Engage Your Workforce for Today

Engage Your Workforce For Todayr
Posted on May 13, 2011 by MaxImprovementr
Lay-offs, shut-downs, tsunamis, and all have the world in both panic and stress. “When will terrorists strike my hometown?” “Where will I go if I lose my business?” “How will I make payments when my sales slack/slump?”

Convert those questions from owners and managers to employees. They have the same conce
s and issues. We see it everyday but tend to overlook the employees for our answers.

Let us face it. All these questions turn our focus to a ”fearful future.” In all probability, nothing catastrophic will occur. Having said that, fear builds in the workforce. Focusing on a fearful future impacts your customers today. Your quality slides, your productivity erodes, and the fearful future becomes your reality today.

Cy Wakeman offers great advice for leaders to mitigate the risks of 24/7 news hype in her book “Reality-based Leadership: Ditch The Drama, Restore Sanity To The Workplace, & Turn Excuses Into Results (2010). Cy writes, “Get their attention on what they know for sure today; what they need to do their jobs well today:

“Today, we have jobs.”
“No, we don’t know what we will hear tomorrow. But today, here is where I would like you to focus.”
“Today, we have customers, and we have a commitment to do a great job for them, so let’s start there.”
“Today, let’s work so we can be proud of what we accomplished.”
Certainly you can provide your own statements, but this is a great starting point to eliminate the fearful future and focus on reality.