For a manager, firing an employee is never an easy task. It is an emotionally draining activity. In India losing a job has emotional connotations far beyond the financial implications. Losing a job could be a result of broad layoffs, a result of poor performance or a result of career stagnation. The last one is the toughest for a person to handle.
One could lose a job as a result of the entire group getting retrenched. This is witnessed during the economic downturn when the company takes such actions to keep its financial scorecard healthy. In such a case the employee becomes a victim for no fault of his. He could draw solace from the fact that he is not alone. When the job market improves he is sure to find another job.
One could lose a job as a result of bad performance. In this case the employee is not caught unawares. Typically an organization as part of the performance appraisal system would have given the feedback of poor performance to the employee. Most often the managers are reluctant to let go the lowest performer unless that employee exhibits serious attitude issues that could impact the team. While this may seem humane, in reality the manager’s inaction negatively affects the employee. Being at the bottom of the organization the employee’s compensation is affected year on year. Letting him go may benefit him. He may be able to find a better paying job where his skills are more valuable than in the current organization. But before letting him go, the employee should be given feedback for improvement. Good organizations does this well. They also put the employee through “Performance Improvement Program” to give him a choice to improve. Despite all these actions if the employee’s performance does not improve, the organization may have to let go the person. The employee is mentally prepared as he has been given due feedback and an opportunity to improve.
The third case when one could lose the job is when the person adds less value to the organization compared to his experience. He may not be a poor performer. Typically this case occurs at senior levels. The person through his past experience and accomplishments would have grown to be a middle level manager. In this process he may have gone away from being “hands-on” employee. If this person does not have the right leadership skill to grow further, he gets stuck at the middle level managerial position. Over time the junior employees develop skills and are better in their accomplishment s than this person. Neither growing as a leader nor being as technical/handson as the juniors this person gets stuck. The risk of losing the job for this person is low if he is part of a big organization. However for smaller organization he becomes an overhead. Sooner than later this person comes into the radar screen of the management. His tenure in the organization depends on the results of the organization and the relationship this person has with the management. If the management is fair, then it would help find a suitable role for him in other organization that values his skill. If it cannot find such a role then it would give sufficient time and even a voluntary retirement package for the person to find a job elsewhere. However at such high experience level without good leadership skills it will be difficult to find a suitable job elsewhere.
To keep the job, one has to constantly improve their performance at work and develop the leadership skills.
Happy Reading,
Ram
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Trust
Trust takes months or years to build, but can be destroyed in an instant. Trust among the members of the team, between the team members and their manager is very critical for the success of the organization. For successful execution of projects in an organization, emphasis is laid on the tangible metrics like on-time schedule, quality and process compliance. But without a high level of trust in the team - the intangible metric, the organization can fall short of meeting the above mentioned tangible metrics.
When you trust someone – whether it’s your boss, a co-worker – life feels good. When trust levels are high, you feel relaxed and accepted; you can be yourself. When trust levels are low, you feel uncomfortable and on the defensive; you can’t be yourself. Co-workers with high levels of trust enjoy working and tend to be more productive. Lack of trust can cause people to feel angry, hurt, or disappointed with each another. Teams with low levels of trust have trouble working together and reaching agreements.
Lack of trust in the team is like a speed-breaker. It is a counter-productive force that slows down the progress of the team. Being intangible in nature it is not a visible force. When the trust in the team goes missing, the common purpose of the organization is lost. People compete and argue and fail to reach a consensus thereby slowing down the progress. Every decision made gets questioned. The management has to spend more time to convince the team on the decisions it made.Instead of cooperating and collectively addressing the challenges of the projects, the lack of trust causes the organization to spend more time “inward looking” to get the team aligned on the common purpose.
Lack of trust also makes people reactive. Instead of taking proactive measures to help the progress of the project, people wait to be told. People may not come forward and help others in the team. They may not pour their hearts into meeting the objectives of the team. Lack of trust goes beyond the realms of project execution. Left unaddressed, it can become the cause of attrition.
In the book “Speed of Trust” Steven M.R Covey talks about the economics of trust. When the trust goes down, speed will also go down and costs will go up. He gives an example of how peoples' trust in flying within the US went down dramatically after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The robust procedures and system put in place after 9/11, increased safety and trust in flying. But it required the passengers to arrive two to three hours before an international flight. They also had to pay a new 9/11 security tax with every ticket. So, as trust went down, speed also went down and cost went up.
