9 Leadership Strategies to Beat the Recession Blues
Wednesday, December 09, 2009 by Steve Bruce BLR Daily Advisor

It’s been a lean time for most companies, and the dark days of the recession have spawned a troubling new issue—widespread loss of employee engagement, says consultant Jon Gordon.

“Even if companies haven’t literally lost their employees, many have lost them psychologically,” warns Gordon in his new book, The Shark and the Goldfish: Positive Ways to Thrive During Waves of Change. “Leaders have to change that.”

“You need to personally make sure that your company is a place where people want to work. You must focus on winning in the workplace if you want to win in the marketplace,” says Gordon. Here are his nine strategies for boosting morale and engagement in the current economy.

1. Focus on People, Not Numbers“It’s not numbers that drive people, but the people that drive numbers,” Gordon points out. After all, he says, numbers are just indicators of how well your people are executing. Remember, he says, “Culture drives behavior, behavior drives habits, and habits drive results.”

2. Model Good Behavior
Leaders set the tone for employees. They can inspire, or they can extinguish. For example if you greet workers cheerfully even though you’ve both had to come into work an hour early, they’re likely to mirror that attitude. “Whatever you expect from your people, you must also expect from your senior leadership,” Gordon says.

Leaders need to be humble and hungry, he explains. Humble in that they seek to learn, grow, and improve every day, and hungry with a passion to work harder than everyone else.

3. Practice Positive Leadership“Positive leadership” means remaining purposeful in the face of adversity. “While it’s important to acknowledge the obstacles your organization is facing (after all, no one really respects a naïve Pollyanna!), don’t dwell on them, and don’t bring up bad news before you’ve pointed out one or two things that are going well,” says Gordon.

Optimistically focus on where you are going. Remember, Gordon says, “Culture drives behavior. You win in the office first. Then you win in the marketplace.”

4. Fill the Void
In these uncertain times, employees are questioning how their industries and jobs will be impacted. This uncertainty creates a void, and “Where there is a void, negativity will fill it,” Gordon believes.
In the absence of clear and positive communication, people assume the worst, Gordon says. As a leader, you must personally meet with your employees and continually communicate, communicate, communicate.

“Make transparency the norm, not the exception,” asserts Gordon. “Talk to your team members often, and let them know where they stand. Host frequent town hall meetings in which you listen to employees’ fears, concerns, and ideas, and share your vision for the future.”

5. Tell Energy Vampires, ‘It’s time to get on the bus … or off.’ You might think that a few nonconformists and cynics won’t be a major problem, but Gordon insists you’d be wrong. He calls those who are a constant source of negativity “Energy Vampires” because they suck the energy and life out of everyone around them.

“Once you’ve identified the naysayers, gently approach them and give them a chance to get on the bus and share in a positive vision,” Gordon advises. If they refuse to get on board, you must get them off the bus. “Even if your biggest complainer is your highest performer, the negative energy outweighs any positive contributions,” Gordon says.

6. Forbid All Complaining
Successful organizations with great cultures focus on solutions, not on complaints, Gordon says. His rule is simple: “You are not allowed to complain unless you also offer a solution.”

7. Teach Your People to Be Heroes, Not Victims
Gordon points out that both heroes and victims get knocked down. The distinction is that heroes get back up while victims simply give up.

Help your employees to realize that they are not victims of circumstance, Gordon says. Remind them that they have a high locus of control—in other words, they have a significant influence over how things turn out. “True, you can’t always control the events in your life, but you can control how you respond to these events—and your response determines the outcome,” Gordon says.

8. Focus on the Small Wins
The key, says Gordon, is to always place your attention on those little, ordinary, nonspectacular “wins” that add up to big successes. His credo is to expect success, look for success, and celebrate success.

“Keep in mind that employees might be discouraged or burnt out right now, so make sure to really highlight and celebrate the small wins in order to foster loyalty, excitement, and confidence,” Gordon urges. “Championships are won as the result of many small wins.”

