One of the main themes of her story is that businesses are asking employees to work harder without providing the kinds of rewards—financial and psychological—that were once routine. As Semuels explains, “Employers figure that if some people quit, there are plenty of others looking for jobs.”

Paul Osterman, co-director of the MIT Sloan Institute for Work and Employment Research, who was quoted in the story, agrees. He says, “Wages are stagnant, jobs are less secure, work is more intense — it’s a much tougher world.”

For example, Semuels quotes Matt Taibi of Providence, Rhode Island, who routinely works twelve-hour days as a driver for UPS. “There’s more and more push toward doing more with less workers,” says Taibi. “There are more stops, more packages, more pickups. What’s happening is that we’re stretched to our limits and beyond.”

All workers are being impacted

Semuels reports that salaried workers are also experiencing the harsher work environment. While an over-forty-hour work week has routinely been a part of salaried positions, workers often enjoyed a measure of autonomy in their schedules.

That’s increasingly rare, says David Tayar, who spent a decade on salary as an associate attorney at a Manhattan law firm. He says that the demands of his job grew so much in that time, he eventually felt that he could never take a break.

When he started, Tayar says, “I checked my voice mail every few hours. Today, lawyers must check their BlackBerrys every few minutes — and be prepared to cancel a dinner, a weekend trip, or a vacation at a moment’s notice.” Tayar says he took just one day of vacation in a five-year stretch.

“You could never totally relax — you could be called at any time, unless you were officially on vacation,” Tayar says. “And even if you were, there were times when you would be called in to work.”

In defense of the common tactic of reducing headcount, cutting costs, and driving higher levels of productivity, Tim Meyer, an executive with private equity firm Gores Group of Los Angeles, explains, “Sometimes you have to make dramatic changes to save the jobs that you can.”

But it’s come at a cost, says HR Specialist Donna Prewoznik . “The relationship between employers and employees has changed,” she says. “Employees haven’t had raises. They’re tired. Their hours are reduced. They feel a little bit betrayed.”

What’s your experience doing more with less in today’s work environment?  Share your comments below—or check out the hundreds that have been posted online in response to Semuels’ article.  You can read more by checking out The Tougher Workplace series here.

• Change the organizational mindset. In many companies people have been hunkered down and focused on the short term for almost two years. The emphasis has been on cutting costs, holding down expenses, and weathering the storm.  Now that the worst is over, how do you let people know that it’s okay to lift your head, look around a little bit, and cautiously make new plans for the future?  One thing that leaders can do is share a vision for the road ahead, indicate that growth is a goal again, and let people know that they can try new things that have some risk involved. You want people to start thinking about stepping out again, but they have to feel safe in order to make that leap.
• Give people behavioral examples. What does “try new things that have some risk involved” really mean? The best organizations define the values, attitudes, and practices they desire in clear behavioral terms. People have gotten pretty clear about what they shouldn’t be doing over the past 18 months; make sure they are just as clear about what they should be doing now. The more specific and granular the examples are the better.
• Stay open to change. Constant adaptation is a key for thriving in the new business reality. Pay attention to customers’ expectations and competitors’ innovations. Especially after an extended time of downsizing it’s important for organizations to embrace new ways of thinking to breathe new life into old practices and generate innovative new ideas.
• Involve everyone. Smart leaders look for good ideas everywhere. This means checking in with people who are informal leaders in the organization as well as the people who are in formal positions. By listening to everyone—including people with divergent points of view, you increase the odds that the organization will be more responsive, adaptive, and successful in the face of change.

 By sharing power and expanding influence, leaders can create an organization with a strong overall capacity to change and succeed. The new business reality demands that organizations find new ways to address old problems. To learn more ways to increase your organization’s ability to succeed, be sure to check out the complete white paper, Thriving in the New Business Reality from the Blanchard website.

Silverthorne also reports that 27% of middle managers find their current roles less meaningful and exciting than before the economic crisis, according to a recent McKinsey poll.  The main reasons according to Silverthorne? 

