If a good friend of yours were going through a hard time, what would you say?
Philip Cox-Hynd explains how to keep staff focused, motivated and positive in these uncertain times
WHEN QUESTIONS like the one above get asked, people often want a clever 'business' answer. Something like, 'organise strategic forums to involve staff in where the company is going', or 'talk up the diffi cult markets we are in so as to scare staff into realising their job's aren't guaranteed, and they better knuckle down and work hard'! Or 'lets communicate to the staff and get their energy up; organise a couple of events'. Some of these may well work, or at least
have an effect, but may not be as helpful as the situation requires. So where to get better ideas? The best answers often lie much closer to home. If a good friend of yours were going
through a hard time, what would you say? Or if a group of people you were close to, like a sports club, or amateur dramatic club, were suffering cut backs or other personal diffi culties and you needed to focus minds and motivate them into being positive, what would you do?
When you think about it, in either of the
above situations, the very fi rst thing to do is to listen and acknowledge the situation, and the way that the people you are talking with feel about it. They will want to be both heard and understood/empathised with. What do you feel like when you are in
a diffi cult place, and someone tells you to 'pull yourself together' or 'think positive' as the very fi rst responses? No, you want to a chance to express how the situation makes you feel; not wallow in self-pity, but not gloss over it either. Only when you feel listened to and your situation acknowledged, plus a degree of real human empathy, are you ready to discuss solutions. In the work place in these hard times, start
a REAL and TWO-WAY conversation with staff, draw people out; if they feel listened to, AND empathised with, then they will eventually start coming up with their own solutions, instead of you having to push motivational ideas on to them. b
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