Prasad runs a family-owned business selling paper to SMEss. It's been a rough few months, and his company is slowly returning to normal. But he senses dissension in the air, his employees are less quick to wave hello or send a grin his way. There's a tension in the air that Prasad has only now noticed. He is angry with his employees. Rather than taking the easiest and most expedient action of firing them from their jobs, he adopted to have pay cuts instead of laying off his employees. And instead of gratitude, they respond with this attitude. So he decides to be stern - a brook no argument style of authority. He makes it clear to them how lucky they are to still have a job when so many companies have responded to this crisis with layoffs.
Obviously, this is a hypothetical situation, but you would be surprised to know how prevalent this kind of authority is. How leaders across the board choose to be autocratic instead of empathetic. This follows the incorrect line of thinking - give them a hand and they will take your whole arm.
In these times, when everything around us is changing rapidly, not to mention the pandemic, the onslaught of technology that makes a lot of jobs obsolete, the high turnover of good employees - it is imperative that the leaders of our companies be a good leaders
A good leader is an empathetic leader. And in these trying times, what employees need more than anything is an empathetic leader. We all are familiar with the saying - Trust is earned, it cannot be bought. And so leaders should aim to engender that kind of trust in their employees - not hate, not indifference, and definitely not disrespect.
A lot of leaders I meet during the course of my work say things like -
- I don't need to be liked by my employees.
- I don't need their trust.
- I'm okay if they aren't respectful to me behind my back.
It would be well placed for these directors and leaders to remember that study after study has shown that people work well under those who they trust. It is a common human experience - if we enjoy working with certain people or under certain people, we are more likely to perform better, go that extra mile, work that extra hour - all metrics that, in the end, allow a company to perform better.
A lot of upper management is likely to dismiss these suggestions or findings, after all, it is difficult to change the way we perceive the world. To those of us who want to be better leaders, here are some pointers -
- To be empathetic and understanding
- To not dismiss concerns
- To be more transparent about pay cuts
- To be free with praise and appreciation towards employees who are coming to work and who are giving their very best during this time.
- To go out of their way to make employees feel at ease
- To bring in sanitization methods and other actions so employees feel safe
Out of all of these, the most important point should be COMMUNICATION.
Communicate with your employees, they are, after all, the reason your company works smoothly.
Include them in as many decisions as you can, especially ones that involve their well being - let them know how long these pay cuts will last, how fast they can expect to resume normal working hours/days, and any and all such decisions.
Here is a small pdf document I created for starting the conversation with your employees.
For any further queries, you can contact me by email - growthhackingforsmes@gmail.com
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