The current economic climate is tough, that's not news. In these tough times we see more and more companies making cuts and reductions in headcount. Reducing headcount is a difficult business decision but it is an even more difficult message to deliver from one person to another. Yet it is a fact of business and something all managers and organisations should be very capable of doing effectively.
Two recent situations and one past experience remind me of how not to deliver a tough message and what the people involved could've done better.
First let's look at the basic psychology of why a message can be tough. Have you ever wanted to say something genuine with no ulterior motive to someone but held back? Why did you hold back? Didn't want to hurt the other persons feelings maybe? This is a common mistake and it is at this key point that people fall down. How do you know you would hurt the other person’s feelings? Have you developed some special 6th sense that enables you to read minds and future thoughts of others? (If you have then you know what the rest of this entry will say so stop reading now and win a fortune in some high stakes poker game).
The truth is we can't read minds but we are nice people and (most of the time) we don't want to hurt others. Therefore we soften what we were going to say, we change the emphasis, we change the message or we simply say nothing. The consequence is we may end up doing something we may not want to or actually confuse the other person which leads them to second guess what we are thinking and then change what they were going to say and we get into a very unproductive negative cycle.
Back to the situations that reminded me of this. The first was redundancy. My manager was making a colleague redundant, my colleague worked in a remote office and was flying in for a meeting with our manager. I knew what the objective of the meeting was but my colleague did not. The meeting began at 10:00am, at 12:10pm I received a call from my colleague. I was prepared to show sympathy and be supportive. There was no need however as my colleague did not know he'd been made redundant, he was actually confused. Our manager had talked about changes in the team, restructuring and future strategy. As the conversation, all one way talk from our manager, continued he started to talk about how the future was looking good and positive times were ahead. Throughout the meeting he indicated my colleagues role would change but didn't give any details.
The meeting ended with my colleague flying back to his office very confused. They would reconvene via a telephone meeting in a weeks time.
The following week the telephone call took place with HR present and it was HR that effectively delivered the message. In the time between the first and second meeting my colleague had worked out that this may be the message and was ready with and very strong and direct argument based on the waffling conversation from the first meeting. HR needed to save the day.
Rule 1: Be clear on the facts and do not waffle - facts are facts.
Rule 2: Tell the other person immediately within the first 2 or 3 sentences.
If it is a redundancy the conversation would go something like "Thanks for joining me today, as you know we have been looking at restructuring. A consequence of the restructuring is that your role will be disappearing."
Rule 3: If it is a redundancy make sure the person knows it is not them, it is the role that is no longer required.
My second example is more recent. A global organisation is making redundancies, this is an organisation that is seen as a real leader and is not normally associated with this type of move. 38 people in one group will face redundancy, the group is several hundred in size. The whole group were informed that 38 people would be facing redundancy and they would be told who next week(!). We now have a large and strategic part of the business fearing for their jobs. Not surprisingly productivity and motivation drops to an all-time low.
Worse than that, they are told that each individual in the group will receive a phone call on a specific day to inform them if they will lose their job. Not when during the day, just sometime during the day. The whole group effectively stops working for a day. This is approx. 2 yrs lost productivity. As the day wears on the calls are taking longer than expected (really Sherlock, didn't see that happening huh?) so those still to be called are given a call to say the management is running late but we will still call you later - why not do it now while you are talking to me? Eventually the call comes.
The lucky ones (must check this definition) are told their job is safe as their last performance review was good and they are told where they rank on the list, i.e. "out of 300 people you are way down the list at number 92, those at 1-38 are losing their jobs"). But there is a stinger, they are also told that if anyone at the top of the list appeal and win then the company will move to the next person on the list and they will face redundancy. Now I'm no expert here but knowing this, wouldn't you appeal if you were at the top of the list? And how does this make the person at number 39 feel? In fact how about those at numbers 39-50?
This organisation has just opened itself up for a major headache. How to motivate those from position 39 onwards. How to deal with the inevitable 38 appeals. How to deal with the annual performance review in a few months time because now the performance review is not just about performance, salary and bonus - it has become a key factor in future redundancies. This company really should have looked at Rule 3.
Rule 4: In difficult times people need certainty - don't create grey areas because we all love to spend our most unproductive time in these grey areas and this is where rumours start.
My final example is slightly different, a nationwide company that provides a service to business with out placed employees was looking to increase its headcount of associate staff. An associate experienced in this field approached the company directly and offered their services. One of the leaders of the company was slow to respond but did respond and asked for more examples of the associates experience. This was supplied and the leader requested a telephone meeting to talk about the organisation, the role and the clients. Expectations were being set that the associate would join the company. Then everything went quiet. Very quiet. Very quiet for several weeks and then months. The associate regularly contacted the company and the leader but got no response.
Following high expectation there was now a deflated feeling. Eventually the company responded saying they weren't looking to increase their numbers right now. The result was a disappointed and frustrated associate; more importantly this associate has misgivings about the organisation and may have a negative view of the organisation. This could've been avoided very simply with better communication. If the company had replied earlier to say they were reviewing their hiring or strategy it would have reset the associates expectations.
Rule 5: Communicate - effectively and frequently.
When there is uncertainty, silence encourages inaccurate stories and rumours.
Hopefully these organisations and the individuals will find positive conclusions, more importantly I hope they don't make the same mistakes twice.