Our first urge when trust breaks down is not to trust the other person again – to “write the person off”. However this is counter-productive and exactly what you shouldn’t do, especially if the relationship is important to you. When trust breaks down, it is important to repair it and that requires three things:
• A willingness and desire to get beyond the problem, breakdown, or misunderstanding.
• A willingness to talk with the other person to resolve the problem
• A willingness to look inside yourself and take responsibility for your past and future actions.
There are many things we can do to build trust. When someone confides in you or shares personal information, keep it confidential. Keep your promises and follow through with commitments. To build trusting relationships,learn to forgive others and move on. Try to let go of old arguments, resentments and issues from the past. Realise that trust is up to you. You are responsible for how much – or how little – people trust you. Build credibility by committing to being truthful and by admitting when you are wrong. Communicate openly and honestly. Talk with the person whom you let down. Don’t wait. The longer you wait to talk about a problem, the bigger the misunderstanding becomes. Don’t be afraid to apologise. Remember, trust takes months or years to build, but can be destroyed in an instant.
“Trust is the highest form of human motivation. It brings out the very best in people” - Steven R Covey
Happy Reading,
Ram
p.s A short book on “Building Trust” brought out by Ceridian delves into all aspects of trust – why it is important, what happens when trust breaks down and how to build trust. This blog uses parts of the book.
When you trust someone – whether it’s your boss, a co-worker – life feels good. When trust levels are high, you feel relaxed and accepted; you can be yourself. When trust levels are low, you feel uncomfortable and on the defensive; you can’t be yourself. Co-workers with high levels of trust enjoy working and tend to be more productive. Lack of trust can cause people to feel angry, hurt, or disappointed with each another. Teams with low levels of trust have trouble working together and reaching agreements.
Lack of trust in the team is like a speed-breaker. It is a counter-productive force that slows down the progress of the team. Being intangible in nature it is not a visible force. When the trust in the team goes missing, the common purpose of the organization is lost. People compete and argue and fail to reach a consensus thereby slowing down the progress. Every decision made gets questioned. The management has to spend more time to convince the team on the decisions it made.Instead of cooperating and collectively addressing the challenges of the projects, the lack of trust causes the organization to spend more time “inward looking” to get the team aligned on the common purpose.
Lack of trust also makes people reactive. Instead of taking proactive measures to help the progress of the project, people wait to be told. People may not come forward and help others in the team. They may not pour their hearts into meeting the objectives of the team. Lack of trust goes beyond the realms of project execution. Left unaddressed, it can become the cause of attrition.
In the book “Speed of Trust” Steven M.R Covey talks about the economics of trust. When the trust goes down, speed will also go down and costs will go up. He gives an example of how peoples' trust in flying within the US went down dramatically after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The robust procedures and system put in place after 9/11, increased safety and trust in flying. But it required the passengers to arrive two to three hours before an international flight. They also had to pay a new 9/11 security tax with every ticket. So, as trust went down, speed also went down and cost went up.
Our first urge when trust breaks down is not to trust the other person again – to “write the person off”. However this is counter-productive and exactly what you shouldn’t do, especially if the relationship is important to you. When trust breaks down, it is important to repair it and that requires three things:
• A willingness and desire to get beyond the problem, breakdown, or misunderstanding.
• A willingness to talk with the other person to resolve the problem
• A willingness to look inside yourself and take responsibility for your past and future actions.
There are many things we can do to build trust. When someone confides in you or shares personal information, keep it confidential. Keep your promises and follow through with commitments. To build trusting relationships,learn to forgive others and move on. Try to let go of old arguments, resentments and issues from the past. Realise that trust is up to you. You are responsible for how much – or how little – people trust you. Build credibility by committing to being truthful and by admitting when you are wrong. Communicate openly and honestly. Talk with the person whom you let down. Don’t wait. The longer you wait to talk about a problem, the bigger the misunderstanding becomes. Don’t be afraid to apologise. Remember, trust takes months or years to build, but can be destroyed in an instant.
“Trust is the highest form of human motivation. It brings out the very best in people” - Steven R Covey
Happy Reading,
Ram
p.s A short book on “Building Trust” brought out by Ceridian delves into all aspects of trust – why it is important, what happens when trust breaks down and how to build trust. This blog uses parts of the book.
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