• Job Insecurity. Middle managers don’t have the job security they need to perform at a high level.
• Kill the Messenger. When there are layoffs to be done, middle managers more than any other supervisor class are the ones who deliver the message to those being let go.
• Career Interrupted. Middle managers now have fewer opportunities at work to be promoted.
• Pay Squeeze. At home, middle managers are under mounting financial pressure as their employers scale back on pay raises.

These situations can take an emotional toll on your managers.  Job security, maintaining a connection with people, and growth opportunities are important needs that all employees have.  (To see other needs, check out Eight Employee Needs You Must Address to Create Passion at Work).

How are your managers holding up?  This might be a good time to check in with them.

Dick will be stopping by immediately after he finishes his WebEx sponsored webinar on We’re Still Here … Now What? In this special event, Dick will be sharing six strategies to help leaders re-focus and re-energize their organizations by adopting a growth—instead of survival—mindset.  Over 400 people will be participating in the webinar and most will be gathering here to ask follow-up questions.

If you have a question that you would like to ask Dr. Ruhe, just click on the COMMENTS hyperlink above. (Once you’ve typed in your comment hit SUBMIT COMMENT.)  Dick will answer as many questions as possible during the 30-minute online Q&A.

If you can’t stay for the entire 30-minute chat, but would like to see all of the questions and responses, you can always stop by later or click on the RSS FEED button on the right-hand column and you’ll receive updates automatically.

1. Confront reality
2. At board meetings, put strategy center stage
3. Be transparent with employees
4. Be transparent with investors
5. Build and protect the culture
6. Keep faith with the future 

You can access the complete McKinsey article here.  (It’s free, but registration is required.) While you’re there be sure to check out the McKinsey archives and also sign up to begin receiving the free McKinsey Quarterly, a great business strategy resource.   

For more information on leading in the new business reality, also be sure to check out Blanchard’s recent articles on Making the Shift from Survival to Growth and Creating a Change-Ready Organization.  Both are available at no charge at the Blanchard website.

“People have spent the last twelve months thinking about, “what if?”  What if they lop off my part of our organization? Or what if they cut out my product line? Or worse case, what if the entire organization goes under?”

Leaders have to deal with that by making the shift from survival to growth.  Now instead of stopping the red ink by reducing expenses, organizations have to shift to getting back in the black by setting new directions.  

That’s the focus of an August 11 webinar where Dr. Ruhe is the featured speaker.  It’s complimentary and it’s just been posted on The Ken Blanchard Companies web site.  To learn more, check out We’re Still Here… Now What?

What does the economy look like from your perspective? Are things improving, getting worse, or staying about the same?  Take a minute and share your thoughts in our new poll below.

Their response?  Focus on your people first. 

52% said addressing employee motivation needs should be the first order of business, followed by customer needs (14%), and then financials (12%). 

How does this stack up with your priorities during these trying economic times? It’s important to have a strong strategic focus on financials when money is tight, but make sure that you are also paying attention to employee needs.  After all, you need their best ideas and their best work now, more than ever.

Great organizations know that focusing on people—both customers and employees—is just as important as measuring the success of the bottom line.

Are you taking care of the people who take care of your customers?

That’s part of what I found out after finishing an interview with Chris Edmonds, a senior consulting partner here at The Ken Blanchard Companies. My interview with Chris will be featured in next week’s issue of Ignite!, our monthly e-newsletter and Chris will also be our featured presenter for an April 14 webinar on Revitalizing the Downsized Organization.   Both of these resources are free and you can find out more by clicking on the links above.  If you haven’t had a chance to hear Chris speak, here are a few of the ideas that Chris will be sharing: 

• Most leaders are more comfortable managing metrics like productivity but may not be as comfortable having the type of wide-open conversations about issues that you have to have if you are going to build the passion and commitment you need to move forward in trying times.  And because leaders don’t take the time to stop and get everyone involved, you can end up making a stupid short term decision that may look really good right now, but a month from now, or six months from now, continues to have really negative impact on your business.
• You want your people to be passionate and engaged in the work that they are doing. And you are only going to get the discretionary energy of your people is when they are feeling trusted and respected as a valued partner and stakeholder in the way that the business operates.   
• It’s the secret behind organizations like Southwest Airlines where even when times are tough they don’t have folks leaving, demonstrating, or picketing.  Instead, they’ve got folks constantly meeting together about how they can help the organization get through this economy.  It is a great example of how overall employee commitment and demonstrated discretionary energy is driven by clear communication of what is happening, open involvement in trying to influence the decisions that are being made, and what can happen when people are consistently cared for as a vital asset.