9. Make Sure You Have Sharks in Your Key Positions
When the economy was thriving, it didn’t matter as much if key employees turned in a mediocre performance. Now, that isn’t the case, Gordon says. He suggests looking at your team and figuring out which people display the characteristics of driven, go-get—’em “nice sharks” and which are “goldfish” or more natural relationship managers.

Your sharks are the people you need in sales or business-driving positions, Gordon suggests, not your goldfish. People who aren’t in the right positions won’t thrive—and your organization will constantly find itself struggling, he says.

Too many organizations have goldfish types in sales positions, and that’s why they aren’t thriving, Gordon says. “Put your people in the right positions and allow them to do what they do best—and they will help your company to perform its best.”

Randall Barker is the VP of Human Resources for A Plus Beneifts, Inc.

Near Misses
Unlike a western gunfight “shoot out” at the corral on television, serious accidents can cause real anguish and suffering so real and vivid that persons involved or nearby bystanders rarely forget the flow of blood, broken limbs, crushed bodies, or screams of pain. An accident without injury though is more like the bloodless, painless fakery of television “violence”-perhaps without real purpose in the drama, and therefore easy to forget.

In real life there is a danger in brushing off accidents that do not hurt, harm, or damage. When these accidents or perhaps we should refer to them as near misses, happen we should immediately run the red warning flag up the pole. Because a non-injury accident is like a 104 degree fever, it’s a positive sign or symptom that something is wrong.

Sometimes we misdiagnose or completely fail to diagnose the symptoms of near misses, because luck or blind chance saved us from injury. We may tend to shrug it off and forget the near miss with a casual kind of ignorance. Hopefully everyone agrees that it is not a good practice to rely on luck for effective accident prevention.

One of the best ways to eliminate the likelihood of future close calls is through effective root cause analysis and effective corrective action taken on near misses. A list of near misses can be almost endless: lack of proper machine guarding; improper maintenance or grounding of equipment; missing handrails or guardrails; poor housekeeping; improperly stored material; stubbing a toe on a protruding floor object; bumping up against a sharp object; or tripping over clutter and almost falling down. It’s best to learn the real lessons from these near misses, since they are very likely to continue to occur repeatedly until an injury occurs.

There was a study done many years ago that found for every serious or disabling injury reported, there were about 10 injuries of a less serious nature, 30 property damage incidents, and about 600 incidents (near misses) with no visible injury or property damage. This study was part of the foundation for the widely accepted accident prevention theory that “increased frequency leads to severity.”

How can the employee help? Each employee must report each and every near miss incident to their supervisor immediately in order to help prompt investigation and follow up actions that will reduce the potential for future near misses. Supervisors must partially rely upon the employee to report these to them as they just can’t see everything.

If you are involved with or witness a near miss incident, remember that you or your co-worker may not get a second injury free chance to hoist that red warning flag up the pole. Do your part to help make the workplace safe for everyone involved.

Safety Tip of the Month-
Space Heaters
Minimizing the use of space heaters was identified as a key component to the energy conservation initiative. Space heaters are a very costly means of heating, therefore, we should optimize their utilization by using them as a temporary solution, pending the repair or adjustment of a building’s main heating system.

In addition to the cost of operation, space heaters can also represent potential fire hazards. Therefore, we should also be mindful of the safety guidelines related to space heater use.

Safety Guidelines for Space Heaters:
• No liquid fueled space heaters (e.g., kerosene heaters) are to be used in any College building.
• Heaters must meet the following characteristics:
o Have UL approval
o Have heating elements that are protected from contact
o Be tilt-proof (when tipped over the heater turns off)
o Have adjustable heating controls
• Three feet of clearance is required around all space heaters. NOTHING may be placed on, over, above, or around a space heater.
• Space heaters are only be used while under direct supervision.
• When not in use, the space heater shall be unplugged from the wall electric outlet.
• Extension cords are not to be used with space heaters.
• Space heaters may not be tipped over or positioned in any way other than intended.

“Tool Box” Topic of the Month:
UNSAFE ACTS
Most of us know that accidents are caused by only two things - unsafe acts or practices, and unsafe conditions. Some of us even know that 9 out of 10 accidents are the result of unsafe acts, or things we do when we know better. This is kind of strange if you think about it. We have more to fear from our own actions than from any other job hazards around us. Why do we deliberately expose ourselves to injury every day?

