Motivation in Recession
August 3, 2009 | 11:58 AMWe are living through a phase of economic slowdown in the global markets including in India. These are uncertain times and with the declining state of the global economy with credit crunch and layoffs happening all across, most companies have to deal with these complex situations in their organizations. The question on everyone’s mind today is how to survive and sail through a recession.
As a corporate professional, you may have seen or faced a similar situation and as a leader, wondered – what can I do to reduce the impact on my existing workforce? How do I motivate myself and my teams? How do I survive recession?
The key to surviving a recession is opportunity recognition. One has to believe that there will always be opportunity for those who seek and pursue it. Irrespective of the state of the economy, needs will always be there. From a ‘want’ economy we may move to a ‘need’ economy, but we still require products and services to meet those needs. The mantra is to identify and explore these opportunities and capture them. The mantra also is to keep your existing businesses sailing as customers become more demanding in these times while employees can become insecure and shaky.
So here are some mantras to remember in times of recession
Recognize opportunities that you have never thought of before, areas that you have not explored. Look beyond the obvious.
Keep the communication flowing between you and your teams. Many a times, lack of timely communication can lead to rumors and grapevine that can generate panic and lead to high attrition. In order to motivate & retain your workforce, keep the communication channels open.
Treat this phase as a learning opportunity. Be open to experiment. Focus on enhancing the skills of your teams and to hone their domain knowledge. Identify and groom your potential leaders.
Share your and your company’s vision and future plans with your team. Be transparent. People will stay with you if they see clear vision and leadership.
Most important, recognize and reward employees. Sometimes a pat on the back works wonders to motivate people! Timely recognition is a must, do not delay it.
Remember, recession in itself is a great opportunity to change. It changes the way we feel, look and react to things. It takes us out of our comfort zones and makes us more alert, controlled and cautious. Treat it as a stabilizing phase and reassure yourself and your teams that those who stand tall in these times by looking long term will shine brighter. While those who panic and want only short term growth can perish easily.
This is the time to prepare for the future…. are you ready?
Guest Post by Sangeeta Malhotra
Related posts:
Pardon me for saying so but these things are normally followed by any company during good times also…what so special about these suggestions…I guess we need something new & afresh…These are old thoughts
Thanks for such valuable and wonderful words………..
Nayan, I agree they are the same and that isn't a bad thing. If we stop doing these things when times get tough it sends the message that they aren't valuavle in the first place and people become cynical.
For me the one thing people really need going through these times if the ability to discuss their fears and trust in their leaders. If leaders can take time to listen, and really listen that is truly showing empathy.
Very cliched article. Everyone is on this 'credit crunch' bandwagon these days. Every day you read some similar articles. Beside the old fashioned 'matras', its a poorly written article. I don't think anyone can be ready after reading this!
Economic recession created huge unemployment rates around the world. I think the world economy is already on the road to recovery.
the Economic recession made a lot of jobless people in my own country. We could only hope that our economy becomes strong again
Our country was also hit hard by the Economic Recession. At least we are seeing some signs of economic recovery now. I hope that we could recover soon from this recession.
Our country had been so much affected by this Economic Recession. there are lots of job cuts and company shutdowns. We are seeing some signs of economic recovery right now and we hope that it would continue.
I think we are also seeing some signs of recovery from the Economic Recession. Of course, we have no idea of how long it will take to completely recover, but some say it’s going to be longer than for the other recessions in decades. I also scanned an article yesterday that said business owners need a new set of tactics to do well during recovery.
during the height of the economic recession, our online and offline business in the US have suffered some major drop in sales. now our sales are getting slowly back to normal.
I really liked your blog! It helped me alot…