A couple of us are doing presentations (including yours truly.)  I’ll be talking about engageable moments and specifically what rank and file employees can do to help maintain commitment and productivity during a down economic cycle.

My focus will be on what each of us can do individually to keep ourselves and others upbeat, focused, and positive.  That’s because all plans, no matter how well thought out, eventually work down to an individual level—to you and me.  And to a large extent, how you and I respond—and act on the initiatives that have been proposed will determine our company’s overall success.

Here’s the three points I’ll be making.  See what you think and how this matches up with your own experience.

Get clear on what you need to do

Today, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by bad economic news, become distracted, and lose focus. There are so many things that each of us want to do, what we need to do, and that the organization wants us to do. You need to sort through these competing priorities to create one list that you can focus on.

Ask for help

Don’t try to go it alone.  You don’t have to, no one expects you to, and it’s not going to generate the best results.  All of us are being asked to stretch ourselves, either in terms of doing more with less, or generating new and innovative ideas to help increase sales. Do you have the information, tools, equipment and resources to get the job done? You need to be able to ask for help.

Cheer each other on

Especially in tough times, we have to make sure that we take the time to pat each other on the back.  And don’t wait for big results before you praise.  Remember to recognize the small stuff too.

It all depends on how you look at it.

Findings from the 2008/2009 WorkUSA Survey Report recommend that employers capitalize on “engageable moments” to increase engagement and productivity.

An engageable moment is a critical juncture for maintaining and building engagement. It might occur during such programs as new employee orientation, feedback during a one-on-one or when the organization goes through particularly challenging economic times.

Let me give you an example.

I had the opportunity to work together with some long time employees in our company on a wonderful project to try and capture the heart and soul of our company.  We asked everyone in the company to contribute a story that best defined our corporate culture.  All of the stories would be compiled into a book that will be distributed at our 30-year anniversary celebration later this week. Over 200 people, out of the 300 who work here, contributed stories.  Do you know what people pointed to time and again as our defining moment?  Our response to 9/11. 

Why?  It was during that difficult time that we best pulled together to achieve a common goal. We have that opportunity again.

You have a choice.  We all have a choice.  How will we enter the day?  How will we respond to the world going on around us?  Will we remain hopeful, optimistic, confident, and resilient when things look tough?

What about you?  What are the strategies that you have in place for yourself to remain strong, confident, and hopeful going forward? 

It is not the events of the day that define us; it is how we react to them.

Key Findings 

• More than half of companies (52 percent) have already made layoffs, up from 39 percent two months ago. However, the number of companies planning layoffs has fallen ten percentage points from 23 percent to 13 percent.
• Forty-two percent of companies have already put salary freezes into place, an increase from only 13 percent two months ago.
• Sixty-nine percent of companies have revised their merit increase budgets for 2009. The median increase at those companies has decreased from 3.5 percent to 1.5 percent.

While most companies are now settling in to what many believe will be a long recession that will not bottom out until the end of 2009 or into 2010, the good news is that, according to this report, it looks like the majority of the layoffs, salary and hiring freezes, and resetting of merit increase budgets have already been announced.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

One of the things we talked about was the situation new managers find themselves in as the deal with managing through their first recession.  In most cases, these new managers don’t have any past experience to draw from since they were not in a managerial position during the downturns of the early 80s and 90s.  

So how do these managers chart a course without the benefit of past experience?  Madeleine recommends that they take a moment to step back and reflect on some of their own best managers.  Who were the people that provided direction and support for them in the earlier days when these new managers were direct reports?

One of the traits that she thinks people will rediscover through this exercise is the power of consistency.  Not that these managers acted the same with every single employee, but instead that they used systems and processes consistently so that people knew what to expect and also what was expected of them.

