Economic uncertainty no time for anxiety, indecision at the top of your organization.

By: Barbara Bowes

The markets are up. The markets are down. The markets are up. The markets are down. What a crazy roller-coaster ride our economy has experienced in the last month.

Businesses, employees and the entire economy, for that matter, are reeling from the shock this volatility has created. International leaders are urgently convening crisis-management meetings while investment advisers and government leaders are meeting to find a way to stem the tide of financial disaster. Businesses large and small are also meeting to find ways to survive.

It is during times like this that leaders must really show leadership. This is a fight for survival.

While the financial stability of a company is critical, so is the stability of your workforce. You need to keep those high performers performing. In fact, you need to ensure that all of your employees are working to their full capacity. You can't afford to get bogged down in anxiety and indecision. If you don't lead and provide some sort of certainty for your employees, believe me, they will start to leave. In times like this, everyone goes into career survival -- they will look after themselves first; they have to.

So what can you do as a leader? What can you do to calm yourself down, maintain a steady-as-you-go pace and at the same time, deal with the crises your organization is experiencing? As you can expect, the first step is to look inward and calm yourself down and then reach out to your employees. The following guideline will assist you to do that:

Determine what you can personally control -- Put on your problem-solving hat, clarify the situation personally and professionally and set out a clear plan for moving forward. When you have a plan, you will be able to provide answers for your employees. If you start to get into a personal slump, look at what you are saying to yourself: Are you over-generalizing, seeing things as catastrophe, labelling? Stay positive; remember, you are a role model and all of your employees are watching you ever so closely.

Understand and share the change management cycle -- When people go through change, they go through several stages, similar to dealing with death and dying. First they will experience shock and denial, then anger and resistance. As a leader you have to move them quickly through these steps so that they can see a future with your organization. They need to see something tangible.

Share your vision of the future -- People need something concrete. If you are making changes, be sure to explain the reasons for the change and what is at stake if you do not go ahead with your plans. Help your employees to understand where you want to go. If and when possible, involve your employees in creating these plans. Employees who are involved have more ownership and will feel engaged in the process.

Ensure leader unity -- There is nothing more unnerving that having your executive team expounding different opinions and sharing different information with your employees. Ensure that the leadership team is all on board and is speaking the same language. Prepare question-and-answer scripts for everyone to refer to so that the message is clear and people can see the unity among leaders.

Communicate, communicate, communicate -- When people go through change and don't have enough information, they start to make assumptions, second-guess what is happening and make their own predictions. Therefore it is critical that you share as much information as possible so that confusion and rumours don't reign within your organization. There is nothing wrong with not knowing an answer, just be sure to indicate you will try to find out the answer and then follow it up by sharing the response with everyone.

Hold more frequent employee meetings -- Leader visibility can be enhanced by frequent but short meetings which will, at the same time, help employees to get their issues out into the open. Provide progress reports and whenever problems are discussed be sure to inform employees about the solutions. Invite their participation where possible. Be open, honest and consistent.

Keep employee engagement and retention top of mind -- Your high-performing employees create a market differentiator for your organization and you must make every effort to retain them. It is easy to get lost in all of the other critical issues and to let human-resource issues slide. If you do so, believe me, you will pay in the long run. Ensure employees have challenging work, provide coaching, mentoring and training. Be sure your corporate culture remains supportive.

Continue to invest in training -- A downturn will quickly show you the value of good employees. Well-trained employees are more flexible, more innovative and more creative. It is these employees who will have answers to problems, who will be able to look at new ways of doing things and cut costs. It is these employees who will help to continue building your corporate culture and steady the ship. It is these employees who will "rise to the occasion," so to speak.

Take advantage of available talent -- Instead of implementing a hiring freeze, look around you and examine the talent available in the downturn market. There will be plenty of highly talented professionals looking for new opportunities. Think about how these new employees could take your organization to the next step. Welcome them aboard.

Turn outward, not inward -- In a downturn economy, thinking "outward" is one of the hardest strategies to follow. Instead, it seems natural that we focus on internal efficiencies. But this is also a time to seek out your customers and find ways to help serve them better and/or differently. Look for new opportunities to move into new markets.

Cut strategically -- If there is no way around it and you find that restructuring and downsizing is a necessity, then do it strategically. At the same time, treat your departing employees with dignity and respect. These employees may well become your customers and believe me, they will never forget how they were treated when they departed your organization.

In a downturn economy, it is easy to get caught in the scramble and crisis of the moment and lose focus on future potentials. And steering your organization through such difficult times is not easy. While it requires a lot of personal soul searching, this is the time when true leadership and creative strategy will prevail.

Source: Five Talent Management Strategies for a Business Downturn, Feb. 9, 2008; How to Hold Talent Tight During tough Times, Good Practice Ltd. 2008.

Barbara J. Bowes, FCHRP, CMC
Barbara Bowes is President of Legacy Bowes Group. She can be reached at barb@bowesgroup.com.