The Sunday Mail
Women & Leadership
Maggie Mzumara
EVERY business has to weather a rough patch at some point. While business leaders must make tough decisions on how to improve their situation in such instances, they have to pay close attention to team morale.
The most damage to a business often comes from low spirits and in recent months Covid-19 has done just that. It negatively impacted businesses all over the world, pushing sales and revenues down.
Your company may be facing the prospect of downsizing, putting your team’s morale at an all-time low. It is your job as their manager to lift their spirits up and get them back on track.
This is no easy task, it can be hard.
During times of crisis, communication — good or bad — plays a huge role in how a group reacts and moves forward.
Your instinct might be to shield employees from what is going on with the business and not keep them informed but misleading your team to make everything appear great is just as harmful.
It is critical to be as open, honest and transparent as you can be.
Communicate what is happening
Employees need to know, and they should hear it from the most senior leader.
News is going to get out, so it is better for leadership to consult with the human resources department, board, legal and/or public relations as early in the process as possible to create a strong public statement.
In your communications, try to exude confidence and a positive outlook of the situation.
If your staff members see you panicking, they will think it is time to panic, if they see you showing strength, then they will feel confident in your ability to make the right decisions for them and the company.
You want your employees to trust your leadership.
Find the lessons to be learned
Do not make the mistake of thinking the missteps that brought your team or company to this point will not be repeated.
It is critical to learn from your mistakes so you can handle similar situations better in the future. In the process of analysing and evaluating mistakes, it is important not to place blame and create animosity among your team.
You should be open to thoughts and solutions from employees, do not point fingers at any staff member. Working as a team is key to getting through tough times.
Share your vision for the future
Be clear and communicative about how the team and company plans to move forward.
This will help part the storm clouds for your employees. You need to know where you are going before you can get there.
Great business leaders know how to paint a vivid picture of the future. Fuelled by their passion to achieve their vision, they make it crystal clear what employees can do to get involved and emphasise how crucial each person’s role is. For employees to truly hear and remember the message, they need to be exposed to it several times. Once your team starts to bounce back, do not lose the momentum you have created.
Maintain your leadership strength when things are going well to make sure you have earned your team’s trust for the next low point. It is important for leadership to be strong and solid all of the time. If leadership is not consistent with managers and staff during normal times, they will not receive the trust and hard work of their team when needed most.
Celebrate large, small wins
When your company is going through difficult times, it can be easy to dwell on everything that is going wrong, which will eventually result in low morale across the business. Remember to celebrate large and small wins to keep morale high and to remind your team that their work is valuable.
Whenever possible, break large company goals into smaller, more attainable goals and start tracking team progress. Whenever your team achieves a small goal, such as meeting a project deadline, getting a higher click-through rate or launching a new campaign successfully, celebrate the win.
Reinvigorating your team with positivity will help boost morale during tough times. As a result, you will see more confidence and productivity in your team.
Ask for honest feedback
It can be tempting for business owners to want to fix everything and bear the burden when things are not going as expected.
However, trying to solve problems on your own can do two damaging things to your business: You could inadvertently create a negative company culture in which employees do not feel they can collaborate or solve problems together, and the rough patch may become bigger than you are capable of solving alone.
When you are in a rough patch, ask for honest feedback from your employees. Prepare for tough feedback that you may not want to hear.
Listening to the different perspectives of your employees allows you to look at the problem holistically and can result in a stronger team dynamic.
Finally, avoid asking vague questions, get to the root of the issue by asking engaging questions, such as how a situation may be affecting individuals and teams or what changes they think would most benefit the company.
This piece is adapted from an article originally by Sean Peek.
Maggie Mzumara is a leadership, communication and media strategist as well as corporate trainer, who offers group trainings as well as one on one coaching in various areas of expertise. She advocates women leadership and is founder of Success in Stilettos (SiS) Seminar Series, a leadership development platform for women. Contact her on [email protected] or follow on Twitter @magsmzumara
