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!

[BrittneyMaxfield]

I'll add another perspective from author Joseph Grenny. below is an article he wrote on how to lead through a layoff and save surviving employees. (http://ehstoday.com/safety/management/workers-survive-layoffs-5614/...)

How to lead through layoffs to save your surviving workforce
By Joseph Grenny, coauthor of Crucial Conversations

As massive layoffs continue to make national headlines, people believe it's not a matter of if, but when, their organization will be next. According to a survey we recently conducted, three out of four employees believe their organization is likely to issues layoffs in the next 12 months. And incidentally, one in three people believe their job is at risk today.

But perhaps no one fears layoffs more than the managers who are required to issue them. Not only are leaders tasked with laying off trusted and dedicated colleagues, but they are also forced to rally, motivate, and manage the disengaged employees that are left standing.

Unfortunately, in stressful times like these, when it matters the most, leaders are on their worst behavior. Feeling the pressure of doing such a dirty job, managers become so embroiled in the crisis that they surrender their leadership focus. The result is shattered trust and battered morale among the employees who survived the latest round of cuts.

Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. Leaders can take a few necessary steps to keep their strained emotions in check and ensure their surviving employees feel safe and secure enough to continue their crucial roles and responsibilities. Leaders with the acumen to lead through layoffs will ultimately emerge triumphant and their teams will be stronger for having lived through the experience. Here are a four ways leaders can engage leftover employees in tough times.

If you can’t offer job security, increase job predictability. Be as transparent as possible about the timing of reductions, how decisions will be made, where future cutbacks may be targeted, and how much notice you will give people. If you can help your employees feel more in control of their job security, you will reduce the psychological cost of living in the unknown. Most importantly, you will increase their trust in you as their leader.

Realize the way you treat those leaving will determine the trust you have with those staying. The audience you’re playing to in your downsizing performance is not just the downsized—but the survivors. These employees are watching you and drawing conclusions about how you will treat them in similar circumstances. You must be honest, open, proactive, generous, and caring. If you come across any less, you’ll pay for disingenuous behavior for years to come.

Spend as much time building confidence in the future as you do sharing bad news about the present. Leaders become so defensive about announcing bad news that they start hiding from employees. They need to do the opposite. They need to sell their proactive message about how they’ll secure the future every bit as much—if not more—than they talk about the hard decisions they’re making today. If they don’t, employees lose confidence in leaders and suffer “survivor’s syndrome”—the state of simply waiting around for the next shoe to drop.

Invest enormous amounts of time with front-line managers. In reality, front line employees do lose trust in senior management when layoffs begin. And unfortunately, in most organizations, that trust was fragile to begin with. So, your best bet of engaging front line employee is through the agency and actions of your front-line mangers. Invest enormous amounts of time sharing with them every scrap of information you can. Consult with them about tough decisions. Delegate these tough decisions to them. Share the complexity of the problems you’re trying to solve and help them understand the motives behind your decisions. If they sympathize with your dilemmas and get a sense of your optimism about the future, you’ll have a hope of that rubbing off on the rest of the organization.

Joseph Grenny is the coauthor of three immediate New York Times bestsellers, including Crucial Conversations. He is a sought-after speaker and consultant to the Fortune 500. Grenny is cofounder of VitalSmarts, an innovator in corporate training and organizational performance. www.vitalsmarts.com

[Jennifer Gladden]

The responses thus far are very very good. Not knowing if the employees are in one location or multiple locations or if there are 100 or 1000 it is difficult to address. I believe that (from personal experience) one of the most valuable things a CEO can do in these circumstances is to have face to face contact with as many employees as possible. They will see that you care, especially if you do as Ben suggests and that is to listen. Listen without defensiveness, but with compassion (not sympathy) and then respond. Response in the concrete is critical. If it has been necessary to RIF 6 employees, say that instead of "a few", tell what went into the decision making process, not just "Sr. Mgt. sat down and made some very difficult decisions".Lay out the prospects the company faces, good and bad. People know truth from fiction and I believe it is essential to trust that they can handle truth.
Back to the CEO. Be her friend. Again, listen and offer your time. It is lonely, especially after having to make drastic decisions that may prompt distrust.
I agree, people will engage when they are ready. The door needs to be open but do not expect a rush of people to go through it. David is right, there can be a silver lining.

[Anja Schuetz]

Hi Lois,

my motto is always "Show, don't tell!" (which comes from creative writing and basically means to write so well that you get the reader to identify with a character and feel what the character feels, rather than spelling it out and telling how the character feels).