The 2009 results represent feedback from more than 1,700 executives, line managers, and training and human resource leaders from a range of companies, industries, and countries. Since 2003, over 6,700 leaders have participated in this ongoing study. Here are some of the highlights from the press release:

“Participants in the most recent Blanchard survey were asked to describe their organization’s overall outlook in regards to the economy, training expenditures, expected cuts, and coping strategies.  In addition, the survey touched on corporate issues relating to organizational, HR, and management challenges. Responses focused on the most important aspects of future corporate growth and employee development, as well as how employees are prepared to deal with these and other hurdles. Some of the survey’s top responses include:

Tactics for Coping in a Down Economy

–         Invest in productivity and performance

–         Cut travel costs

–         Increase focus on branding and differentiation

2009 Top Organizational Challenges

–         Economic challenges

–         Competitive pressure

–         Growth and expansion

2009 Top Management Challenges

–         Managing change

–         Creating an engaged workforce

–         Reducing costs

Types of Training to be Offered in 2009

–         Leadership skills

–         Managerial/supervisory skills

–         Customer service skills

With the expectation that the economy will begin to recover within the next year, survey respondents also predict that their corporations will not make drastic cuts to training budgets. Fewer than 1 in 5 state that their organization plans to spend significantly less money on training in 2009, as compared to 2008. This desire to maintain an adequate level of training points to the identification of corporate development as a way to ride out the storm of economic turmoil, while also refining and realigning each organization’s own learning infrastructure.

While recent news has highlighted the downsizing of well-known companies, the Blanchard survey results show signs that corporations are looking inward to survive current conditions instead of resorting to the old playbook of cuts, cuts, and more cuts. Companies seeking to decrease costs along all facets of the organizational structure are not, the survey suggests, primarily targeting personnel and marketing. Only 29% of respondents listed personnel layoffs and cuts as ways their companies plan to cope with the down economy, while marketing cuts came in at 14%. More than 60% plan to invest in productivity and performance-maximizing strategies, while another 46% plan to focus on their corporate branding and differentiation.”

You can view the entire Blanchard 2009 Corporate Issues Survey findings at:

http://www.kenblanchard.com/img/pub/Blanchard_2009_Corporate_Issues_Survey.pdf

If you have a question that you would like to ask Ken, just enter this thread or click on the COMMENTS hyperlink near the title of this post.  Type in your question in the space provided and hit SUBMIT COMMENT.  Ken will answer as many questions as possible until he has to leave at 11:00 a.m. Pacific.

And if you can’t stay, be sure to stop by later and see all the questions that were asked.  Or better yet, hit the RSS FEED button on the right-hand column and receive updates on a daily basis!

It got me thinking about who needs training.  If training is just for training’s sake, the answer is probably no one.  But if it is training designed to help people be more productive on the job, serve customers better, or impact the bottom line in some way, then that’s a different story.

So who in your company needs to be more focused and productive?  Who could benefit from managers better able to prioritize work, manage expectations, and provide support?  There are probably a number of people depending on the situation your company is in.

In any of these three situations, training can help your organization immediately, and also position it for new growth in the future as the economy improves.

First, talk to your frontline employees. People will come up with all sorts of innovative ways to cut costs and increase revenues beyond what can be dreamed up in the corner office.  That’s not a knock on senior leadership, but rather an acknowledgement of the fact that the people closest to the work can see things that escape the eye of those farther removed.  

Second, people who have a say in determining what should be cut and what new plans should be implemented have a higher degree of buy-in when it comes time to actually implement those plans.  In other words, “People who plan the battle, rarely battle the plan.”

Don’t go it alone.  You’ll get better ideas and more cooperation when you involve others in the process.

It was also comforting to see that some people—marketers especially—are still working hard.  It was fun to see them adjusting their messages to fit the current economic situation.  No panic—just a necessary adjustment.  It’s probably something we can all reflect on.  What’s the approach in your organization?  Are you adjusting, moving forward, dealing effectively with the situation, or are you holding back, unsure of how to proceed.  That’s a sure recipe for failure.