These are skittish times, aren’t they? I have seen this among reps and myself – every little item is scrutinized. Communication, email, reports…I find myself looking for subtle clues in all of them. Is a layoff coming? How bad is it? What is going to happen next?
These are not productive thoughts. As a manager, how do you quell these fears? There isn’t one move, tool or approach that will cure it, but a concerted effort will help to minimize your team’s anxiety.
Selling Power offers up an article that has some feel-good points that I question. However, there is something in the article that caught my eye:
Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Your mother probably told you this growing up and it’s just as important today. Manning says she often sees managers make the mistake of promising a desired outcome rather than acknowledging uncertainty. For instance, don’t tell your staff there won’t be any layoffs at your company because you can’t possibly make that guarantee. “Make no promises,” says Manning. “Don’t build up false expectations because that just creates more fear.” Instead, be honest about what you know, even when – especially when – the news isn’t good. Your reps would rather have the hard truth than a pleasant lie.
Those last two lines are straight-up truth. The best way to allay these fears is to be forthright with your team. I believe managers often error in thinking their employees cannot handle the truth of the present situation. This is a leadership mistake that creates distance between the manager and the employee.
I will close with the next suggestion from the article – it is a good one:
Start a blog. Blogging is a great way to keep your people updated because it has an informal, conversational feel and reps can check it at their convenience. Manning says she knows of several CEOs who are having “tremendous success” with blogging right now, using it as a vehicle to keep employees posted on what’s going on, answering their questions and correcting rumors. Sales managers, she says, could expand those topics to include sales successes, news about products and so on.