How To Take Fear Out Of The Workplace
By Rich Armstrong and Steve Baker
Fear. Uncertainty. A growing sense of panic every time the president delivers a national address about the far-reaching effects of the coronavirus.
Chatter around the workplace these days is filled with questions like: Will I get sick? Will I have a job tomorrow? Can I afford to pay my rent?
What can you do when you're facing fear in the workplace? The good news is that you can turn to four key principles: transparency, financial discipline, trust and respect for people, and a forward-focused approach. If you want to take fear out of the workplace, consider the following steps:
Embrace transparency. "Open-book management" is the idea that everyone inside your organization will be taught to understand the numbers that drive its success. Many growing business owners can be reluctant to share the truth about the financials inside their business. But they don't realize the kind of risks they take on by doing so. They take on the burden of keeping the business alive - solo. In many cases, CEOs and owners are forced to shut the doors of the business to the shock of their associates, who are then left to wonder if they could have done something to contribute to a different outcome.
That's why it's amazing what happens when you have the courage to share the news - good and bad - with your people. Treat them like adults. Get their attention directed toward what they can do to help - versus panicking. Plus, the more eyes you have on a problem, the more ideas you'll have to solve it. It's an automatic check-and-balance on the security of your business.
Discuss your cash position. It's been frustrating over the past few years as we've watched startup companies under the guidance of universities, incubators, and even investors embrace the idea that the only way they could grow was to take on debt. Some of you may find yourselves in an over-leveraged position, but that can also be an opportunity to engage your workforce and tell them the truth about the situation. If you do find yourself in trouble, ask your associates for ideas about how they can contribute to cutting costs - and increasing cash flow to the point where you can actually cover your debt obligations. You'll be amazed at what can happen when you teach your people the rules of the game.
Protect jobs. Attracting talent and retaining it can be tough. We don't have a future without people. In the not-too-distant past, executives sometimes became idols when downsizing jobs became the new mantra, laying off people at a time they needed those jobs the most. Something similar could happen today. Difficult times can convince companies to resort to layoffs to survive. But it is wise to think differently. Whoever has the most talented workforce will dominate their markets as soon as 2021. The time to get your organization ready for the next upturn is today - not when it's already arrived. By then, it may be too late.
Get ready for the upturn. As bad and as uncertain as things look today, here's a secret: it's actually harder to get a company ready to take advantage of an upturn than it is to prepare for a downturn. Downturns can actually be opportunities to fix things inside your business that you can't afford to invest the time and resources in when the economy is booming. While it might seem counter-intuitive, the current down market comes as a kind of short-term relief.
It's giving us a chance to catch up - to make investments in our people and facilities - and to prepare ourselves to capitalize on the economic uptick that we expect to hit in late-2020, early-2021. By then, our workforce should be more stable and productive - and ready to take full advantage of the available opportunities. They have every incentive to do so, because, as owners of the business, they have a true stake in the outcome.
We know how painful things are today. But there's no reason you can't also dare to be successful. And learning how to build a culture based on transparency, financial discipline, trust and respect for people, and a forward-focused outlook, is a great place to start removing the fear that's pervading your workplace.
Rich Armstrong (www.greatgame.com) is the president of The Great Game of Business Inc., and co-author, with Steve Baker, of GET IN THE GAME: How To Create Rapid Financial Results And Lasting Cultural Change. This book is the how-to application of Jack Stack's 1992 bestseller, The Great Game of Business. Armstrong and Baker co-authored the update of Stack's book in The Great Game of Business - 20th Anniversary Edition. Armstrong has nearly 30 years of experience in improving business performance and employee engagement through the practice of open-book management and employee ownership.
Steve Baker (www.greatgame.com) is the vice president of The Great Game of Business Inc., and is a top-rated, sought-after speaker and coach on the subjects of open-book management, strategy, and execution, leadership, and employee engagement. Baker is a career marketing and branding professional and an award-winning artist.
More Resources
Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exitingMore Management Information:
- Group 1
- Group 2
- Group 3
- Group 4
- Group 5
- Group 6
- Group 7
- Group 8
- Group 9
- Group 10
- Group 11
- Group 12
- Group 13
- Group 14
- Group 15
- Group 16
- Group 17
- Group 18
- Group 19
- Group 20
- Group 21
- Group 22
- Group 23
- Group 24
- Group 25
- Group 26
- Group 27
- Group 28
- Group 29
- Group 30
- Group 31
- Group 32
- Group 33
- Group 34
- Group 35
- Group 36
- Group 37
- Group 38
- Group 39
- Group 40
- Group 41
- Group 42
- Group 43
- Group 44
- Group 45
- Group 46
- Group 47
- Group 48
- Group 49
- Group 50
- Group 51
- Group 52
- Group 53
- Group 54
- Group 55
- Group 56
- Group 57
- Group 58
- Group 59
- Group 60
- Group 61
- Group 62
- Group 63
- Group 64
- Group 65
- Group 66
- Group 67
- Group 68
- Group 69
- Group 70
- Group 71
- Group 72
- Group 73
- Group 74
- Group 75
- Group 76
- Group 77
- Group 78
- Group 79
- Group 80
- Group 81
- Group 82
- Group 83
- Group 84
- Group 85
- Group 86
- Group 87
- Group 88
- Group 89
- Group 90
Related Articles
Boost Your Leadership Skills By Disciplining Yourself In The Way Of The Question Mark
I'm often asked to come in to organizations and give a motivational speech to their employees. I reply that I'm not a motivational speaker.
