How to Manage Your Team in a Downturn (and Come Out on Top)

Workplaces can be stressful enough on their own, but when you add external pressures into the equation, the combination can be combustible.

When employees feel down, so goes engagement, and Linda Dominguez, CEO and executive strategist for Executive Coaching and Resource Network Inc., recently told the network Dahl & Kjærgaard is a member of “ExecuNet” editor Marji McClure, “This glum viewpoint opens the door for depression and anxiety, and fear for job security — followed by low productivity, high absenteeism, apathy, turnover and reduced revenue generation.

Performance declines considerably when people feel prolonged fear and sense that there is no true job security for them, regardless of how well they perform.”

These four steps outline some simple methods for keeping employees motivated and assuaging their fears during uncertainty:

1.   Set the tone and lower the anxiety level in the office by being candid about the challenges — and  opportunities — ahead.

2.   Enlist the team to fix what’s broken so you can motivate employees and find out how and where the business needs to change.

3.   Get back to the work that matters and make sure your team is tuned in to growth opportunities.

4.   Acknowledge and reward deserving employees and recognize achievement, even if resources are scarce.