Economic uncertainty challenges you to reinvent your management style
The past few years have been rough. Difficult times require greater flexibility in many areas of our life, and these adjustments aren’t always easy. Now, as we move unsteadily toward recovery, businesses and nervous employees are turning an impatient — and sometimes suspicious — eye toward the future.
Given the uncertainty and difficulty in predicting the direction of business, should business leaders change their management style and focus?
Make innovation a routine part of work
The past few years have forced many individuals and businesses to be innovative in order to survive. It’s time to adopt that creativity as a regular part of business. This helps create a culture of looking for opportunities, learning to expand on good ideas, creating new possibilities and continually being on the search for fresh ideas.
Managers, supervisors and team leads should enlist their team and partners in innovation. And, to be most efficient, a process must be developed to receive, analyze, gather team feedback and act on promising ideas.
To create a work environment that delivers innovation, introduce a regular and open communication process between your team and partners. This way, the process is open for all to participate in — which brings in even more ideas and strengths to the mix. In short, innovation requires teamwork.
Strengthen teamwork
Troubling times put a damper on company culture, employee productivity, as well as business leaders’ ability to plan long-term. Businesses that have experienced a reduction in workforce may also see a diminished ability to work as a team, as key players exit the company.
Rebuild your team’s ability to work cooperatively by acting as an accountability leader. Set team goals, motivate members to work together to succeed and keep all of your team members on point.
One of your goals should be to rebuild trust between team members and yourself/management. According to marketing expert, Marilio Amorim trust is necessary for collaboration among team members — without it, a cooperative project will not succeed.
Sharing credit with the team will help you gain the trust of members — as well as keeping the team motivated toward their collective goal. By fashioning a team that can work together toward a common goal, this sets the company or department up for future success.
Renew commitment to employee development
Although it appears counter-intuitive, a great investment during slow times is employee growth. Training doesn’t have to be expensive; senior staff members can instruct others on one of their areas of expertise.
In addition to extending essential knowledge to more employees, this also sends the message that employees are valued, because the company is spending resources to train them in new areas.
Although the economic news is conflicting and vague, there is one thing that is highly likely — things will get better and we should be prepared. During this holding period, it’s important that we plan for the better days ahead by being ready to take advantage of new possibilities.
Resources
Green, H. (2011, January). Five leadership strategies that can make or break your business in 2011.
