the productivity of their colleagues has also declined
• 81% said the quality of service that customers receives has declined
• 77% said they see more errors and mistakes being made
• 87% said they are less likely to recommend their organizations as good places to work
• 61% said they believe their companies’ future prospects are worse.

A reduction-in-force is devastating to an organization. Future growth is improbable under these circumstances, but….
Recovery is possible through three steps:

1. Healing - Conduct honest truth sessions to open communication and express emotion
2. Hope – Present a vision of the organization that inspires employees
3. Health – Invite employees to collaborate and build on the new vision

The path to recovery is clear, but not easy. This requires effort, focus and courage. Good luck!

[Lynn Ferguson]

It is an extremely challenging time and letting people go should never be easy, I was part of a dot.com start up in the late 90's that had a first round of layoffs that was basically half the company and then utlimately the entire company. To build trust you have received lots of good comments so far, I would also say to be cognizant that building trust with each individual is unique to that individual, for some people giving them hard facts as to why and providing them with facts/detailed projections about the future will go a long way. For others its more about the relationship and so sharing the personal angst around the decision and listening to how they feel about being survivors, basically just sharing on a personal/emotion level will go a long way. So overall I'm sure your friend is smart enough to understand the information that needs to be communicated to those that remain but ensure he deliveres that information in the form that builds the most trust for the individual receiving it.

Thanks
Lynn
Team Enthusiast