We hear so many speeches "This was the hardest decision I ever had to make," but how do we know it's really true and the person holding the speech is genuinely suffering from this as much as we do? How do we know that our leader who we used to look up to for direction needs our help at the moment?

In my opinion there are times when a leader should show some vulnerability and let people see that they are also only human. It might not be a good idea to let people see that you are at a loss (if that's the case) but maybe there's even a place for that.

I - as an employee - would want to know how I can make a difference. I would want my leader to come to us (my group, my team, my department) in person and have an informal chat as a human being with us and put himself on the same level as us and show us that he needs our help. I would want him to be honest with us - was this the last layoff - if yes, what makes him so confident? Or will there be more, if so, why? What can *I* do to prevent it? Not only my own layoff but layoffs in general. If I have full information and know the possible positive and negative consequences, I can take ownership and action. "Awareness creates Responsibility!"

This is probably the time when employees need to be turned into entrepreneurs (or "intrapreneurs", I think there's a name for it :)) Make people feel it's THEIR company and not the CEO's company.

And there need to be rewards. Just "keeping my job" might sound good for now but it wouldn't turn me into an entrepreneur. An incentive along the lines of the "Dream Manager" might be a good idea here. Let every employee write down a wish, that they get fulfilled if the company is making a certain amount of profit again within a year, for example. For some it might be trip to Europe, for some it might be a month off, for others a specific seminar - whatever. If all the employees help the CEO to fulfill his dream of turning the company around, then the CEO should return the favor and contribute to the dreams of each individual involved (once it's safe and the company can really afford it, so it should really be related to agreed, transparent numbers). I think that would create a fair deal and everyone can decide on their own level of comittment and engagement for that.

Anja :)

[Ashim]

This post has inspired quiet a number of sensible observations. These are difficult times and for many of us here. We are experiencing an unprecedented situation with only a fudgy silver lining in the horizon. The media makes matter worse and stories of people laid off makes for a disengaged and depressed moral.

I would agree with many of the respondents that the best way to sail over these times is to be extremely patient and be ready to listen. That itself is a great challenge! Despite his open communication, transparency and genuineness, your CEO friend could be experiencing a low moral himself...a tentativeness in his approach and a change in his conduct. These attributes can quickly spread over the organisation and can in turn cause more demotivation and disengagement. That may lead to further withdrawls.

I am not sure how I would respond to such a situation. However, I would consider making myself available to my people as much as possible. Steppping out of the office, talking to the teams, trying to be as normal as possible and being clinical in my assessment of business forecasts and communicating those information could be some simple steps I would consider.

It is important to let everyone feel we are on the same boat and we need each other more than ever before to row as a cohesive unit. The mutual dependence can inspire trust and given a facilitating environment could actually re-engage people. What else...? Lets hope someone from your friend's management team is reading this thread to appreciate how difficult it is for anyone to let go people and how concerned everyone is to ensure that the bonds between people and their work remain strong at all times.

[Kurt McDowell]

What a tremendous discussion about an incredibly relevant topic in today's climate. That article Brittany posted stole a lot of my thunder, but in no particular order:

1. As a leader, be honest, candid, and visible. Most leaders crawl into a shell which is the exact opposite of what should happen.
2. Offer a means to vent. I'm sure every one of your friend's employees had a friend that was let go. Have staff (or hired counselors) ready and willing to lend an ear. Ensure total confidentiality
3. Have a "town hall" style question and answer session where employees at every level can direct questions to managers every level - especially the C-suite.
4. Establish a company-wide rallying cry. Stress the mission, communicate the importance of each and every team member's tasks in reaching company objectives.
5. Develop incentives attached to the specific tasks/behaviors that drive the team's goals. These goals need to be less broad (i.e. company or division profitability) and more specific - almost on a task by task basis. If we communicate effectively #4, then the responsibility and accountability fall into place
6. Praise, Thank, Recognize, Validate. Three times as much as before. Consistency in assurance and validation, is key.

Note: Always look for flies in the ointment. Quickly remove anyone that refuses to adopt the new strategy.

[Nick McCormick]

Lois,
The ability to inspire trust after the RIFs depends greatly on whether there was trust before the layoffs. It also depends on how the layoffs were handled. Were the right people kept? Were the people that were let go given decent severance? Was there honest and open communications? Did the CEO take a significant pay cut? Is s/he feeling any pain? Trust can't be turned on and off like a faucet. If there was trust and engagement prior to the layoffs, there is a much better chance to regain it after the shock of a layoff via the many tips mentioned by others.

