The People Bulletin

Every generation looks back to what they thought were less turbulent and troubled times. The 1980s look to many to have been a quiet, stable time marked certainly by a little, but not a lot of change, division and strife. During that period people even looked back to the 1960s, remembering only hippies and flower power and not Vietnam; the marches and the sit-ins. Even people in the peaceful 1950s looked back while their world was threatened by the Korean War, the Suez Crisis and de-colonialisation, to what they remembered as a golden, peaceful period of stability. 

The past is always portrayed as more orderly, stable and predictable than the present. This is as true in business as elsewhere. We seem very conscious of instability and changes in our current situation believing that we now live in especially turbulent times. The wish, ‘may you live in interesting times’, can easily be read as, ‘oh dear, we seem to be living in turbulent and troubled times’.

Aftershocks 

Assuming that the speed of change is indeed increasing, and the world is becoming more difficult and complex, what does this mean for people at work? Does it mean a Darwinian shake-up with the fittest surviving? Does it mean a massive increase in work and life stress and all the associated problems that go with that? Does it provide powerful and important lessons for companies and their managers to manage better?

Economic and organisational crises can lead to dramatic changes at work. Many activities cease. Some organisations freeze, then cut budgets on things they think are less essential. Favourite targets are recruitment and training, then advertising and marketing, and, if they have it, R&D. Making an error on easy cuts that turn out to be essential here has cost many organisations dearly. Costcutting leads not to recovery but demise.

When the chips are down senior executives fear ‘mean’ early retirement packages and communication, of all sorts, changes. Some senior managers hide or go silent. The PR machine either goes into overdrive or itself is cut. The organisation may suddenly become the focus of press interest which may not be welcome. There are soon announcements of general ‘belt tightening’ policies. Pension schemes are closed, budgets slashed, people are not replaced.

Ordinary people, indeed those at all levels, begin to get worried even frightened.  Many are concerned they will be made redundant and worry whether the organisation will have a LIFO or FIFO policy (last in/first out, first in/first out). Many get concerned about wage freezes co-occurring with mortgage payment increases as well as the sudden and difficult-to-manage increase in the cost of living. Those working on an hourly basis see a reduction in their hours. 

Vicious and virtuous cycles

Those made redundant or even moved to a new position often experience a well known shock cycle. There are many versions of this cycle or stage theory based on death and dying literature. There are different, but related concepts or stages such as:

1. shock stage – initial paralysis at hearing the bad news;
2. denial stage – trying to avoid the inevitable;
3. anger stage – frustrated outpouring of bottled-up emotion;
4. bargaining stage – seeking in vain for a way out;
5. depression stage – final realisation of the inevitable;
6. testing stage – seeking realistic solutions; and
7. acceptance stage – finally finding the way forward.

Others have opted for a simpler three-point construction: 

1. numbness – mechanical functioning and social isolation;
2. disorganisation – intensely painful feelings of loss; and
3. reorganisation – re-entry into a more ‘normal’ social life.

There are a number of caveats with the cycle or stage theory approach. It is not clear if people go through all the stages in a set order or whether they may skip some or get stuck in others. It is not certain what makes people ‘move on’ from one stage to the next.

However, the concept of vicious and virtuous cycles is well known. The idea is that in bad times people get worried. Managers take their eye off the ball or retreat into crisis group meetings. Workers too worry and may be ill; bad tempered, and pick fights with others. The ambiguity and the uncertainty are experienced almost exclusively as a threat. Threats lead to poor job focus and distraction that reduces productivity, which brings in worsening results at a bad time. This leads people to become anxious and possibly angry and to increase both of those negative emotions in those around them.

Managers need to constantly ‘steady the ship’. They can give confidence and energy to staff and seek to explore their fears and doubts. They should explain what has to be done and why, and model the appropriate behaviours.

The management essentials

The management of people is about five things.

1. The recruitment  of talented, productive, motivated people.
2. Selecting the best and rejecting the less able, motivated or dedicated.
3. Engaging their heads and hearts so that they are optimally happy and productive.
4. The necessity of developing staff to enable individuals to reach their full potential. Managers need to know how, when and why to let go of people (to exit them) so that they leave with dignity and positive feelings about the organisation. 
5. People stay productive and loyal because of many things; their personality, values and life situation, their available opportunities but most frequently because of the way they are managed.

There are clearly things to do if trying to manage in turbulent times:

1. re-engage through frequent, consistent, honest communication;
2. lead from the front: strong, bold, adventurous; giving confidence to others;
3. learn from previous recessions: beware cutting that which adds customer value, not going for big gestures, getting the little things right;
4. fix the leaks that soon appear when people leave or things are cut;
5. innovate – get creative with all the stakeholders;
6. change – sharpen your focus, streamline processes;
7. try to attract talent badly managed elsewhere and see this as an opportunity; and
8. prepare for economic recovery which will (eventually) come.

Just as the pessimist sees the glass half empty so they see turbulent times predominantly as a threat; a threat to their stability, livelihood and continued practices. Indeed their perceptions may well be self-fulfilling with all those potential vicious cycles already discussed.

Optimists believe that changes mean opportunities. Complacent, monopolistic organisations that have not moved with the times often go under. Bad times can be Darwinian in the sense that they are periods when only the fittest survive. Turbulent times test leaders. They can reveal hidden or obscured insights like what really motivates people at work. They demand creativity, new thinking and courage. 

 See also ‘Change for better’ by Gareth Chick in The People Bulletin, 18 November 2009.  

This article first appeared in the Winter 2008/09 edition of The Leadership Trust’s quarterly journal, LTFocus. 

www.adrianfurnham.com

www.leadership.org.uk