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Since the recession hit, many managing directors and business owners are finding it increasingly difficult to manage with limited staff and shrinking budgets.
The state of the economy, including lower budgets and increased competition, can mean cut backs and redundancies.
Many organisations now find getting the best out of their
workforce a real challenge, and are facing the task of finding
solutions to many different problems created by a shrinking economy,
cuts in overheads, redundancies and an unmotivated, insecure workforce.
Salespeople need to work harder to achieve their targets, and managers are finding it difficult to manage, and stress and responsibilities of surviving the economic slump can be enormous. Even the best MDs can become overwhelmed, and normal hard work turns into a struggle for survival.
Trying to maintain employee motivation and focus whilst
under pressure, and coping with fewer resources can be a daunting task,
whether you are managing a team, a department or an organisation.
Imposing indiscriminate cuts in overheads during a recession can result in a demoralised workforce and can erode the loyalty of the talented few, and unfortunately once the upturn begins these talented staff may decide to leave.
So how do organisations buck the trend and survive where others fall by the wayside?
How do they deal with reduced staffing levels and employees who
are so worried about their jobs or problems in their personal lives
linked to the economy that their work is suffering?
The answer is fairly simple. Training.
Organisations need to make sure managers are equipped to cope with the fallout caused by the recession and the resulting impact on both the company and the workforce.
To ensure the organisation can cope with current challenges, investment rather than cuts should be considered. However, if there is no alternative, and cuts include reducing staff levels, then specific management skills
are required to handle restructuring or redundancies that will
determine the impact on remaining employees and the business as a
whole.
In a recent survey commissioned by Cranfield University to explore attitudes to training and development in times of recession, 46% of the 1,003 managers who took part said they received no management development or felt that what they had received was insufficient to cope with the demands of a crisis like the recession.
When asked what their organisation could do to retain talented employees, the top answer (66%) was a strong reward and recognition structure and the second highest (52%) was personal development/training opportunities.
The survey also revealed that reducing training and development could lead to 20% of employees likely or very likely to leave their employer.
To prevent problems in the future, ensure your supervisors and managers are equipped to deal with issues surrounding redundancy and reduced staffing levels. With improved management skills they will feel more confident in dealing with any negative fallout and able to organise themselves and others if the workload increases.
See the information on our website about our latest FREE Team Leading Programme that leads to the Level 2 Certificate in Team Leading, or contact us on: 01793 610710.
Alternatively go to http://www.learndirect.co.uk/
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