How to Save Money on Training
1) Use a live instructor. Adults learn best by doing, practicing, and experiencing.
Meaningful Diversity: Creating Cultures of Inclusion
In the fitness room the other day, I caught a glimpse of a movie trailer on television. A father spoke very open-heartedly with his son about his work as a fireman.
Uncommon Common Sense - Know What is the Most Important Thing in Your Business
Over 3 of my meetings with 3 business owners last week, what really shocked me was how uncommon common sense was. 2 out of 3 I spoke to do not know what is the most important thing in their business.
Big Company Intelligence on a Small Company Budget
Information is the lifeblood of the economy. That's especially true for businesses, because the ability to identify current customers and locate new prospects makes the difference between boom and bust.
Be a Change Agent ( Part 1)
Aligning business organizations to be successful in the present and keep on doing this in the future means to develop a new style of Leadership.To celebrate success in our days a leader most is able to craft a strategic vision, define objectives, design, implement and monitor the execution of a strategy and be a change leader in those same organizations.
Its All About The Customers, Baby
If you want to ensure a steady stream of customers in your business, you must always remember why you're in business in the first place.Sure you want to earn a decent income for yourself, but you also want to provide a useful service don't you?That second reason should take precedence over the first.
The Role of the Machine Metaphor in Mixed-initiative Organizational Leadership
"Can This Marriage be Saved?" So reads the title of the cover story in the August 15, 2005 issue of BusinessWeek (www.businessweek.
How To Prevent Your New Manager From Becoming A Statistic
According to a study by the Manchester Group, 4 out of 10 new managers fail in the first 18 months! The top 5 reasons cited:Not building partnerships or teams with colleagues and peersUnclear expectationsNot enough political savvyTakes too long to learn the jobInability to balance work and personal livesEvery day new managers are hired or promoted because of "what they know". When they fail to thrive it's because of "who they are" or "how they go about getting things done".
Three Business Lessons From The US Postal Service
There was a buzz in the air recently about the US Postal Service. Seems as though they were running into a budget deficit in the billions.
Is It Worth To Outsource? How One Can Outsource Wisely
Recent trends in software development market show that it is no longer the most efficient way to work onshore. Competition is too high and in some particular cases, US or European IT people even go farming rather than admit the situation and adapt themselves.
Think Before You Talk
What you say to other people can make or break you and it can happen without you even knowing about it. That old saying "loose lips sink ships" is oh so true in business.
The Do's and Don'ts of Giving Feedback
Being able to give effective feedback is not just a good skill to possess in business, it is a great life skill to have. Because when you are masterful at giving feedback, not only can you help your employees to sustain continuously improving performance, you can also improve the performance of the baseball team you coach, the cleaning lady at home, or the performance of your own children on completing their chores.
Once Upon a Conflict
Once upon a time there lived an innocent, hardworking manager. One day he dared to wander from the safety of his open-concept office to speak out at a team meeting.
Increase In-House Nursing Homes Collections
The following nursing home collections report outlines 11 guidelines you can follow to increase the amount of in-house long term care collections your facility collects.1] Have A Defined Long Term Care Collection PolicyOne of the major causes of delinquent nursing home receivables is that the facility has not clearly defined to its residents/responsible parties and business office staff when the accounts are to be paid.
Business Innovation - Improvisation
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.
Got A Meeting Planned? Ask This Question
Meetings - they are a fact of our business lives. And while the number of meetings and the amount of time you spend in them may vary based on your job title, it is hard to argue that they are a significant part of business life today.
Overcoming the Document Tracking Challenge
"Where did it go? It was here yesterday. Wait.
Telephone Techniques: Boost Your Productivity With Effective Phoning
One of the things that most impacts people's productivity is not being able to focus on completing one task at a time - we are so overloaded with tasks and interruptions that it requires great discipline to avoid spending the entire day responding to other people's agendas. Telephone calls, both making and receiving them, are one of the greatest disruptions to the flow of the day and to our ability to concentrate on the task at hand.
Indecent Proposal in the Workplace - An Overview of Workplace Harassment & Employer Liability
An allegation of harassment in the workplace is a growing phenomenon facing companies across the U.S.