What Does a Business Leader Do After a RIF?

Greg Robin and I had lunch this week and found ourselves discussing the stresses companies are under during this difficult economic period. Almost every company is feeling the pinch and many have suffered reductions in force (RIFs) or layoffs. American and worldwide statistics are staggering.

What does a business leader do after he or she has downsized or laid off employees? Two things: (1) attack other costs, and (2) focus on retaining and keeping your best people from getting discouraged.

Saving Money. If you want to contain costs, look at all of your processes and analyze them systematically with an eye toward streamlining—especially those processes that require data sharing. For example, if order taking data is accurately transferred to service delivery personnel, you will avoid costly errors in the field. Minimize errors with a collaborative data sharing process. Greg uses Quick Base, a web-based Intuit product, to enhance the efficiency of processes across the spectrum including accounting, project management, HR, order management, knowledge management, marketing and more. (See Greg’s Productivity Advisors).

Saving People. After a RIF, there is usually more work to be done with fewer people. Making sure they are secure, productive, and don’t burn out is essential. After a layoff, employees are nervous and concerned about when the next shoe is going to drop. That alone can lead to lower productivity as people lose focus and spend unnecessary time and energy singing “Woe is Me” and complaining about the company. Hopefully, you’ve retained the best and the brightest…but will you be able to keep them? Even in the worst of times, good people find opportunities—or opportunities come looking for them. Unwanted turnover (losing the best people) is very costly.

Here are some things you can do after a RIF.

--Communicate openly and honestly…over and over again. People appreciate accurate information. Rumors are deadly.

--Reaffirm your company values. Employees whose values match the company’s values are loyal, they like where they are, they work hard and stick around.

--Align your team by rewarding those who live the values of your company. Public recognition for collaborative actions (teamwork); getting things done on schedule as promised (integrity); sharing best practices (communication), for example, shows how much you appreciate values-based performance. A verbal pat on the back is a powerful motivator and costs nothing but your thoughtful attention.

Remember: the best employees stay in companies where their personal values match the values of the company where they work. In tough economic times it’s a good time to reaffirm your company’s values-driven corporate culture: the way we do things around here.

The Future of the Internet and When to Use Technology

Jonathan Rosenberg, SVP, Product Management, at Google, extended his thoughts about the future in a Google Blog recently (see Rosenberg Blog). He predicted four trends that will undoubtedly have tremendous impact on the way we think and communicate with one another:

(1) All the world's information will be accessible from the palm of every person
(2) Everyone can publish, and everyone will
(3) When data is (sic) abundant, intelligence will win
(4) The vast majority of computing will occur in the cloud

My colleague, Jim Kennedy (Partner, TechSpeak, San Francisco), and I were discussing the impact of these trends, and I was once again struck by the increasing importance of person-to-person interaction to deliver and receive information accurately as intended.

In today's world, for example, "email wars" can start at the drop of a keystroke when people hide behind the veil of technology. It's very easy to criticize, complain, or even insult someone with whom you may disagree via email. Making a hostile, destructive, crude, or hurtful comment via cyberspace is a lot easier if you don't have to deal with the consequences of the immediate feedback of a pained expression, reciprocal hostility, challenge to your argument, or a punch in the nose.

In today's corporate world, inappropriate use of technology can further a sense of isolation, create psychological distance, reduce team effectiveness and ultimately lower productivity and profitability. We've all witnessed companies where people are working in cubicles right next to each other, and yet they engage in email wars instead of simply standing up and talking to each other.

Corporate culture, "the way people do things around here," can grow like fungus in the dark if it is not created thoughtfully...and you may not like the behaviors that become part of the norm. Simple guidelines for communicating within a company, however, can establish productive and efficient habits. If communicating clearly, civility, productivity, and profitability are values you want to drive your corporate culture, here are a few guidelines for communicating effectively. These are based on this premise: the more intimate or complicated the message, the less you should use technology to deliver it.

(1) Use email (or other technologies) for communicating objective, unbiased information.
(2) Use the telephone when dialogue is required and when voice inflection and responsiveness can help to clarify the intent of the message.
(3) Get face-to -face if the communication has nuance or is important enough that serious negative consequences could result from misinterpretation.

As the Internet becomes even more ubiquitous, as Rosenberg suggests, and, as we are already witnessing with web-based social communities (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and many others), the guidelines may need to be changed or adapted. But for now, the values of civility, efficiency, and clear communication, suggest that these simple guidelines can help to support an effective and positive corporate culture.

I welcome your thoughts.