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Incentive Encounters: Communicating Critical Changes
February 04, 2009
Strong communications skills with internal clients and employees are essential during challenging times
By Terry Epton, CITE, DMCP
During a time when revenues are challenged, overhead costs quickly become the subject of much attention. The need to hunker down, protect resources and ride out an industry downturn can cause much anxiety at every level of a company. Right-sizing or returning to the company's core business in lieu of offshoot enterprises may be in order. Wise assessment, weighing options and acting on the circumstances in a logical way must not be avoided. Employees and other stakeholders expect to see adjustments and reactions to significant changes in the industry environment, and procrastination in these areas magnifies problems and usually serves to clock up stress across the company.
Announcing Change
It is likely that such times will necessitate the need for one or more high stakes meetings. These will be the most important sales you may ever make, or lose, may well be to secure the buy-in of executives and staff when economic pressures force painful policy or directives. Just biting the bullet and having the dreaded meeting to disgorge the bad news is not enough planning to achieve the important result you need. And just because meetings go smoothly when the profits are up, it will not prepare you for a high-stakes meeting: rules change when the core purpose of the meeting is to re-organize, change direction, cut overhead, make do with fewer resources, etc.
While less critical meetings are significant in the course of business, the value in these meetings is low in comparison to meetings that occur when a company must adjust its plans and structure to face lower revenue expectations.
Human nature will dictate many issues that must be considered, but in the end, if you don’t have an honest commitment to the necessary change in direction, the probability for success will not be great. Many sayings come to mind: "When the going gets tough, the tough get going;" "The only thing to fear is fear itself;" "We can, because we think we can;" etc. But the critical end result must be a motivated workforce that understands the challenges and buys in to the direction presented.
• Don't procrastinate. No one wants to deliver the hard stuff. We've all sat at our desks and filled our day with things that needed to be done to avoid making that one call we dread or having that talk with a particular co-worker. I was told by a mentor once that if we made a list of everything we needed to do each day and did the hardest ones before lunch, we would become instantly more valuable and successful. Then she admitted that she is still human and fights her own procrastination.
• Prepare for a successful outcome. In high stakes meetings, prepare as you might for a career-making sales presentation. Use your relationship skills to enlist allies you know support you and the company. Ask them for help in assessing the potential stumbling blocks to having a successful meeting. Be sure others in the room understand what's being presented.
• Make sure that everyone understands the reason for the meeting. Don't just include critical policy change items in the daily staff or weekly sales meeting. However, announcing the need for a company response to the changing economic picture—that management is studying alternatives and soliciting any suggestions from staff—would be appropriate in a regular meeting. You never know what might come out of such and offer and everyone will have had an opportunity for input before changes are announced.
Formulate a logical response to the factors that must be addressed with as much executive/staff input as necessary and develop an action plan. If costs must be cut, if overhead expense adjustments must be made, choose the best right solution and meet with affected employees and departments.
• Avoid the creeping layoff. It is far better to inform all employees who are affected on the same day, than to do it slowly over the course of days or weeks. Avoid blaming someone for bad news and explain the directive completely.
Once the cuts have been implemented, meeting with the remaining staff and departments is perhaps the most important step in managing for success. Employees need to be made aware that they are still important to the company and that the remaining team is expected to work together to do great things. Communicating how and why decisions were made is important. Equally important is the vote of confidence and accompanying challenge to succeed, based on the revised company plans.
History is filled with examples of small groups of highly motivated people doing great things. Handled properly, the new leaner team can be more nimble to meet challenges. The resulting position of your company may be stronger as the economic picture brightens and the experience of pulling together successfully will last far beyond the challenging times that forced change in the first place.
Editor's Note: Read all of the strategies and best practices from Incentive's Survival Guide at www.incentivemag.com/survivalguide. New articles daily!
Chief Executive Officer of USA Hosts, Ltd., Terry Epton has been an executive in the Incentive Industry for 26 years. As past Chairman of the Board for The New Orleans CVB, Terry is deeply involved in marketing and hospitality Industry leadership of New Orleans. Twice President of ADME, the Association of Destination Management Executives and long time member of Site, Terry served on the Society's International Board for two terms and as an officer for four years. Mr. Epton is a Trustee on the IRF, Incentive Research Foundation. Terry was named "Incentive Travel Personality of the Year" in 1999. With both the Certified Incentive Travel Executive (CITE) designation and the Destination Management Certified Professional (DMCP) designation, Mr. Epton believes strongly in on-going industry education and community involvement.
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