Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Engaging Employees during Times of Uncertainty

As a manager, turbulent times can be unsettling. Employees want to be upbeat, positive, and encouraged about the future, but news about the economy, conversations with some customers, and input from others in the organization can often leave them feeling uncomfortable and unsure. So how do you balance these conflicting ideas, maintain a positive environment, and keep employees focused on a positive future?


Focus on Vision and Mission
While it is important for you to clarify your organization's overriding vision and mission during times of uncertainty, it is also vitally important that you consider how your team contributes to that overall vision and mission. An economic downturn is an opportune time for you to explain to your team how vital their role is in the department. As a manager, you must create an exciting picture of the future look of the department and team and share this vision with the team by explaining how each team member contributes to making the vision a reality. Employees will feel more engaged when they understand their vital roles in the organization, in their department, and in their team.


Develop Connections
The key role of any leader is to develop supportive, loyal, and talented employees. Leaders cannot accomplish this task from a distance. In times of turbulence and change, you must be increasingly visible and approachable. Employees want a manager who knows them (personally and professionally), who is willing to listen to them, and who is caring enough to take time to address their individual concerns. This is a critical time to walk around the office, make extra phone calls to off-site employees, and keep current with email. Employees who feel connected to you are more likely to feel engaged in the organization. Be sure to schedule time to foster connections with employees.


Create Ongoing Dialogue
Maintain open communication with all employees to build followership. You can do this with general conversation, by sharing organization level communications, and by spending time focusing employees on the work at hand. It is important that you spend time discussing expectations, the value of an employee's role, and key measurements of success within each employee's role. This will help employees stay on task (an important way to keep uncertainty from becoming a distraction) and open up meaningful discussion about how employee roles may change as new plans unfold. Employees who are excited about what the future may hold or about how their role may change and evolve in the future are more likely to stay engaged during this period of uncertainty.


Encourage Empowerment
Employees typically like to believe that their efforts contribute to something bigger than themselves. To help employees feel like empowered, contributing members of the team, take time to help them focus on results that support mission achievement, grow their skills and abilities so they can continue to contribute in the future, and challenge them to find innovative ways of performing their role. This process will help them be productive today, plan for ways to continue being productive in the future, and help the organization find ways to improve effectiveness and efficiency and stay competitive.


While there are rarely easy answers to the unique issues that arise during times of turbulence, managers cannot retreat to the office and hope the situation will simply cure itself. Difficult times call for consistent leadership. Helping your team stay focused on the organization's direction and their individual role in achieving that direction and encouraging them to develop new approaches for helping the organization succeed in these difficult times are just a couple of ways that managers can help create an environment that continues to engage employees in uncertain times.

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Building Your Networking Skills - 8 Quick Tips

Networking events can seem very intimidating, but they can be a resource that will help propel your career to new heights. It is always important to go into a networking event with enthusiasm and a set goal in mind. Use these ideas to help make your next networking experience a successful one.

Network online - According to recent research by The Institute For Corporate Productivity, 64% of business professionals network online. In today's Web 2.0 environment, you cannot afford to ignore this networking opportunity and potential leads you could generate via social networking sites.

Start with LinkedIn.com, the leading business networking - Membership is free, and you can pro-actively search for and connect with customers and prospects. Also, Linkedin.com users can post questions to the "Answers" section on the site. Make an effort to answer questions relevant to your area of expertise. Not only will you add value to your connections, but you will also get additional exposure and attract prospective customers who will seek you out! I have over 3000 connections on LinkedIn and add more each week.

Arrive early - Treat the event like an important appointment. By arriving early, you get comfortable in a more intimate setting with the other early arrivals. It can be intimidating to walk into a room filled with people, so go early and let the room fill up around you.

Show confidence - Speak confidently, decisively, and with authority. If you are confident in your conversations and support your ideas with evidence, people will take notice and respect that you know what you are talking about and that you mean business. The Dale Carnegie Course has helped many people increase their confidence when networking.

Circulate - Don't just talk to the people that you know. Get out there and go network! I recently attended an open house for a new hotel in Rock Springs, WY. Everybody else was there to check out the hotel and get some free food. I focused on meeting as many people as possible.

Meet with VIPs or speakers - If there are VIPs or speakers at the event, prepare ahead of time. Do some research on the individual(s) so that you are informed when you talk with them. Compliment them on their speech or talk to them about how the topic of their speech or their field relates to what you do.

Stay late - When you stay late, the smaller crowd also gives you the opportunity to circulate in a more intimate setting. It also provides you with an opportunity to connect with the event's coordinator. Thank him or her for hosting the event. The event coordinator can give you some additional insight about who attended the event and who might be at the next event. It's never too early to prepare for the next event.

Have a robust profile on the networking site - Put in as much relevant information as you can that demonstrates the value you bring to your customers. Put in all the keywords you think prospective customers may use to search for a service provider in your field. Remember, on a social networking site, you want to make it easy for people to find you!