It Won’t Happen To Me
Basically, most of us are just thinking about getting the job done and we tend to rationalize the risk of getting injured. We think to ourselves that we have done this job many, many times this way and nothing bad has happened. Therefore, nothing bad will happen to us today. On an intellectual level, we realize there is a potential danger but decides that the risk of being injured is low. Because we have not been injured so far, we actually think of ourselves as being very safety conscious. We know the right way to do it, we realize that it is hazardous to do it this way, but what we are really thinking to ourselves is “it won’t happen to me.”

We Take Short Cuts
Some of us are fairly meticulous about following safe work practices, but because a job “will only take a minute” we use an unsafe method or tool. For example, not putting on our safety glasses because the job will only take a minute, or not locking out a machine because an adjustment will only take a second.

Usually we think about it just before we do something a little unsafe, or maybe quite a bit unsafe. We know better, we know the safe way to do it, but we take that little chance. In effect we are saying, “I know that this could result in an injury, but “it can’t happen to me.” Maybe its human nature to think that accidents always happen to someone else, but they can happen to you too. What makes you different?

Why take a chance in the first place? Only you can decide to take the time to do your job safely and correctly the first time.

Seven Things to Consider when Starting Your Safety Program

I.Policies aren’t enough- It isn’t enough to have written policies if you let them sit in a folder until it’s time to review them. Policies are the foundation on which your entire safety sits so:

• They must be visible.
• Accessible.
• Managers and employees must be trained initially and annually on them.-Document the training!

Just because your policies cover the legislative requirements, doesn’t give you protection from prosecution in the event of an accident. You need to prove that you’ve done everything possible to:

• Remove the risk.
• Substitute another product if possible.
• Safety guards in place to protect people.
• Administrative controls- procedures to keep people safe.
• Issue Personal Protective Equipment.

II. History doesn’t repeat- Just because you haven’t had an accident doesn’t mean you are running a safe workplace. It actually could put you at greater risk of having an accident due to management or worker complacency. Unless you are actively looking for unsafe situation or problems you won’t find them. And if you don’t find them someone will.

III. Making Money with Safety- Making money with safety might seem like a strange concept, and many times, I hear “safety costs me so much money”!

Think about the costs involved with:
• Retraining of employees due to high turnover.
• Insurance premium increase due to safety issues.
• Decrease in productivity because workers are worried.

It will cost to put a safety system in place, but the long term benefits are huge!

IV.Health workplace is Happy Workers- Ensuring a safe workplace makes your employees feel valued. And employees that feel valued are more likely to stay with the company and want the company to succeed.

Bad employee will tend to leave on their own choice because they won’t fit with your company. Your company will gain a reputation for being a great place to work and you’ll find good employees easily.

Employee turnover decreases and productivity increases which equals increased profits.

V.Accidents Don’t Just Happen- Despite what we have all come to believe accidents don’t just happen. Accidents happen because of 4 things:

• Complacency.
• Inaction- owners, managers, supervisors and employees.
• Poor performances in safety programs.
• Lack of training, reporting or listening.

The commitment of safety from the owners and managers will filter to the employees.

VI. Communicating Safety- The safety program must be understood by all employees. From the owner to the newest employee, safety must be communicated clearly and be understood.

Having a safety policy that is not communicated, is a waste of the time of the person writing it.

The best way to impart the knowledge of safety is with discussions in every meeting, take one-two minutes and discuss the company’s safety efforts. Display of posters, charts and diagrams measuring the employee’s safety efforts. Owners and managers developing and maintaining a safety culture.

VII. Follow up- You’ve done everything right. You have a written program, new employee orientation, refresher training is conducted, and safety committee in place, safety audits, and suggestion programs are working. What do I do next?

Follow-up! Re-evaluate your companies’ efforts and improve on them. Talk to your employees, and get their input in the safety efforts.

Rick Scott is the Safety Director for A Plus Benefits, Inc.