Inspirational Change

Retrenching without Real Conversation ... a recipe for disaster!
Alison Williams - Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Yesterday Toyota Australia retrenched 350 workers and the Chief Executive chose to make these compulsory redundancies, stating that "If you don't perform to Toyota's satisfaction you will lose your job." Now there's always more to a story than the media hype around it, yet this apparent 'culling on the spot of poor performers,' complete with heavy security guard presence is such a great example of how not to have Real Conversation!!

If you manage a business I encourage you to use this case for some great learning and consider:

  • How does your organisation deal with poor performance? Are issues allowed to escalate to the point where someone is then retrenched out of the blue (often with a fairly shaky reference to 'necessary restructure') or maybe moved sideways so that they can merrily continue to do what they do but at least it'll be someone else's problem?! 
  • How do you communicate change within your business? Is it the Toyota style 'bolt out of the blue' leaving those impacted distraught and those remaining feeling traumatised, distrusting and almost guilty for surviving?
  • How do you deal with issues that need to be addressed within your business? Is it Toyota style confrontational (not that I'm suggesting you'd necessarily get the security guards in!), assuming interactions and dialogues will go badly, seeking to 'keep the power and control' at all costs?
And, having reflected on this case, I urge you to bring the culture of Real Conversation into your business, through:

  • Having professional and respectful conversations with staff about performance on an ongoing and informal basis. Be open with them about what you love about what they do and clear about what needs to be different. Don't shuffle your poor performers around - deal with them - in my experience they respect you for it and business productivity and the morale of your organisation will boom.
  • Remember that people are emotional beings and not machines. They will not respond well to sudden imposed change - would you??! Be as transparent as you can in communicating future change as soon as you can and if there's stuff you don't know about the upcoming change say so - tell them you don't know rather than try to 'fudge it.' People will respect your authenticity.
  • Skill your managers in the art of Real Conversation. Help them to communicate with their people even in sensitive or difficult situations in a respectful, empathic and professional way so that even if people don't like what's being said, they'll at least feel understood, feel heard - and that has a huge impact on the quality of work they will do for you and the morale of your business.

Hope that's given you food for thought - pop along to Home Page for a complimentary Report on 'Why Real Conversation can make a huge difference to your life or business' or cut to the chase and contact me on 0422 974 042 or alison@alisonjwilliams.com to see how we can get down to dealing with the real issues in your business with Real Conversation.

Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

How to have a Cracker of a Christmas - Not a Damp Squib!!
Alison Williams - Tuesday, October 04, 2011

Christmas is coming - yes, really ...!! I need to face the reality that it's only 9 weeks until my Christmas Holidays and 12 weeks till the big man in red comes to call (that's Santa, not my dad - who incidentally is arriving from the UK at about the same time, much to my delight).

That got me thinking - What would I like to contribute to my clients and colleagues before the end of the year that isn't already planned in? As the title of this blog suggests I decided to take some of the common issues my clients talk about in this run-up to Christmas, such as:

  • I'm 45 now (or whatever you happen to be) and yet whenever I'm around my family I feel I'm being treated like a little child again!
  • Why do I always feel I'm expected to take on a certain 'role' in my family?? It's always me that seems to resurrect the burning Christmas dinner, amuse Great Uncle Fred and try to rescue old Aunty Flossie's false teeth out of the toilet (yes that really happened in my family one year!!)?
  • How come I spend three weeks with the family at Christmas and yet come away feeling like I've not really connected with them? We don't seem to talk about what's really going on and I walk away feeling they don't really know me?
  • Why do I find it so hard to say 'no?' I seem to run around over Christmas trying to see everyone and keep everyone happy and just end up feeling frustrated, overloaded and glad of the chance to go back to work??
  • Why do I find it so hard to just relax?? I didn't have children so I could sit on the beach with them feeling frustrated, thinking of all the other things I could be doing and wondering how business will go in 2012 ?

... and to spend the next few weeks blogging about some of the insights, knowledge, skills and resources that clients have found valuable in developing a deeper understanding of these issues and bring about change i.e as I refer to in the title, setting yourself up for a whole different experience of Christmas!

By the way, if you're in business keep reading - all of these patterns/issues equally arise within organisations (though hopefully not the false teeth thing??) and I'll be happy to discuss strategies with you as we go along.

I have to confess that this is a personal challenge - I have never blogged in my life and can be a little technophobic, so I'm just going to treat it like setting out to have a little chat with you once a week and not scare myself too much with the b*** word!

The 'little chat' will be posted on my website once a week at http://http//www.inspirationalchange.com/_blog/Inspirational_Change 

Newsletter subscribers I assure you I will not be barraging your inbox every week - I'll just send you a reminder of the link in a month's time. The best way to be conscious of my weekly 'chats' will be to join me on my Facebook page at http://http//www.facebook.com/pages/Inspirational-Change-with-Alison-Williams/300031283383, where I'll be posting the updates on a weekly basis. Feel free to pass this link to any friends or colleagues who may find it of value.

In the spirit of family and Christmas I'm delighted to pledge 10% of all individual consult fees for October and November to Youthinsearch (www.youthinsearch.org.au) to support their work in resolving adolescent issues for youths aged between 12 and 17.

So I look forward to our next 'chat' when I'll be discussing some of the common 'patterns' and 'roles' that show up in families (and also organisations!) - Becoming more conscious of these gives us the opportunity for change and a stress-free Christmas!


Until next time ... xx


Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

1

Recent Posts

Tags

counsellor Christmas saying no family roles performance management Events being real stress psychotherapy real conversations family sunshine coast Valentines poor performance change management counselling being my best conflict change relationships authentic communication needs wellbeing boundaries

Archive