I realize this is spilt milk, but I am a bit concerned about the number of layoffs in such a short period of time. I have no idea what the business is, but it seems like there could have been better planning. It's best to cut once and be done with it for a while as opposed to cutting every 5 or 6 weeks. Your friend may have been trying to lessen the impact while hoping for a turn-around. The net result, however, probably caused more harm than good. It is also likely to have rattled the confidence that the employees may have had in their CEO.

[Jack Kennedy]

Lois,

I'd like to echo Nick's concern about the number of layoffs. I realize that the economy really nosedived, making it difficult for organizations to react effectively. However, the fact that this CEO had four separate rounds of layoffs has got to have the workforce wondering whether he has any idea at all what he's doing. As a colleague of mine is fond of saying, "No company ever shrank it's way to greatness.

The most important thing now to re-engage the workforce is to put together a plan to grow the business, explain to the workforce very clearly exactly how this plan will allow them to achieve that objective, then stick to the plan! Continuing to react every month and a half or so will only reinforce the perception that the company is a rudderless ship. In that case, the really good employees, the ones the company desperately needs to pull through these difficult times, are likely to jump ship.

[Lois Kelly]

Hi all,
Your advice has been so helpful!! Here are my 10 big takeaways from all these wonderful posts:

Advice to a CEO

1. Be concrete
2. Explain what’s next, what’s different, what’s the same (values)
3. Don't try to re-engage; allow it to happen
4. Be visible, spend time in unstructured 1:1 ways
5. Don’t surrender your leadership focus; don’t be tentative
6. Invest enormous amounts of time with front-line managers.
7. Develop incentives linked to tasks/behaviors
8. Get rid of the flies in the ointment
9. Be consistent in assurance and validation
10. Take care of myself (the CEO)

[Angela Lewis Guy]

Hi Lois


These are truly challenging times and if your friend is as authentic as you say he is, building trust with is remaining staff will be a painful (because he is genuine person) but rewarding event.

Truly listening to his staff should be big on his agenda. I am hoping that his EQ is at the level it needs to be so that he can measure his responses in a way that soothes the jagged nerves and brings some kind of calm and order to the cacophony of thoughts and emotions that are certainly present, including his own.

If he is up to it, have him have a session with the staff he has had to let go as well as the ones that remained...let them talk, cry...whatever it takes to brig thedm to the space where there is mutual and shared understanding of why that particular action needed to be taken.

Personally, I would open up a conversation about the finiteness of a recession. It is bound to happen once we operate under the current economic principles. However, I would stand in the future - when the recession has passed. I would strongly demonstrate to the laid-off group how much they mean to the business and that at the first sign of recovery they would be the ones that I would be coming to as the business flourishes once again. Don't patronize them by making them feel that they should sit around and wait for the business to turn around (they do have lives to live and bills to pay), but let them know that they are valued, appreciated and an integral part of the mosaic and fabric that is the organization and no-one can take that away from them.

Keep in contact with them regularly, so that if and when there may be a need to reintegrate them, the transition will not be that challenging. Find ways to use their expertise and skill to keep the organization going - it will also assist their financial situations.

Critical to all of this, is candour and openness about the situation in which the organization found itself and the tough and painful decisions that needed to be taken to avoid outright closure.

Once the pain and anger (which is normal) has subsided, your friend will be respected. Both the exiting and remaining groups will assist in taking the burden off you to build that trust as they personally and as groups begin to believe and trust that the wisest decisio had been made.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards

Angela

[Lois Kelly]

Thanks, Angela. The candor and openness advice seems to be most important. Knowing that doing so will result in trust among the remaining group I think is especially comforting.

[Vinti Mehta]

If he's transparent, genuine and clear, that's half the battle won!

If I were him, I'd tell the truth - tell the people why he had to lay off the others and what the scene looks like for the ones who remain. Surface issues of trust, loss of faith, fear/ insecurity about the job that the ones who stayed may be harbouring, but not talking about. Perhaps, he could even engage them in generating other possibilities if his organisation is faced with the choice of lay offs again.

Of course, in all of this, I'm presuming his process of lay offs has been fair - if not, then being transparent may not really make too much of a difference!

Good luck!

[Lois Kelly]

Vinta, thanks. I especially like the ideas of engaging people around future possibilities.