These are tough times as we all know, and Leadership can be one of the most effective ways to deal with them and come out winners, or at least alive, that not many will.

One of the strongest employment services in the world came up with a very interesting study that analyzes how the most recognized leaders, (a total of 667),  have approached the current situation with their best practices:

• Engaging all employees to make sure there is commitment and alignment with the organization’s values and policies.
  
  
• Clearly defining each individual’s role and what the expectations are from their performance
  
  
• Making efficient and informed decisions on whom to keep and whom to let go
  
  
• Increasing the current skills and knowledge base of the whole organization.

As we read in “RESULTS THAT LAST” by Quint Studer, we are not at the time when we can afford underperformers in our team.

Owen Sullivan of “Right Management” says that one thing leaders will need to do well is conveying some “difficult messages” of encouragement that may sound like threats, so people are aware of the need to perform to the new level. At this time it is also urgent to assure that our formal and emerging leaders have all the tools and authority they need to do what they will need to do.

Sullivan assesses that the environment can be confusing once we start removing the lower performers and we run the risk that the remaining people may feel insecure and start looking for a new job or they may simply get disengaged. In order to prevent those bad effects he recommends to devote some time to:

• Talk to your people about the situation rather than avoid them
  
  
• Answer clearly all their questions as best as you can
  
  
• Continually reinforce their value to the company.

These activities can strengthen the teams, bring a thorough understanding and collective participation in the problem resolution processes. They must feel they are important to their leader and the company...

because they really are.