Our Managers Are Always Jumping from One Crisis to the Next
The Challenge
We are in a constant state of reactive/crisis management and that matches the current business environment. From the constant stress front line employees become more and more fearful of their jobs and the expanded scope of work that is expected of them. The employee thinking, "Just hide and survive" paralyzes the ability to get any creativity needed to generate needed outcomes. Yet the executive team knows something has to change, but the employees are losing confidence in leadership. It becomes we versus them. A company divided cannot last. How do we stop the craziness and move from being reactive and merely responding to the crisis of the day to being proactive and preventing the problems of tomorrow?
The Core Problem
Organizations are being pressured to do more with less. Cutting expenses is the first order of the day. Employees want to hide and survive. Employees continue to see management decisions that are short term band-aids with longer term consequences to them, their jobs. All grass roots employees see is budgets and resources allocated for today's crisis. Very little time or resources, if any, are allocated for work done today that will benefit a company tomorrow. One may erroneously conclude, create a crisis and you have a job. This downward spiral will turn into a "Going out of business strategy." How can a company stop this spiral?
The Developing Leaders Through Grass Roots Innovation (GRI) Workshop Helps Grass Roots workers take control of their destiny.
In our GRI workshop we begin by establishing the elements of a Best Practice Organization. We then conduct surveys, asking participants to rate their current management system against these elements. This is followed by an interactive exercise identifying communication gaps and their impacts to the company. These first two interactions with participants provide a healthy platform for venting, but more importantly a starting point to stop the complaining and doing something positive. The rest of this workshop provides the skills and tools for the grass roots workers to become the agents of needed change rather than the victims of it. By doing so, employees feel empowered in creating positive results that enhances the companies profitability and growth…their jobs. This is the goal of our work helping everyone to making a difference!
